Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., along with the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese, were recently acknowledged for their generous support of three recent collections sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In a letter dated Sept. 15, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minn., thanked Bishop O’Connell for the Diocese’s $10,000 contribution toward the National Eucharistic Congress – Bishops Solidarity Fund. Bishop Cozzens, who serves as chairman of the Board of Directors for the Congress, noted, “Your support helps create a movement of missionary disciples to build up our Church.”
He continued, “The National Eucharistic Congress in 2024 will not only be a generation-changing moment in our country, but will also be a profound witness to the global Church… [to] help others to encounter Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and be sent on mission.”
The Trenton Diocese faithful also awarded a donation of $142,649 toward Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl collection. The program, run annually during Lent since 1975, benefits those in need both domestically and abroad. While 75 percent of the Rice Bowl collection supports CRS’s relief around the world in more than 100 different countries each year, 25 percent of funds stay in each U.S. diocese.
The Diocese also received acknowledgement for its $109,516.23 donation to the 2023 Catholic Home Missions Appeal. Home mission dioceses are those dioceses in the United States, its territories and former territories that cannot provide basic pastoral services without outside help, such as celebration of Holy Mass, religious education and ministry training for priests, religious and lay people. Currently, nearly 40 percent of dioceses in the United States and its territories are considered home missions.