Catholic Extension friends are treasures

My Dear Friends,

   A strange way to start a letter to someone you wish to thank -- to someone who has been so instrumental in the faith life of our diocese. When thinking of you I remember these words from Sirach, “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter, he who finds one finds a treasure.” I am writing to you, as anonymous as you are, because you have been a treasure in my life.

    Not merely in my life, but in the life and history of our diocese. In the early years of our diocese’s existence, we found a friend in you and in 1906 experienced your generosity. Almost 100 years later we still experience the generosity of your friendship. What a treasure you have been!

    Sirach also says “a faithful friend is beyond price.” No matter what the sacrifices you have had to make over these past 100 years, you never waivered from the grace given to make this sacrifice.

    And how we as a diocese have benefitted from these sacrifices! More than $8 million in benefits! You are the anonymous donors to the Catholic Extension. Never seeking any extraordinary recognition, you simply gave of the little you had been given or of the wonderful material blessings you had received. You gave with no strings attached, save that your donation would be used for the work of building up the church.

    How were these gifts used in our diocese? In churches from Wakpala in the northeast to Edgemont in the southwest and everywhere in between you can find plaques reminding us that Catholic Extension helped in the building or remodeling of that church. Not only in church buildings, but also in the construction of halls where parishioners could meet, where religious education could be taught and where people could grow in their Catholic faith. Can you not see why you, dear friends, can rightly be named a treasure that has helped shelter the faith in our diocese for 99 years (since that first donation in 1906)?

    Still your donations to Catholic Extension went far beyond the matter of erection of buildings. Sirach writes “a faithful friend is the medicine of life;” another translation of the same reads “a faithful friend is a lifesaving remedy.” Both of these translations are found true in your generosity to us through the work of Catholic Extension.

    In the difficult years of dust storms and drought your generosity allowed priests in small suffering prairie parishes to have the necessities of life. In fact even beyond the “dust bowls” your contributions helped priests in small parishes and missions to have some small monetary help with their salary. For those priests and places your kindness was and remains a “life-giving remedy.”

    We are also grateful when we recall the number of seminarians who were helped directly or indirectly though Catholic Extension donor generosity. These men were ordained and they brought the sacraments, the Mass and the Gospel across our diocese as carriers of the “medicine of life.” For our faith is truly the “medicine of life.” And you have made this healing gift possible.

    So dear friends, whose names I will never know, but whose generosity I will always be thankful for, I salute you for your willingness to be part of Father Kelley’s dream when he founded the Catholic Extension Society in 1905. A dream that celebrates one hundred years of real service to our church this year.

    Finally I make bold and offer you, beloved treasures of our diocese, medicine of our faith lives, the thanks of all who have walked and are walking the path of faith in western South Dakota. You have made our journey possible. You have been an integral part of our church life -- anonymous in name, but always sisters and brothers in our family of faith. May God bless you and may Catholic Church Extension continue for another hundred years, at least!

Your brother in Christ,
Msgr. William O’Connell