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Select a Witness Testimonial Mini Stories each week to include in your bulletin, your website and your Facebook page. You may also want to consider printing a mini story to hand out to parishioners or make available in public gathering spaces. You are free to pick and choose which stories to feature. Note: if you choose to use the Text Only version, please attach the official Appeal Logo.
Text Only: We are thankful for the support the Diocese of Winona–Rochester offers our marriage through opportunities like the Couples Retreat that we attended last fall. Between multiple jobs and multiple children, we are often tempted to neglect our marriage relationship in favor of more pressing tasks, but attending the Couples Retreat allowed us to take time to focus on the vocation that God has called us to live out daily by loving one another. In addition to growing in our relationship with God and one another through the time we spent together free of distractions, our lives were touched through the stories we heard and the people we met on the retreat, which continue to inspire us to persevere in our daily efforts to be good spouses and parents. Please give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal. www.catholicfsmn.org/Appeal
Text Only: The Institute of Lay Formation has been a great program for learning about the Faith. It has helped to prepare us to think of ourselves as witnesses to Christ's call and to really think about our place in the New Evangelization. We all have gifts to give, and this program helps each person to recognize those gifts and decipher how to use them. We have been able to participate, learn and grow while still keeping up with our "regular lives." We look forward to participating in future events, where we can meet and pray with people from across the diocese and learn what they are doing to build up the Body of Christ in their parishes. We are very thankful to the Diocese of Winona–Rochester for offering such amazing programs where everyone benefits! Please give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal. www.catholicfsmn.org/Appeal
Text Only: Thanks to the funds provided by the Catholic Ministries Appeal, the Newman Center has been able to bring Christ to the students of Minnesota State University in a more radical way. Students are experiencing the love of Christ, coming to know the Eucharist, encountering lifelong friendships, participating in the sacraments, getting involved in Bible studies and becoming missionaries on fire to share their faith. Without financial support, we would not be able to do the things we do at the same level or in the same capacity. Please give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal. www.catholicfsmn.org/Appeal
Text Only: This week in Kindergarten, in Catholic School, our son James is writing the letter F, comparing numbers and reading about laws and citizenship. But we are most excited about what he's learning away from his desk. He's learning to pray at Morning Meeting. He's learning strength as he hears about the Saint of the Day. He's learning about our faith as he sings "Go Tell It on the Mountain" loudly and slightly off-key. While we are excited about the top-notch education he's getting while sitting in a desk, we are most excited about the values he's receiving without even knowing it. Those values will stay with him the rest of his life. Please give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal. www.catholicfsmn.org/Appeal
Text Only: I know youth often get a bad rap when it comes to church involvement. However, as a priest who has been involved in Youth & Young Adults ministry for students in junior high through college, I am so excited for what our youth bring, and will bring, to their Catholic Church communities. The young people who do get it, get it. They don't want the Catholic Faith watered down. They want the Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There were 13,000 college students at the last Seek Conference. The line for Confessions got so long that some students had to sit to avoid breaking fire code for the facility. I know that the next generation of Catholics are going to set the world on fire for Christ. It is imperative that we provide the opportunities for the youth of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester to participate in this springtime of the Church. Please give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal. www.catholicfsmn.org/Appeal
Text Only: The Vocations Office gave me the resources and tools to ask the questions: "What does God want for my life, and how do I go about achieving that?" It was through the Vocations Office that I was able to answer those questions and go through the necessary steps to enter seminary and to follow where God is ultimately calling me to go. I can't emphasize enough how important the benefactors and the people who pray for us are in our discernment. Being in the seminary for five years now, the amount of support I've gotten from benefactors and prayer partners is part of what keeps me going. God is working through those people to continue to call me to the priesthood. We couldn't do this without the people of God. Please give generously to the Catholic Ministries Appeal. www.catholicfsmn.org/Appeal