Called to Serve As Christ Supports Priests
We are blessed with dedicated and loving priests who have kept our Archdiocese spiritually vibrant throughout their years of committed service. They answered a call to serve us, as Christ, so we have an obligation to ensure the most basic needs of our past, present and future priests.
The Archdiocese of Seattle has a canonical responsibility to provide senior priests with a pension and medical benefits. The pay-as-you-go model was sustainable when there was a large number of active priests. Now, with fewer priests in active ministry, the “pay as you go” model is no longer sustainable. As a result, parishes are paying more and more into the plans each year.
The Annual Catholic Appeal goal for parishes has already been reduced $600,000 as a result of early payments to the Called to Serve as Christ campaign!
Priest Stories
"This campaign is a way to affirm this: to say that because the Church has been part of my life all along I want to give thanks for that. And I can certainly do that through prayer, but I can also do it financially – because that’s one of the ways we show what we care about.”
~ Father Michael G. Ryan,
Pastor at St. James Cathedral