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Special Collections

The special collections offer an opportunity for parishes throughout the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth to help others in the light of the Gospel. Thank you for your contributions.

Special Collections (2017)
Special Collections (2018)

Why do we have National Collections?

Each parish is part of the Church Universal; it is the Catholic Church in a particular place. The Bishops of the United States created the national collections so that, by combining resources, we can more effectively carry out our mission as Catholics. Each of these important collections is worthy of your support.

USCCB National Collections

Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS) – Special Triennial Collection

The ministry of the AMS is to provide the same pastoral care and services as any other Catholic diocese, to Catholics serving in the United States Armed Forces, enrolled in U.S. Military Academies, undergoing treatment at any of the 153 Department of Veterans Affairs’ Medical Centers in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam, working in civilian jobs for the federal government beyond U.S. borders and the families of these populations. The AMS relies solely on individual donations as it does not receive any funding from the U.S. Government or the U.S. military in support of its many programs and services.

Church in Latin America

Each year, the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America is held in parishes across the country. Proceeds from this collection go to support the work of pastoral projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. When we contribute to this fund, we are actively participating in the work of solidarity together with our brothers and sisters throughout the hemisphere, and we are building One Church, One America.

Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe

In this part of the world the Church, emerging from 70 years of communist rule, is vigorously involved in rebuilding the faith of its people. Proceeds from the collection, sponsored by the bishops of the United States, are used for:

• Supporting religious education programs
• Training seminarians
• Expanding social ministries
• Rebuilding churches, convents, and schools

Black and Native American Collection

Meets the needs of those who would bring the light of Christ’s witness to the impoverished, the isolated and the despairing among the Black and Indian people.

Pope John Paul II keeps asking the faithful around the world to recommit themselves to their Catholic Faith. In this light, many wonderful evangelization efforts are being made. It is only through the constant generosity of the Church members that such wonderful events are realized.

The collection is now going on 120 years. In earlier years evangelization programs were centered mostly in the Southern and Mid Western States. As the Church grew in numbers and continues to spread over the entire United States…and that is good…the message of the Gospel of Jesus is getting better known.

Credit for the success of so many evangelization programs belongs not only to the priests, deacons and sisters working in the parishes and schools, but also to the dedicated and devoted lay people who give of their precious time weekdays after work and on weekends. It is the entire above team of God’s people that helps spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the unchurched and those who need to be renewed in the Faith.

Catholic Relief Services (American Bishops’ Overseas Appeal)

This appeal supports agencies that build the international social ministry of the Catholic Church. Ministries include relief and resettlement services to the victims of war and natural disasters, development programs to improve the living conditions of the poor, advocacy on behalf of the powerless, and peace and reconciliation work for people suffering from violence.

Holy Land

Every day young families in the Holy Land try to live Christian lives as you do. These Christians living where Christ walked and taught, lived and died, still live in a land of war, death and destruction.

The work of the Franciscan Friars for these native Christians, and the poor (and the pilgrims who come to visit)...depends greatly on your generous support.

Please be as generous as you can to the people of the Holy Land and the Friars who preserve the Shrines and Holy Places. The annual Collection for the Holy Land Mission will be taken up on Good Friday.

Seminarian Formation Fund

Now more than ever we have a serious need to prepare men to serve the Diocese of Fort Worth as priests. The expense of their education and formation is very expensive and continues to rise, as does our need to have our priests skilled in a great many areas. Please give generously.

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Catholic Home Missions

What is a "home mission?" If you have ever visited eastern Kentucky or Tennessee, driven through rural Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, spent time on the Mexican border, or passed through scattered small towns in Wyoming, Montana, or Oregon, you have been in mission territory. The little brick or clapboard churches you see along the way, housing pockets of Catholic faithful, are the home missions.

The Church is quite fragile in many parts of the United States where Catholics are a small minority. Some 90 dioceses rely on the Catholic Home Missions Appeal for support of:

• Poor parishes
• Work with growing populations of Hispanics and other minority Catholics
• Youth ministry
• Training for lay ministers
• Educating Seminarians
• Training deacons
• Evangelization
• Religious education

Some striking facts:

• Catholics are only 2.1 percent of the population of eastern Tennessee (Diocese of Knoxville)
• 59 percent of parishes in the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota have no resident priest
• There are 8,573 Catholics per active priest in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas
• There are only 7 Catholic high schools in the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming combined

Priest Care Fund

Each year contributions are distributed to cover the costs of priests who are either in special or convalescent care and who have exhausted medical coverage and personal resources.

Annual Collection for the Holy Father (Peter’s Pence)

Contributions to the Peter’s Pence Collection allows the Holy Father to respond to the most needy throughout the world, to offer timely, effective emergency assistance to our suffering brothers and sisters. Thus, in solidarity with the pope, we Christians enter into the "witness of actions" that distinguishes us as followers of the Gospel.

Vatican: Peter's Pence

Catholic University

Since its foundation, the Catholic bishops in the United States have pledged to support The Catholic University of America as the national university of the Catholic Church through the Annual Diocesan Collection. The proceeds of the collection have enabled Catholic University to be the place where the Church does its thinking and where future leaders, both for our Church and for our nation, are educated.

The Catholic University of America is unique among universities in the United States. The original and cornerstone school of the university, the School of Theology and Religious studies, is an acknowledged leader in religious education in the United States, offering doctoral programs in liturgical studies and in religious education, in addition to ecclesiastical degrees. More than 300 American Catholic bishops have studied at CUA. At CUA, graduate and undergraduate students may enroll in any one of eleven other schools: Canon Law, Architecture and Planning, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Law, Library and Information Science, Music, Nursing, Philosophy, Social Work and Metropolitan College. Graduates’ knowledge is grounded in Catholic Philosophy.

Catholic Communications Campaign

Catholic Communications Campaign produces and supports media projects that promote Gospel values and bring the Catholic Church's message to the marketplace. Supported by a national collection, the CCC tells stories of faith alive today. It's how the good news gets around!

As Catholics we have a responsibility to reach the hearts of people and share the gospel. A gift to the Catholic Communications Campaign and the parishes to provide television, radio and print materials that communicate this simple yet profound message to all. Please be generous when the CCC collection is taken in your parish.

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World Mission Sunday (Propagation of Faith)

The propagation of the Faith seeks prayer and support for pastoral and evangelizing programs of mission dioceses from high school and college students and adults.

Campaign for Human Development

The Campaign funds projects throughout the country in which members of low-income communities work together to create jobs, provide housing, improve education and reduce violence.

National Collection for Retired Religious

Please share in the care of our elderly religious by giving generously to the collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious. The escalating costs of health care have driven the cost of skilled care and assisted living for frail, elderly religious in the United States beyond $1.3 million dollars a day! Your gift helps relieve a genuine crisis in many religious institutes.