LETTER FROM CARDINAL CUPICH – JUNE 9, 2024

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Next weekend, as we celebrate Fathers’ Day, we pause to reflect on the gift fathers are to our families. We thank God for how they enrich our lives by their example, their support, their love and their wisdom.

It is also an occasion to honor those who father our parish communities, our priests who minister to us and tend to our needs as pastors. They come to mind as we recall the priest who performed our family marriages, who was at the bedside of a parent, spouse or child close to death, who baptized our children, who heard our confession and whose homilies gave us hope to carry on.

Today, we are given an opportunity to stand by them, as they have stood by us, by giving generously to this weekend’s second collection in support of their health and retirement needs. The Priests’ Health and Retirement collection is for the benefit of our 411 active and 253 retired priests. We all know how health care costs continue to rise. This year the expenses for health care, nursing and priests’ retirement will total $13 million. This is the only collection for our archdiocesan priests’ health and retirement, those ordained to serve in our archdiocesan parishes. It is distinct from the annual collection for religious order priests, sisters and brothers, which was taken up earlier this year.

While our priests begin retirement only at age 70, many choose to stay active. And, many of those who do retire at seventy continue to let us know we can count on them by helping out on weekends in our parishes. Please join me in letting the sons of this archdiocese, who have stepped forward to give their lives in service to us, know that they can count on us. Join me in making a generous contribution to this weekend’s second collection. Also, I ask you to consider naming the Priests’ Health and Retirement as one of the beneficiaries in your will, something I personally have done.

Each day they stand by us, so let’s stand by them now. We can do a lot if we all do our part. As we give thanks to God for our fathers on Fathers’ Day, let’s say a prayer for our priests, those who father our parishes.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Blase Cardinal Cupich – Archbishop of Chicago