With the New Year, we have some standard reporting that we do in the West River Catholic that you will see featured on these pages. We are also very excited that God has blessed us with another vocation to the priesthood in Robert Kinyon, and we cover that here as well. Additionally, we feature a joint letter from Bishop DeGrood and myself on Pope Francis’ permission to bestow blessings on individuals and couples who are seeking to follow the Lord’s will even though they are currently in irregular relationships. Let me comment on each of these.

Our Diocesan Finance Statement is presented for your information once again. It tells a story of our mission diocese and the limited resources we have to fund the ministries we engage in. Our status as a “mission diocese” means that we do not have the resources to sustain ourselves and require funding from outside our diocese.

Let me begin by thanking you for your generosity. Even though we did not meet our income goals for last year’s budget, you were once again generous, and we saw an increase in the annual appeal income. Thank you!

I am hopeful we can continue to see our annual appeal increase so that we can avoid painful cuts in programs in the coming years. Please continue to be as generous as you can be. I am committed to living within our means, and the Diocesan Finance Council and I will continue to track income and expenses and make the hard decisions necessary to have a balanced budget moving forward.

Our Rapid City Catholic Schools are in much the same situation, and I am working with the School Board and our new Superintendent, Dr. Julie Tipton, to address the challenges of continuing to fund our schools. We are committed to living our Catholic faith and using the best curriculum and resources to pass on the Catholic Faith to our children and youth.

I am continually grateful for the commitment of our parents and benefactors who provide for our schools, and I am excited by the new energy and leadership Dr. Tipton is bringing to our team of great teachers, administrators, and staff.

Deacon Robert Kinyon’s upcoming ordination is an answer to our prayers for more vocations to the priesthood and a great blessing for our diocese. I am proud of Robert and excited to see him ordained. Please join me in congratulating him and thanking his family for their active faith, which nurtured this vocation. And, please continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life in our diocese. We need them!

Finally, the joint letter Bishop DeGrood and I wrote provides guidance to our priests in the delicate matter of encouraging those who are struggling to follow God’s call. It is intended to clearly support the teaching of the Church on human sexuality and marriage and explain how we can accompany those who are struggling to live that call by blessing them as they strive to do so. I hope it provides some light in the midst of the confusion of our culture and real encouragement to our brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction and are sincerely trying to live the Church’s teaching and answer God’s call in their lives.

May God bless us all as we begin this new year.

+Bishop Peter