From Bishop Vetter
Campaign Prayer
O Lord, my God, teach my heart this day
where and how to see You, where and how to find You.
You have made me and remade me,
and You have bestowed on me
all the good things I possess, and still I do not know You.
I have not yet done that for which I was made.
Teach me to seek You,
for I cannot seek You unless You teach me,
or find You unless You show Yourself to me.
Let me seek You in my desire;
let me desire You in my seeking.
Let me find You by loving You;
let me Love You when I find You.
AMEN
Pray the Campaign Prayer with Bishop Vetter
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Our Moment
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
— Matthew 28:19
We face a pivotal moment in our Diocese’s history. We recognize the changes that our Diocese and parishes have seen during the past few generations. We continually experience the stresses of a culture that is becoming increasingly secular. We know that families are increasingly isolated, fragmented, and polarized.
But we also know there is great hope in Jesus Christ – because through Him, all things are possible.
Jesus’ words to His disciples in the Great Commission gave them the simple mission to witness – and proclaim – His Gospel to all ends of the earth.
That mission given to Jesus’ first disciples is the same mission for each of us in the Diocese of Helena. Because He First Loved Us … we are called to do the same, to invite others into a relationship with God that will transform them completely inside and out.
As disciples, our paramount mission must be to help people encounter Jesus Christ personally and intimately, in a genuine living relationship.
After prayerful reflection and thoughtful planning, we have identified several strategic priorities totaling $30 million which we know will advance the mission of the Church. We are excited to begin a Campaign for Catholic Life in the Diocese of Helena to ensure key investments in our people, parishes, and ministries – all with an eye toward sharing Christ’s love.
About the Because He Loved Us… Campaign
Because He First Loved Us …
Campaign Goals
Grow Priestly Vocations
Care For Our Retired Priests
Strengthen Our Parishes
Restore Our Diocesan Cathedral
Help Others Discover Christ
An Invitation to Love as Stewards
“It is He who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.”
— Acts 17:25
All that we are, all that we have, we owe to the loving grace of the One whom we come to know as our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us first—and loves us always.
None of us would know love without Christ’s presence in the world. But because of Christ’s presence … because Jesus first Loved us … we love.
Everything starts with God’s love for us. Every good deed we undertake, every kind word we utter, and every time we reach out to our neighbor is rooted in love.
And because He loves us, God has entrusted each of us with unique talents, gifts, and resources. He always gives us more than we deserve; but He does so because He wants us to be stewards, not owners, of what He has entrusted to us. He wants us to use our blessings to bless others—and to lovingly commit ourselves to build His Kingdom here and now.
Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that “to love is to give, to offer what is ‘mine’ to the other.” Quite beautifully, we find our life when we give it away as Jesus did.
Please join your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ throughout Western Montana as we seek to use God’s blessings God’s way for God’s glory. Join us as we continue the work of building God’s Kingdom of love in our world.
May we be people who love … Because He First Loved Us ….
Ways to Give
Cash Gifts
Every gift is a blessing to our faith. Every gift will help our Catholic parishes and ministries share the Good News of Christ Jesus into the future. If you want to make a straightforward gift by cash or check, we are grateful. Please send to PO Box 1729, Helena, MT 59624. If you would prefer to know how to make a gift that offers you tax reduction strategies, please contact us.
Online Gifts
You can give online using the “Choose Your Gift” box on the right of this page. The Foundation accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discovery, American Express or PayPal. If you wish to donate by credit card and need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us or call (406) 389-7050.
Monthly Giving
If you’d like to make monthly donations use the “Choose Your Gift” box on the right and click on “Ongoing”. You can decide how much you’d like your donation to be each month and which endowment you wish to help grow.
Split Gifts
There are so many wonderful Catholic ministries and parishes in our Diocese! If you can’t decide which one you want to help grow we are able to split your gift among multiple endowments so that your gift can be a blessing for many!
Please consult with your tax adviser/attorney before making any planned gifts. The Foundation is happy to provide you and/or your advisor with any information needed.
Gift Annuities
Imagine if you gave a gift, and nearly half was returned to you via tax credits. Would it change the way you give? Montana is a unique state, committed to giving back to its nonprofits through the Montana Endowment Tax Credit. This piece of our tax code allows you to give to an endowment through a planned gift (charitable annuity), and then be able to claim a tax credit of 40% of the total charitable gift. THAT’S AMAZING!
Below is an example of how a gift through an annuity could benefit you and your Church.
Donate appreciated stock and your tax savings in capital gains could be even more! The Foundation can accept donations of cash, stock, real property, grain, cattle and mineral rights. Reach out to us if you would like to create a charitable annuity or discuss your options.
Estate Gifts
The mission of Christ needs help in every generation and a final gift through your estate allows you to continue supporting God’s great work for generations. It is your final opportunity to evangelize those closest to you by showing what mattered the most to you in your life. Just think what the Church could do if everyone tithed in their estate? Please prayerfully consider remembering the Church in your estate plans. Let the Church be a priority in your estate as it was throughout your life.
