Our Catholic Appeal
Our Catholic Appeal is an annual opportunity for every member of our faith family to share in the pastoral work of Christ by funding the important programs and ministries of the Diocese of Orlando. This critical operating support enables the Diocese to provide our people, parishes and schools with a wide variety of essential services that change lives – and souls.

Seminarians
This collection supports the formation of seminarians as they discern their vocation to the priesthood. Preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Orders is a nine-year process of intellectual, spiritual, pastoral and human formation that prepares men to answer the call they have received to serve God’s people in love and humility.  Your support ensures that our seminarians receive adequate tuition assistance.

Priest Retirement and Priest Care (Caring for Priests in Retirement)
This collection supports the needs of senior diocesan priests (not religious order). The funds are needed to attend to the spiritual, pastoral, and human needs of senior priests by providing opportunities for them to participate in priest gatherings, retreats, convocations, and assist with their growing medical needs. The priesthood is a lifelong gift and your gift will be a blessing to the senior priests of our diocese.

Sister Diocese (San Juan de le Maguana)
This collection supports the major portion of the work done through the Diocesan Mission Office for the benefit of our Sister Diocese, San Juan de la Maguana, where we provide educational, health, and pastoral support to the people in the mountainous regions of this diocese.

Catholic Charities of Central Florida
This collection provides direct emergency assistance to needy families and individuals in our community (Central Florida). The funds are used to help with mortgage payments, utilities, food and many other necessities. The need is great and the generosity of parishioners allows Catholic Charities to provide hope and build opportunity to more people in need.

Updated August 2023

The Church in Central Eastern Europe
This collection provides aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe through bishops’ conferences of Central and Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union to meet the needs of rebuilding the Church.  It focuses on training seminarians and lay leaders, supporting social service programs, youth ministry, pastoral and catechetical centers, schools, church construction and renovation, and evangelization through Catholic media.

Catholic Relief Services
This collection provides funding for Catholic Relief Services, the USCCB Offices of International Justice and Peace, Migration and Refugee Services, and Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees, relief work of the Holy Father, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

World Mission Sunday (Propagation of the Faith)
In 1926 Pope Pius XI instituted Mission Sunday for the whole Church with the first worldwide Mission Sunday collection taking place in October 1927.  This day is celebrated in all the local Churches as the feast of catholicity and universal solidarity so Christians the world over will recognize their common responsibility with regard to the evangelization of the world.

Pontifical Good Friday Collection for the Holy Land
This collection supports the Holy Places, and for those pastoral, charitable, educational and social works which the Church supports in the Holy Land for the welfare of their Christian brethren and of the local communities.

Black and Indian Missions
Mandated by the III Plenary Council in 1884, the 125-year-old National Collection for Black and Indian people continues as the embodiment of the Church’s concern for evangelizing the Black and Indian peoples of the United States.  The funds are distributed as grants to dioceses throughout the United States, supporting and strengthening evangelization programs which otherwise would cease.

Catholic Home Missions Appeal
Launched in 1998, the Appeal strengthens the Catholic Church in the United States and its territories in 85 Latin and Eastern Catholic dioceses.  The Subcommittee on the Catholic Home Missions funds a wide range of pastoral services, including evangelization, religious education, and the maintenance of mission parishes, the training of seminarians and lay ministers, and ministry with ethnic groups.

Catholic Communication Campaign
The essential mission of this collection is to contribute to the process of evangelization by fostering activities in relation to television, radio, internet, and other media, and through special projects of the Catholic press.  An annual collection is taken up in the dioceses, which remit 50% of the funds collected to the National Office.  From these funds, grants are made by the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catholic Communication Campaign.  The remaining portion of the collection is retained by the dioceses for use in local communication projects.

Peter’s Pence (Collection for the Holy Father)
This collection enables the Holy Father to respond with emergency financial assistance to requests to aid the neediest throughout the world—those who suffer as a result of war, oppression, and natural disasters.  It likewise provides the faithful with a tangible opportunity to not only empower the weak, defenseless, and voiceless, but also sustain those who suffer.

The Catholic University of America
Catholic University is the national research university of the Catholic Church.  Gifts to the National Collection — the only second collection taken for higher education in the U.S. — support students during this crucial time and help the University conduct critical research that will serve parishes and dioceses throughout the country.

Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa
Through the Pastoral Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa provides grants to finance pastoral projects that support the maintenance and growth of the Church in Africa.  Funded projects include outreach programs, schools, evangelization, and education of clergy and lay ministers.

The Church in Latin America
This collection supports pastoral programs as awarded by the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.  Projects include the work of evangelization, formation of laity, religious and seminarians, as well as youth ministry and catechesis. Funding is limited to programmatic expenses and excludes building construction except in cases of emergency.

Retirement Fund for Religious
This collection provides funding to any religious institute in the U.S. that is listed in the religious institute section of the Our Catholic Directory (OCD) with an identifying OCD number, and that has an unfunded past service liability.  It distributes financial assistance from the fund to religious institutes based on a formula and criteria approved by the conferences of major superiors and bishops.

Archdiocese for the Military Services
This collection is held once every three years.  The Archdiocese for the Military Services is responsible for providing pastoral care and services to active-duty men and women serving in all six branches of the United States Armed Forces stationed at home and abroad, enrolled in U.S. Military Academies, undergoing treatment at any of the 153 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, working in civilian jobs for the federal government beyond U.S. borders – and their families.  For more information about the Archdiocese and its pastoral programs and services, visit www.milarch.org.

Updated August 2023

Mission Cooperative (Optional; Date chosen by parish)
This collection seeks prayer and sacrifice for the world’s Missions, now some 1,150 dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America.  Help is offered for pastoral and evangelizing programs, for catechists and catechetical work, to build churches and chapels, for the work of Religious communities in health care and education, and for communication and transportation needs.

Operation Rice Bowl (Optional)
Not a parish collection but a Lenten program run in schools and parishes.  CRS Rice Bowl provides funding for Catholic Relief Services’ food security projects which support agriculture, nutrition, education, and self-sufficiency in communities around the world. 75% is remitted to CRS for overseas projects and 25% may be retained in the diocese for local antipoverty programs.