Message from Cardinal George

Annual Catholic Appeal 2010
“…they left everything and followed Him.” Luke 5:11

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

While each day I pray for you and your families, I am glad to be able to speak to you now. Across this year in various ways—through the Festival of Faith, the Catholics Come Home initiative, and Catholic Schools Week—we have been rediscovering what it means to follow Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church. The Word of God leads us more deeply into this mystery of our calling to follow Jesus in His Church.

Saint Luke speaks of the time when Jesus was calling His first followers. It ends with these powerful words: they left everything and followed Him. Jesus called His earliest community of disciples to accompany Him. They had to put aside not only their plans and commitments to others, but also their own discouragement and their fear. They even had to let go of their own sense of unworthiness, as the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul did. These earliest disciples heard Jesus’ invitation to share in His mission: from now on you will be catching men. They heard the call, and they said Yes: they left everything and followed Him. Imagine now the power of Jesus’ call, the force of His personality and His words. What they had to give up to leave was, perhaps, not much by our standards, but nonetheless it was everything to them.

Seeing the little community of disciples who walked with Jesus, who followed Him, we recognize the seed of the Church, the very same Church of which we are a part two thousand years later. The disciples hear the words of Jesus, and so do we. They receive from Jesus the Bread of Life, and so do we. They are sent in mission to be His witnesses, and so are we. Centered on Jesus and bonded by His word, by the sacraments, and by His mission, these earliest disciples and we ourselves make up the Church, the Body of Christ.

This year, in the Archdiocese of Chicago, we have had the graced opportunity to rediscover how we belong to the Body of Christ and also to deepen our sense of apostolic mission, of being sent by Christ. We have done so in three different ways: by welcoming, by serving, and by supporting. The events and the energy surrounding the Festival of Faith, Catholics Come Home, Catholic Schools Week, and now the Annual Catholic Appeal have given us a focus for our discipleship.

First of all, we welcome. We welcome everyone who hears Jesus’ call to follow Him and wants do so. We welcome those who seek a conversion of heart and want to live holy lives. We welcome those who have for whatever reason drifted from our family of faith and want to come home. We welcome all who search for God.

Secondly, we serve. We serve the deepest needs of men and women and children. We nourish faith through our Catholic schools and programs of religious education. We serve the poor, the unborn, and the vulnerable in our city and suburbs and even beyond. We serve the poorest of the poor in other countries through the Catholic Relief Services. We serve the spiritual needs of people by maintaining the structures and buildings and churches that provide a spiritual home for everyone who hears Christ’s call and wishes to come and pray and follow Him.

Thirdly, we support. We support our brothers and sisters and our children in the community of Christ’s disciples. We support them in practical ways, we support them with our prayers, we support them with the work of our hands, and we support them with our financial offerings. We have known the gifts of God in our life, beginning with God’s call and love given generously to each one of us. And God’s generosity to us prompts us to support those in need and to support the Church herself, for she connects us to Christ and has been a rich source of blessing for us and so many others.

Dear friends, the Annual Catholic Appeal calls you and me to live out our discipleship by making a generous financial gift that will enable the Church to continue to welcome, to serve, and to support all people in the name of Jesus Christ.

The words of Saint Luke should echo in our minds and hearts: they left everything and followed Him. This is a disquieting challenge. Everything? What the call means is that finally we prefer nothing to Christ Jesus. Jesus can make this call because He is God and loves us with a love so great that it commands our trust. Everything. We, too, have heard His call and together in His Church we strive to follow Him and to continue His mission in the world.

The people of the Church in the Archdiocese of Chicago are a great blessing to me as they make discipleship and mission a reality in our time and in our circumstances. Above all, I am grateful for the action of God’s grace in your lives. I am also grateful now for your willingness to be a part of this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal. May God bless you and keep you. Thank you.

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago