WASHINGTON — Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma visited the headquarters of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops June 6, where he met with officials from Catholic Home Missions (CHM) and asked for additional financial support for the eparchy.
Present at the meeting were Mary Mencarini Campbell, USCCB executive director of National Collections, Richard Coll, CHM director, and Ken Ong, grants specialist.
Bishop Lach was accompanied by John F. Kurey, Esq., who serves as stewardship director for several Eastern Catholic eparchies.
Bishop Lach described the eparchy’s financial situation and its need for greater financial resources to fund current operations, seminarian education and parishes. Kurey compared the challenges facing Parma with those facing other eparchies, and asked CHM to be as generous as possible to Parma.
CHM officials were sympathetic to Bishop Lach’s request and promised to do everything possible to help.
The bishops who sit on the CHM subcommittee will meet in September to decide grant allocations for 2020.
Last year, the Eparchy of Parma received its largest grant from CHM to date, totaling $145,000. The eparchy had submitted an application for the maximum permitted, $125,000, in its three usual project areas: Horizons, $60,000; Byzantine Catholic Cultural Center, $40,000; and the Shrine of our Lady of Mariapoch, mission parishes and outreaches, $25,000. The subcommittee returned with a decision for an additional $20,000, and permission for the eparchy to redistribute the funds, at the discretion of the bishop, according to need.
Caption:
Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma meets with officials from the USCCB Catholic Home Missions office in Washington June 6. Pictured from left to right: Bishop Lach, Richard Coll, Mary Mancarini Campbell and Ken Ong. (Photo: John Kurey)
As published in Horizons, June 23, 2019. Sign up for Horizons digital newsletter.