Stock Gifts
Donating appreciated investments to the Foundation is a great way to help preserve our faith for future generations AND help you save taxes! Donating is easy; simply fill out the Gift of Stock Notification Form and share the wiring instructions (included in the form) with your broker transfer the gift to the Foundation.
Other Gift Types
The Foundation for the Diocese of Helena can help make donations more efficient and effective for you as the donor. The following types of donations are some of the many creative ways you can make a donation and take advantage of tax savings. If you are interested in any of these types of gifts, please reach out to us and we will contact you to discuss your options.
- IRA Rollovers—A great way to utilize your mandatory distributions and benefit the Church while receiving tax benefits.
- Life Insurance—Add the Foundation as the beneficiary to your life insurance policy.
- Cattle/Grain—Farmers and ranchers may receive a more significant tax savings if they gift grain or livestock directly, rather than selling the commodity and making a gift from the proceeds. Gifting in this manner allows you to avoid the sale of the commodity as income, while the production costs may still be deductible.
- Real Estate—Capital gains can negatively impact your estate but you can minimize the impact on your estate when you donate your appreciated property to the Church.
- Employer Matching Gifts—Let us know if your employer provides matching gifts for your charitable donations.
- Donor Advised Funds—Contact the Foundation to learn if this is the right gifting avenue for you.
- Memorial/Honorial Gifts—Remember and honor those who have had an impact on your faith through a gift to the ministry/parish that has touched your heart.
Please consult with your tax adviser/attorney before making any planned gifts. The Foundation is happy to provide you and/or your advisor with any information needed.
If you are unable to give financially at this time, we ask that you give through prayer, offering up thanksgiving for our priests, our deacons, our faith-lives that God has so graciously gifted to us, and pray, we ask of you, for the future of our Church.
Phone & Address
Phone: (406) 389-7050
Physical: 630 N Last Chance Gulch, Suite 2200, Helena, MT 59601
Mailing: PO Box 1729, Helena, MT 59624
Please send gifts to:
Because He First Loved Us
PO Box 1319, Helena, MT 59624
Contact Us
Foundation for the Diocese of Helena © 2023. All rights reserved.
Working together, this campaign will empower each of us to embrace our faith more fully and to share the healing, teaching, and loving presence of Jesus Christ with all those we encounter. The campaign will help us lead more people to the Kingdom of God.
Campaign Goals
Our Campaign for Catholic Life will prioritize the following:
Grow Priestly Vocations $8,000,000
$8,000,000 will be raised to establish an endowment fund for ongoing seminarian education and priestly formation to ensure, in perpetuity, that no vocation is hindered due to financial need.
Care for Our Retired Priests$4,000,000
The campaign will raise $4,000,000 to provide greater security for the retirement needs of our priests who have served us so well.
Strengthen Our Parishes $9,000,000
Our local parish is the place where we encounter the depth of God’s love, and this is where our efforts will be centered. More than $9,000,000 is expected to be allocated to parishes for their own needs and dreams.
Restore Our Diocesan Cathedral $1,500,000
$1,500,000 from the campaign will be used to restore the exterior of our diocesan cathedral and ready it for the next generation of disciples.
Help Others Discover Christ $4,500,000
The campaign will provide $4,500,000 to create an endowment for ongoing support for our shared work of evangelization so that we can more effectively reach out to all of God’s people wherever they may be in their faith journey.
“No one can see Christ; but everyone sees the priest, and through him they wish to catch a glimpse of the Lord!”
— St. Pope John Paul II
Grow Priestly Vocations
$8,000,000
Priests take on the role of shepherds, administrators, counselors, and teachers. The most vital role of the priesthood is spiritual leadership through the celebration of the sacraments.
It’s no secret that a shortage of priests in our Diocese has left many parishes without a pastor. Some parishes tragically have had to suspend liturgical and sacramental celebrations, as our Diocese acknowledges the fact that we have far fewer priests than just a decade ago.
But by God’s grace, many men in the Diocese of Helena are responding to the call to discern a vocation to the priesthood. Our Diocese is blessed to have 15 seminarians currently studying for the priesthood, which is extraordinary for a diocese our size!
The cost for one seminarian’s annual education averages in excess of $60,000, including tuition, room and board, health care, and travel. Due to our exceptional number of seminarians, the total cost to the Diocese in order to form them is approximately $900,000 each year.
We will raise $8 million to establish an endowment fund for ongoing seminarian education and priestly formation to ensure, in perpetuity, that no vocation is hindered due to financial need.
Photo Credit: John Ramirez
“. . . like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
— 1 Peter 2:5
Photo Credit: John Ramirez
Care for Our Retired Priests
$4,000,000
The priests of our Diocese have given their lives in service to God – and us.
