Crosier Guild event highlights how DPAA gifts help neighbors in need

Laura Keener

Editor

Bishop John Iffert welcomed new members of the Crosier Guild at a special evening event, May 12, at St. Barbara Parish’s Sterling Event Center, Erlanger. The Crosier Guild honors people who have faithfully supported the Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal, or DPAA, year after year. Hosted by the diocesan Stewardship and Mission Services Office, the Crosier Guild recognized 11 attending new members of the 66 total new members this year. Their gifts help fund ministries across the diocese and provide grants to local groups that serve people in need.

During the evening, guests heard from Jim Procaccino of Action Ministries and Chris Goddard of Catholic Charities. Both men shared stories that showed how DPAA support helps real people every day. Their message was simple: these gifts do more than pay bills. They bring food, hope and dignity to families across Northern Kentucky.

Mr. Procaccino explained that Action Ministries began in 1994 as a resource room in Ryle High School when school leaders saw that children were coming to class hungry. Today, the ministry serves families in several counties and provides food for more than 1,000 households. He said the group exists “to share the love of Jesus Christ by providing groceries, hope and encouragement to low-income families.” He also thanked DPAA donors directly, saying, “You are an extension of what God does for us every day.”

Mr. Goddard spoke about the work of Catholic Charities, especially the Parish Kitchen, the Mobile Food Pantry, jail ministry and Pickett’s Corner bike ministry. He said the goal is not only to meet urgent needs, but also to build relationships and walk with people toward a better future.

At the Parish Kitchen, he said, “What they receive is more than food. They receive welcome, dignity and human connection.” He shared one story about a man who once came for meals but later found work and returned with a donation to help feed others.

Mr. Goddard also described signs of hope in other ministries. In the jail ministry, Catholic Charities recently celebrated the baptism, first Eucharist and confirmation of an inmate at the Kenton County Detention Center. At Pickett’s Corner, a donated bicycle helped one person get to work until he was able to save enough money to buy a car. Across all of these programs, Mr. Goddard said, “We meet people where they are. We treat them with dignity. We walk with them towards something better.”

Bishop John Iffert closed the evening by thanking Crosier Guild members for their steady support of the annual appeal. He said their gifts strengthen ministries throughout the diocese and offer “seed money to people who are making a difference” in local communities. He also pointed to the way Catholic and non-Catholic groups are working side by side at Action Ministries to care for the poor, calling that shared effort a powerful Christian witness to overcome modern day “paganism — a new kind of reaction against the message of Christ and His gospel in the world,” he said

“I think one of the ways that we can work most effectively against that is to overcome the scandalous divisions among Christians, and to work together to demonstrate love for God and neighbor,” Bishop Iffert said as he thanked Action Ministries for giving witness to Christian collaboration.

In his reflection, Bishop Iffert connected the evening’s stories to the Church’s call to love and serve the poor. Quoting recent Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te,” (“On Love for the Poor”) he said, “Charity is not optional, but is a requirement of true worship. If we worship without joining it to a life of charity, it’s empty.”

He reminded guests that service to people in need does more than help others. It also renews the Church and teaches deeper faith.

“If you’re tempted to despair about the condition of our society, of our world, of our Church, here’s how you can work for its renewal, love and serve the poor,” Bishop Iffert said. “This is an important piece of teaching. It teaches that we can speak of a preferential option on the part of God for the poor, which is not an attribution of bias to God, but a truth that emphasizes God’s actions, which are moved by compassion toward the poverty and weakness of all humanity, including mine, including ours.”

Bishop Iffert said many people discover they receive more from serving others than they give. Citing “Dilexi Te,” he said Pope Leo XIV teaches that this is “literally true.”

“While we extend ourselves to serve the poor, we are actually receiving from them lessons about how to live under the yoke of Jesus Christ,” he said. Then quoting a favorite paragraph from the document, paragraph 120, Bishop Iffert said, “It says this, ‘love is above all a way of looking at life and a way of living it. A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today.’”