by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
TOPEKA — He’s becoming “a little bit more generous.”
Well, at least that’s his hope, as he tries to honor his late wife Liz, who he said was “a generous, saintly kind of person.”
That’s why Jerry Bessette, a member of Christ the King Parish in Topeka, said he became one of the nearly 2,200 member families of the Crosier Society this year.
Established in 1998 with 230 member families, the Crosier Society represents those across the archdiocese who have donated to the Archbishop’s Call to Share either 1% of the family’s income or made a financial gift of at least $1,000.
“Archbishop [James P.] Keleher started the Crosier Society in 1998 just as a way to thank and recognize the leaders who are supporting the archdiocese,” said Lisa McKelvey, the archdiocese’s director of stewardship and development.
Member families not only make generous financial gifts to the fundraising campaign, she said, but “get up and speak at the end of Mass and encourage their fellow parishioners to support the appeal. They answer questions. They speak highly about the appeal, or they’ve served on committees or as champions for the appeal in the past.
“So, really,” she said, [the Crosier Society is] just a group of people who are advocates for the appeal outside of [the] archbishop, myself and the pastors. They’re people who are lay advocates for the ministries that are supported by the appeal.”
Those members, including Bessette, were invited to participate in one of two Masses of thanksgiving — one on Nov. 19 at St. Joseph Church in Shawnee; the other on Dec. 3 at Most Pure Heart of Mary.
The Masses also served as two of several kickoff events for the 2025 Archbishop’s Call to Share campaign. Begun in 1975 by Archbishop Ignatius J. Strecker, the annual campaign funds more than 40 ministries and programs across the archdiocese’s 107 parishes.
After each Mass, a program led by McKelvey followed, during which the 40 ministries funded partially or entirely through the Archbishop’s Call to Share were highlighted.
“These events are opportunities to say thank you,” McKelvey said prior to the event. “I don’t think we do that enough. It’s an opportunity for us to say thank you, but it’s also an opportunity to show everyone the wonderful work that is happening across the archdiocese because of their support. We ask for gifts for Call to Share. Everyone knows that archbishop and the archdiocese are going to put the money to good work, but I think this is a chance for us to show the faces and tell the stories of the impact of those gifts.”
For example, at the event in Shawnee, Deacon Dana Nearmyer, director of the archdiocese’s evangelization office, explained the various programs that fall under his purview — and their impact. In Topeka, Father George Rhodes, the associate pastor of Most Pure Heart and chaplain at Cor Christi Catholic Center at Washburn University spoke.
Because it is considerably smaller than either the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence or the Didde Catholic Campus Center at Emporia State University, Cor Christi relies almost entirely on funds from the Archbishop’s Call to Share, said Father Rhodes.
In addition to celebrating the sacraments, Father Rhodes said his chaplaincy work involves Bible studies, group discussions and “plenty of social events to really build a Catholic community at the campus center. It’s not just supposed to be the place where they come for Sunday Mass. We want to be much more. It’s our goal to walk with these students, and it’s bearing a lot of fruit.”
Last year, Father Rhodes said, two students who came to the center joined the Catholic Church. This year, one student will be confirmed while others are making inquiries into the Catholic faith.
“All of that is possible because of Call to Share,” he said. “It’s a wonderful experience for me as a spiritual father to walk with some of these Catholic young adults in their own faith life. Some of them, even though they grew up Catholic, never really owned their faith until they came to the campus center.
“So, the potential for the rest of their lives to be filled with a relationship with Jesus and the fact that we get to be a formative part of that is really just the grace of God.”
Gratitude, Bessette said, works the other way, too.
Hearing the archbishop and Father Rhodes speak during the evening made Bessette feel even more thankful that his financial gift can touch the lives of so many.
“There’s a lot of different programs that benefit [from a contribution],” he said. “It’s well worth it. You can help out so many people in so many ways.”
