Upon This Rock Weekly Newsletter

An Impressive Start for St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo!

Congratulations to Fr. Peter Drilling who was able to surpass his $542,000 goal just 5 weeks from the first 12 gifts to the campaign.

In addition to being a contributing parish St. Joseph Cathedral is also one of the major components of Upon This Rock as a whole. The Cathedral is a vital piece of our history as a diocese and is an essential part of the future of our Catholic community in Western New York. Downtown Buffalo has experienced exciting growth and revitalization in recent years, and St. Joseph Cathedral is the epicenter of Catholic outreach, community engagement, and evangelization in this flourishing community. Therefore, Upon This Rock will direct $2 million to create an endowment fund, which will sustain the vitality of this icon of our faith in perpetuity.

The remaining Block 1 parishes are either in the setup process or have recently started visiting with parishioners to invite their participation in Upon This Rock. This newsletter will begin reporting Block 1 statistics in January 2016.

Read below for even more good news from the Upon This Rock initiative!

A Prayer for Upon This Rock

Loving God, we come to You,
standing together in faith,
ready to realize the freshness of a bold endeavor,
as we look to the future of our Church.

Building up the Kingdom of God on earth is Your will and our privilege.
Bless our efforts with the energy and enthusiasm we need.

Jesus, our Redeemer,
encourage and guide us.
Open our hearts to be good stewards because of our love for You.

Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier,
empower us to carry out Your will for the Upon This Rock campaign.

May Your Goodness be upon us,
And give us success to the work of our hands and hearts.

We ask Your blessing now and always
through Christ Our Lord.

Amen!

Other Upon This Rock Highlights

St. Mark | Buffalo
The second Commitment Weekend was very successful, yielding more than 8% of St. Mark’s original goal of $740,000. Fr. Joe Rogliano and his parishioners have now raised $1,147,773 – that’s 155% – from 188 gifts!

St. Rose of Lima | Buffalo
While fundraising efforts have ended, gifts continue to come in. To date, the parish has raised 142% of their goal, totaling $630,065.

St. Vincent de Paul | Niagara Falls
As their campaign is wrapping up, St. Vincent de Paul has surpassed their goal by over 21%, having raised $1,165,327.

Holy Family | Albion
The second Commitment Weekend brought the parish to $575,585 from 174 gifts – that’s 120% of goal! Fr. Dick Csizmar is happy to report that 25 new gifts came in for a total of $39,990 over the past week, more than 8% of the original $480,000 goal.

St. Mary | Arcade
St. Mary Parish is knocking on the door of $400,000 after their second Commitment Weekends. They plan to exceed this benchmark as families continue to send in pledges.