January 2006
Bishop John T. Steinbock
My Dear People of God,
I wish everyone a very blest and holy new year. This is my first official report of the tremendous success realized by our Capital Campaign, “Our Faith, Our Family, Our Future.” I give thanks to all of you who have pledged and contributed so generously. A little over 58 million dollars has been pledged. This truly shows the faith, love and generosity of God’s people up and down our Diocese. I want to thank our priests, those that worked on this Campaign in their parishes, and all those who pledged and gave so generously. All future generations of our Valley will be blest so much because of you.
As a major step to preserve and safeguard the Campaign funds, we created a legally separate, non-profit corporation to oversee the Campaign funds. The Foundation is run by its own Board of Directors, and legally is not a part of the Diocese of Fresno. The Board members are comprised of four priests, one permanent deacon, and four laypersons with business management backgrounds. They will be monitoring all decisions to spend the Campaign funds to assure that all funds are spent solely in accord with the intent of the donors.
Quarterly reports will be given by the Foundation including such matters as income, expenditures, and projects approved by the Foundation. Campaign funds are currently invested in a Merrill-Lynch institutional money-market account in the name of the Foundation, where the funds are earning interest. To date, we have received in cash approximately $9.5 million. Of this amount, a little over $1.7 million has already been returned to parishes for their own needs.
The first order of priority is to open the escrow to purchase St. Anthony’s Retreat House in Three Rivers and to begin planning for the construction of the youth retreat at the site. The tremendous response to the Campaign is a witness to the love and concern that this generation has for the spiritual and material well being of future generations.
God bless you all, very much, in this new year that God has given to us. May it be a year of grace in all our lives to experience all the more in our lives the loving presence and power of our Lord and Savior. Happy New Year to all.