Tenor Jorge Prego sings from St. Mary Church, part of St. John Bosco Parish, in Branford as part of the first-ever Archbishop’s Annual Appeal Virtual Kickoff Event, which is still available for viewing online. (Photo by Shelley Wolf/Archdiocese of Hartford)

By Shelley Wolf

BLOOMFIELD – This year’s Archbishop’s Annual Appeal began with a first – a Virtual Kickoff Event online that included a message from Archbishop Leonard P. Blair, a priest as master of ceremonies, two musical performances, and more than a dozen local charitable organizations giving their thanks to donors of the appeal.

All archdiocesan parishioners were invited on March 3 to participate in this creatively presented virtual event, to learn more about how their donations are being put to work. For those who missed it, a video of the Virtual Kickoff is still available for viewing and can be accessed from the home page of the archdiocesan website at archdioceseofhartford.org and on the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal page at archdioceseofhartford.org/appeal.

The Virtual Kickoff, which takes 80-minutes to view online, offers a richly inspiring and entertaining mix of people, prayer and music that incorporates – yet goes beyond – the official 2021 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal video that was shown at the parishes on the weekend of March 6 and 7.

“This virtual kickoff enabled the archbishop to share his message with the wider Catholic community,” says Father Jeffrey Romans, priest-chairman of the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. “That’s the beauty of having the video on the website, so it’s available for anyone to see the impact that the appeal has in the lives of people.”

During the first-ever Archbishop’s Annual Appeal Virtual Kickoff Event, Archbishop Leonard P. Blair shares the results of last year’s appeal collection and the many good works it funded throughout the year. (Photo by Shelley Wolf/Archdiocese of Hartford)

Produced by the Office of Communications, the Virtual Kickoff offers a beautiful exterior view of the historic Pastoral Center in Bloomfield, Father Matthew Gworek as master of ceremony, and messages and prayers from Archbishop Blair in English as well as from Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt in Spanish.

The Virtual Kickoff is also punctuated by two inspiring musical performances, one by tenor Jorge Prego, shown singing at St. Mary Church, part of St. John Bosco Parish, in Branford, and the other by the St. Bridget School Children’s Choir from Cheshire.

In his welcome message, Archbishop Blair thanked archdiocesan Catholics for their contributions during the pandemic.

“Last year, as the pandemic struck and worsened, your support of the annual appeal was unfailing and for that I am profoundly grateful,” he said, “as are all the folks who look to the archdiocese for assistance, whether it be food, clothing and shelter, or healing of body and soul, from what it takes to maintain a life of faith.”

Last year, 34,650 donors pledged more than $9 million, the archbishop said. In addition to donations from lay Catholics, that sum included pledges from 171 priests who contributed over $260,000 and 120 deacons and their wives who donated over $69,000.

“Your generous response in 2020 gives me confidence that we will rise to the occasion again in 2021,” the archbishop added. “Adversity can and does bring out the best in people, as Jesus taught us when he spoke of victory through the cross.”

In the year ahead, Archbishop Blair also noted that he is praying for parish communities to come together in-person again, especially for Mass.

“Like you, I hope that we will all be able to return to normal soon,” he said. “Even though our churches have never been totally closed, I hope that we’ll be able to come together at Mass again. That is the deepest and most important prayer that I have – that we will come together again to celebrate the sacraments, to receive the holy Eucharist, and to be with one another in Christ, once the doors of our churches can swing open widely as they have in the past.”

The Virtual Kickoff Event began with a pre-show portion that offered brief testimonies from more than a dozen recipient organizations that benefited from last year’s appeal. The Kickoff Event also incorporated the short 10-minute official 2021 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal video within.

This portion, produced by the Office of Radio and Television, featured six local agencies and archdiocesan ministries that are making a difference in people’s lives, including the McCall Center for Behavioral Health in Torrington, Master’s Manna in Wallingford, Columbus House in New Haven, Franciscan Home Care and Hospice Care in Meriden, FOCUS missionaries at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain and seminarian formation.

McCall Center for Behavioral Health in Torrington, led by Executive Director Maria Coutant-Skinner, receives donations from the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal Vicariate Outreach Program. (Photo by Shelley Wolf/Archdiocese of Hartford)

The McCall Center, a recipient of funds from the annual appeal’s Vicariate Outreach Program, gives voice to the 2021 appeal’s theme of “Reaching Out, Healing Together.” The McCall Center provides addiction treatment services and behavioral health services in Torrington. Maria Coutant-Skinner, executive director there, compared McCall’s work and the generosity of appeal donors to lamplighters of long ago who lit street lights one at a time, punching holes in the darkness.

Coutant-Skinner is grateful for donors’ generosity to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. “There is a broader community that recognizes the humanity in the people that we serve,” she said, “and allows us to share that light so others can have a different outcome in their lives.”

Both the Virtual Kickoff Event video and the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal video are now available for viewing online.

To view the 80-minute Virtual Kickoff Event, with messages from the archbishop and musical performances, visit: archdioceseofhartford.org/appeal.

To view the 10-minute 2021 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal video, visit: archdioceseofhartford.org/appeal.