Whether assigned to a parish, mission, school, college, hospital, or another ministry, our priests celebrate Mass, preach the Gospel, hear our confessions, officiate our weddings, baptize and teach our children and grandchildren, and comfort us in our sorrow. They are there for us in the
best and worst times of our lives.
Today, we have 26 retired priests receiving retirement benefits. More than a dozen priests currently with assignments are within ten years of retirement. We will soon have more retired priests than active ones.
After a lifetime of sacrifice and service, no priest should face retirement with financial uncertainty. While parishes support their priests during their active ministry, once retired, our priests depend on their monthly diocesan retirement income, Social Security, and personal savings to meet all their living expenses.
Because of the great needs among our aging clergy, this retirement plan for priests is underfunded by about 50%. Through this campaign, we seek to grow the trust to meet the anticipated need of our aging priests.
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to assure our priests a comfortable and peaceful retirement after many years of faithful and generous service. We will raise $4,000,000 to provide greater security to the retirement needs of our priests who have served us so well.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
— Colossians 3:16
Strengthen Our Parishes
$9,000,000
The love of Jesus is at the heart of our Diocese. Aflame with a love for His people, the place where we encounter the depth of His love is at the local parish.
As Catholics, we experience our faith most profoundly through the sacraments, participation in liturgy, and the relationships made in our local parish community. It is through our parishes that our faith is passed down, lived, and sustained. Each of our 59 parishes and 38 missions is a community of faith, action, and hope.
But most of our parishes also find themselves in need of renewal of their ministries, programs, and facilities. We must ensure these sacred spaces are able to provide opportunities to encounter Christ, as well as to equip people to reach out to those who are no longer practicing their faith or those who are seeking a faith home for the first time.
Because healthy, vibrant parishes are so critical, the largest share of gifts to the campaign will be directed to strengthening our parishes, with 40 percent of the funds that parishes collect remaining in parishes to be used for their own evangelization needs.
The parish is where the Church lives, and the Because He First Loved Us … campaign will provide parishes with more than $9 million for their own needs and dreams. The Eucharist is the center of that home, and a key objective of our campaign efforts will be to strengthen our life in the Eucharist by strengthening our parishes for mission through the transformative love of our Lord.
“Sacred buildings and requisites for divine worship should, moreover, be truly worthy and beautiful and be signs and symbols of heavenly realities.”
— General Instruction of the Roman Missal #288
Photo Credit: John Ramirez
Restore Our Diocesan Cathedral
$1,500,000
The Cathedral of St. Helena is far more than just an awe-inspiring sight on the town’s skyline; it is also the mother church of the entire Diocese of Helena. As the mother church, it is a symbol of the Church’s universality, standing as a sign of both the local church and of our communion with the entire Catholic Church throughout the world.
The nearly century-old interior of the Cathedral has been lovingly restored over the years and truly symbolizes both the glory of God and of the Church. But the outside of the Cathedral is a different story.
Visitors to this house of God are greeted by prominent caution signs, warning of “POSSIBLE FALLING ROOF DEBRIS.” The limestone exterior of the Cathedral is dingy and streaked, having last been cleaned in 1991. Similarly, three decades have passed since the structure has been tuckpointed and, because of weather, the eaves and façade have degraded. The granite exterior front steps which lead visitors to the nave need strengthening and replacement. And the majestic red spires, rising 230 feet above the street, and other areas of the roof are in desperate need of repair.
This once-in-a-generation restoration of the exterior of the Cathedral is expected to cost $4.5 million and, owing to its significance as the mother church in our diocese, $1,500,000 from the campaign will be used to restore the exterior of the cathedral and ready it for the next generation of disciples.
“Look to the future with commitment to a New Evangelization, one that is new in its ardor, new in its methods, and new in its expression.”
— St. John Paul II
Help Others Discover Christ
$4,500,000
Challenges abound for us. The number of active Catholics in the Diocese has dropped from 66,000 in 2000 to just 46,000 in 2022. Enrollment in Catholic schools and in faith formation programs is down. The number of people getting married in the church has fallen by forty percent since 2000. And sadly, for many, Mass attendance is now an entirely optional weekend activity.
Knowing this, what is God asking of each of us? How will we help others encounter Christ? Every disciple is baptized into the mission of evangelization. As such, we will join with our clergy in accepting our responsibility as people of prayer, actively participating in the Mass each Sunday and intentionally offering God our lives.
Because He First Loved Us … we must learn to share that love by:
• Involvement in innovative outreach to our communities.
• Training our clergy and parish staff in effective evangelization
• Mentoring the laity in evangelization strategies
• Providing ongoing formation in the faith to children and adults
We will emulate Jesus’ ministry of mercy to those in need – to the neglected, the fallen away, the hurting, the unseen and the unloved, so that in doing so, we may set hearts ablaze for the love of our Lord.
Embracing anew the Great Commission of Jesus to “go and make disciples,” we will provide $4,500,000 to create an endowment fund to provide ongoing support for our shared work of evangelization, so that we can more effectively reach out to all of God’s people wherever they may be in their faith journey.