Personal story shows how giving today builds tomorrow’s Church

Joe Huelseman, right, an archdiocesan seminarian at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, reads a letter of thanks to donor Art Berkemeier of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis during a Circle of Giving event at the Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara Catholic Center on May 4. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)

By Natalie Hoefer

Did you ever wonder, as you wrote a check for the annual archdiocese’s United Catholic Appeal (UCA) or to an archdiocesan Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) fund, what it would be like to meet someone who directly benefits from your donation?

Or as you benefited from the many ministries assisted by UCA and CCF funds, did you ever wish you could thank someone who helped make the ministry possible?

Two people had such an opportunity in May: Art Berkemeier, a strong supporter of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, and archdiocesan seminarian Joe Huelseman, a 19-year-old Marian University sophomore who is enrolled in the college seminary.

At two Circle of Giving Mass and Celebration events held in May, Berkemeier and Huelseman had the opportunity to read aloud letters written to one another.

“I want you to know that you are not alone in your discernment to a religious vocation,” read Berkemeier to Huelseman, a member of St. Nicholas Parish in Ripley County.

“Above all and foremost, thank you!” wrote Huelseman to Berkemeier, 69, a member of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis. “Your generosity makes the lives of every seminarian and priest at Bishop Simon Bruté far less stressful than it could be.”

The Circle of Giving Mass and Celebration events were held in Indianapolis at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara Catholic Center on May 4, and at St. Mary-of-the-Knobs Church and hall in Floyd County near New Albany on May 25.

The event replaced the former separate celebrations for Miter Society donors to the annual United Catholic Appeal: Christ Our Hope, and for Legacy Society contributors to the Catholic Community Foundation.

Combining the Miter Society and Legacy Society events “has come about because we want to do something a little more special to recognize our donors, to show them the impact they’re making on other’s lives with their gifts,” said Elisa Smith, CCF director.

“Although we have many, many ministries that [the UCA and CCF] support, we just can’t tell all the stories in one evening, so we chose one story, and that’s seminarian education.”

Prior to Berkemeier and Huelseman reading their letters aloud, their story was introduced through a video with sweeping overhead views of the hills and fields of Berkemeier’s farm in Decatur County, and shots of Huelseman and other Bishop Bruté seminarians at prayer and in community at the former Carmelite monastery that now serves as their home in Indianapolis.

“Growing up on a farm, you were connected with God’s creation with the crops that grew, the animals you had,” Berkemeier narrated in the video. “And you learn that, somewhere along the line, you have to decide your level of commitment to the Church. Are you going to be a disciple or not? If you’re truly a disciple, you’re going to give your time, talent and treasure. …

“Growth or the values that change you come from getting involved in the parish, serving others, doing things. It becomes fundamental to being a disciple. … Just like being a farmer, you’ve got to prepare the field. Time, talent and treasure—it’s all important.”

To a backdrop of shots of the Indianapolis college seminary, the voice of Father Joseph Moriarty, the college seminary’s rector, spoke of how “the excitement in the hearts of these men is palpable, because they desire to give their lives to God enough to do that in the context of the community of the Church.”

In an interview on the video, Huelseman described the community life at the college seminary as “fantastic.”

“It’s something I grew up in with seven siblings,” he said. “I’ve only ever felt calm and love here. You can see God here every day in my brother seminarians, in the priests—there’s a general appreciation to be here. For a lot of seminarians, it’s important to have this time to really focus on formation and becoming closer to Christ, so that we can help others with our charity someday. …

“Bruté [seminary] would not exist without donations. It’s awesome to have good Christian people showing charity. It’s like Christ on the cross.”

During the May 4 and 25 events, Jolinda Moore, executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Stewardship and Development, described the importance of the “three buckets” of giving within the archdiocese.

The first bucket—the annual United Catholic Appeal—“helps fund the basic, immediate, annual needs for so many archdiocesan ministries,” she said.

In terms of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary, UCA funds help archdiocesan seminarians with immediate needs like room and board, and tuition assistance at nearby Marian University.

The second bucket includes program fees charged by some ministries, as well as special agency appeals, such as the second Mass collection for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Home Missions Appeal, which contributes to seminarian training in the United States, including Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary.

The third bucket is the Catholic Community Foundation, which provides “in perpetuity” for future needs of parishes, schools, agencies and archdiocesan ministries, said Smith. (See related story)

The CCF distributes funds from its 466 endowments, which totaled more than $161 million as of June 30, 2016. Last year, $7.5 million was distributed from CCF funds. Endowments benefiting the seminary include the Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary Endowment Fund and the Rev. Augustine J. Sansone Endowment Fund.

Msgr. William F. Stumpf, archdiocesan administrator, presided over both Circle of Giving events.

“The Archdiocese of Indianapolis and its ministries are so important to so many people—Catholics and non-Catholics—throughout central and southern Indiana,” he said in his closing remarks. “We’re not just another charitable institution trying to do good work. We have a mission to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

“The United Catholic Appeal and the Catholic Community Foundation are the two most important ways we have to take care of our immediate and future financial needs. When you give your time, talent and treasure, you are making a difference.”

He quoted a statement made recently by Pope Francis: “A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you. And then there will be another ‘you’ and another ‘you,’ and it turns into ‘us.’

“Let us help each other, all together, to remember that the ‘other’ is not a statistic, or a number. We all need each other.”

Msgr. Stumpf described the words of Pope Francis as “a great reminder of what we can accomplish together.

“God built his Church upon the faith of ordinary people, but with God’s help we are able to achieve something extraordinary.”
 

(For more information on the United Catholic Appeal: Christ Our Hope and the Catholic Community Foundation, visit www.archindy.org/stewardship. To see the video highlighting the story of archdiocesan donor Art Berkemeier and Bishop Simon Bruté College seminarian Joe Huelseman, visit www.archindy.org/uca and click on the Circle of Giving video.) †