by Olivia Martin-Davies
olivia.martin@theleaven.org
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — As the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas prepares for its annual appeal, Crosier Society members gathered at Savior Pastoral Center here on Dec. 7 for vespers and an evening of gratitude and witness to the impact their generosity has made across northeast Kansas.
Established in 1998 by Archbishop James P. Keleher, the Crosier Society represents those across the archdiocese who have donated either 1% of the family’s income or made a financial gift of at least $1,000 to the Archbishop’s Call to Share.
Lisa McKelvey, archdiocesan director of stewardship and development, welcomed attendees, reminding them that this year marks 50 years of Call to Share.
The evening celebrated record-setting success. Thanks to donor support — coming from nearly 13,000 donors and over 2,100 Crosier households — the archdiocese surpassed its $7.25 million goal this year.
One of the biggest impacts the Call to Share makes is enabling ministries ranging from pro-life advocacy, Hispanic ministry, youth ministry and more to reach the people of northeastern Kansas.
“We come together and make these [ministries] possible from rural communities to our major metropolitan parishes,” said McKelvey.
“You truly are funding 40 shared ministries,” she added.
Catholic schools at the heart of the mission
One of the ministries particularly impacted by Call to Share is Catholic education.
Vince Cascone, superintendent of Catholic schools in the archdiocese, stressed that Catholic schools remain one of the archdiocese’s strongest tools for evangelization.
“Our Catholic schools are one of our best avenues to evangelize and to bring our young people to the faith,” he said.
Cascone described how Call to Share supports Catholic school operations, enrollment initiatives and teacher formation across the archdiocese’s 42 schools, which serve around 14,000 students.
Cascone also highlighted the Catholic Education Foundation (CEF), which receives support through Call to Share and, in turn, directs its fundraising to scholarships for low-income families so their children can attend Catholic schools.
“In the last three years, 100 percent of [CEF-sponsored students] graduated and 90 percent of them went on to college,” said Cascone.
This year, CEF will fund 2,000 scholarships, totaling $5.6 million.
Cascone also spoke about expanding support for students with special needs and about the Blessed Seelos Institute, which provides extensive faith formation to Catholic school educators.
“We know we can’t pass on to others what we ourselves don’t have,” said Cascone.
“So it’s important for us to focus on our faculty and staff members,” he added, “and Blessed Seelos has provided 1200 of our teachers with formation throughout the school year on a regular basis.”
‘A more synodal church’
After expressing his appreciation, Archbishop Shawn McKnight offered a reminder of the mission behind Call to Share: to help the bishop and the faithful preserve the communion of the church.
“ Both [Pope Francis and Pope Leo] are encouraging a more synodal church,” said Archbishop McKnight, “and the reason is primarily without our communion, we can’t fulfill our mission.”
“The stronger our communion, the more vibrant is the fulfillment of the mission that we have received from the Lord,” he added.
Explaining how Call to Share funds are distributed, Archbishop McKnight noted that roughly half directly supports chancery services and half goes to ministries throughout the archdiocese.
He also urged the faithful to consider what it means to be in communion with each other.
“We need to reflect also how we might become stronger in our communion and more effective in the way we can bring people primarily back to the church,” said Archbishop McKnight
“I think we should begin with those who have fallen away,” he continued. “But we also always have the perennial responsibility of witnessing the faith to everyone — excluding no one.”
New name, shared work
McKelvey closed the program by announcing a shift in language going forward: The appeal will now be known as the Archdiocesan Call to Share (ACTS), reflecting the shared responsibility of the entire local church.
“It really is an opportunity for us as an entire archdiocese to support these shared archdiocesan ministries,” she said.
Because that’s what it means to be Christian, Catholic and synodal: helping each other know, love and serve Jesus Christ.
