‘You are the divine life of God,’ Bishop tells guests at second DPAA dinner

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

The second Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal kickoff dinner, March 5, joined donors, ministry leaders and supporters with Bishop John Iffert, Lisa Knochelmann, DPAA general chair and Dr. Greg Salzman, DPAA leadership gifts chair at Receptions event center, Erlanger.

Marking the end of the leadership gifts phase and the beginning of the public phase of the campaign, the event included a ministry fair where guests could meet with the people behind the ministries that the DPAA supports — including Curia offices and organizations within the diocese and its community that minister to youth, homeless people, the poor, people with disabilities, students, the Hispanic community and more.

Following dinner, Dr. Salzman offered words of thanks to individuals who had already donated to the campaign, with nearly $700,000 raised so far in the first phase alone — already well on the way to the $2.754 million goal.

Bishop John Iffert also spoke at the dinner, referencing the theme of the 2026 DPAA, “Live as Children of Light,” from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (5:8–9).

“Paul said once you were darkness,” Bishop Iffert quoted the passage. “Notice the strength of that language.

Recalling a talk given at a Cursillo retreat he gave, Bishop Iffert said that there was “a point (he) made over and over and over again: Grace is simply the gift of God’s divine life. It’s the gift that God gives to us,” he said.

“All of the spiritual thinkers, all of the great teachers, all of the apostolic and sub-apostolic figures talk about grace that is the very divine life of God with the metaphor of light,” Bishop Iffert said. “The grace of God enlightens the soul … Once you were in darkness, once you were capable of no good, but now the light of God, by the baptism of Jesus Christ, has taken residence in you and made you a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

“You are the divine life of God,” he said, “and the light that is God’s grace and being shined into every corner of your being.”

“That is why we give, because God has taken the cold, dark winter night out of my heart and yours, and in its place put the warmth of divine love, the fire of the Holy Spirit and the light of his divine grace and wisdom — and so we want to be light for others,” said Bishop Iffert. “That’s it. That’s why we’re here … It is because God first graced us with the opportunity to be grateful and to respond to the world in kind. That’s who we are. Thank you for being children of the light,” he told attendees, “Thank you for being those kind of people.”