DAA benefits Catholic Charities, various ministries of diocese

September 14, 2006

People in the Diocese of Sioux City should have recently received a mailing with information about the Diocesan Annual Appeal, which kicked off in parishes on Sept. 9 and 10.

The DAA is designed to help various ministries throughout the Diocese of Sioux City. One ministry that benefits is Catholic Charities.

Jerry Eaton, LMSW, executive director of Catholic Charities, noted that the people going to Catholic Charities for counseling are getting some form of assistance.

"It is usually coming from donated dollars like DAA dollars," said Eaton. "We can work with an unwed parent and not charge them anything and give them really high-quality counseling services so that they make a good choice and have a healthy baby."

He noted that DAA dollars make several things possible at Catholic Charities. He sited several examples of people seeking counseling including a parent/child conflict, a young couple with marital problems and so on.

"We have always been very appreciative of the people of the diocese for all of their backing and their help," said Eaton. "It is always hard to talk about it and give circumstances because everything is private and confidential. It is a really neat thing that people give the money like they do, so we are very grateful for that."

Eaton pointed out that a nice thing about Catholic Charities is that there are locations throughout the diocese. People can visit Catholic Charities in Algona, Fort Dodge, Carroll, Storm Lake and Sioux City to take advantage of the services.

"Catholic Charities is about putting love into action," said the director. "It's really reaching out to people. The difference between the kind of work we do here and the kind work that other people do is that we start from a base of belief in the human beings we are working with. When we are seeing them in marital counseling, we are doing everything we can to figure out how these people met each other, fell in love and use that love productively to be able to salvage the relationship and make it stronger and better."

In the DAA promotional DVD Father Michael Erpelding, pastor at St. Joseph Church in Sioux City, mentioned that a contribution to DAA helps the parish and the diocesan church, which make the individual stones of the corporate church strong.

"Anytime you can have a program where the larger community helps the more local community and the local community helps the larger community - it is the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our diocese and it makes us strong. We are not separate, but we are one," he said.

Other diocesan entities and ministries that receive dollars from DAA include Hispanic ministries, adult and family ministries, youth ministry, Religious Education Media Center, education and religious education, vocations, worship, chancery, archives and the Tribunal.