Annual Catholic Appeal invites Catholics to give with grateful hearts to support ministries across the archdiocese

(Photos by Jacob Wiegand | jacobwiegand@archstl.org) Students prayed during Mass on March 31 at the Catholic Student Center at Lindenwood University in St. Charles. After Mass, students ate a community dinner and watched “The Passion of the Christ” movie. The Catholic Student Center is one of several area Newman Centers supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal.

College Newman Centers helping students encounter Christ are among agencies supported by the appeal

Laura Kosta

Submitted on April 10, 2026

As the Archdiocese of St. Louis celebrates its 200th anniversary, Catholics are invited to give thanks for the generations of faithful who have built the local Church and consider how we can carry that mission forward.

The Annual Catholic Appeal is one impactful way to do just that.

The goal of the 2026 campaign is $16.5 million, and it will be conducted in parishes the weekends of April 18-19, April 25-26 and May 2-3. Approximately 93 cents of every dollar raised goes back to the community in direct services.

Appeal funds go toward safe, stable and affordable housing; support for active and retired priests; adult faith formation and evangelization efforts; Catholic education assisting children with a sense of purpose and value; parish food pantries serving people who are hungry; housing, medical and dental care for uninsured low-income residents in rural areas; programs that teach respect for human life; vocations programs to help youth and young adults discern a vocation to the priesthood or religious life; support for youth ministry; and more.

“The theme ‘Grateful Hearts Serving Others’ invites us to see our giving not as an obligation, but as a joyful response to the gifts we have received,” Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski said. “We witness God’s abundant goodness when we serve others with grateful hearts.”

In this bicentennial year, the Annual Catholic Appeal reminds us of our archdiocesan unity through both common worship and common charity, ACA chair Merry Mosbacher said.

“It’s a way to bring all of us together across the archdiocese, as Catholics, where we can pool our resources and make a difference in our communities, certainly more than we can do individually,” said Mosbacher, a parishioner at Christ Prince of Peace in Manchester. “And it reaffirms what our calling from God is: to help the poor, help the needy, help each other.”

Christ on campus

On Monday of Holy Week, a group of college students processed slowly along the sidewalks of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, carrying a cross.

They stopped at intervals along the route to pray the 14 Stations of the Cross, offering a visible reminder of the week’s sacred nature to the rest of the campus.

College students prayed the Stations of the Cross with Father Mark Madden, center, on March 30 on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus in north St. Louis County. The students carried a wooden cross from the Millennium Student Center to the UMSL Newman Center praying the Stations of the Cross along the way. The UMSL Newman Center is supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal.

This was the first year UMSL’s Catholic Newman Center had hosted an outdoor Stations of the Cross.

The idea grew out of a popular eucharistic procession around campus held once per semester, campus minister Joe LaScala said.

“Our students really want to do more witnessing,” LaScala said.

The UMSL Catholic Newman Center is one of several Newman Centers on college campuses that receive funding from the Annual Catholic Appeal.

The UMSL Newman Center serves a population of mostly commuter students at the university, but also draws in college-aged young adults who are attending community college or taking a gap year, LaScala said. He and another campus minister also serve Catholic students at Webster University.

Miles Oncken, a junior studying computer science at Webster, came into the Catholic Church last May. Getting plugged into the Newman Center has helped him as he continues to grow in faith and knowledge of the Church, he said. After a Newman-sponsored Jubilee Year visit to the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (Old Cathedral) last year, he’s also been attending Sunday Mass and serving as sacristan there.

“I think community is a big part of being a young adult,” he said. “The Newman Center is an intimate group, and it’s just having people that I can come to with anything, like a family.”

Aislinn Neubauer, a resident student from Springfield, Missouri, found the Newman Center during freshman orientation and has been involved ever since. Now a senior, it’s where she’s made her first Catholic friends, including a core group of women who meet for a small-group Bible study every week, she said.

“Public university is really hard when you’re a Catholic, because there’s all this noise everywhere, so this has been like a home away from home,” she said. “…Getting involved immediately really does help you keep your faith. And I’ve also found a lot of people who have been restored to their faith here.”

Transitional deacon Michael Laugeman, left center, spoke with Jonathon Roumi, left, Trent Kirks, right center, and his brother Cole Kirks during a community dinner March 31 at the Catholic Student Center at Lindenwood University.

On Tuesday of Holy Week at Lindenwood University, students crowded into the living room-turned-chapel at the Catholic Student Center for Mass with chaplain Father George Staley. Dinner followed, provided by a men’s group from nearby St. Charles Borromeo and St. Peter parishes.

“A big goal of ours is to imitate Christ’s life as much as we can,” campus minister Jill Joeckel said. “And that looks like sharing meals together and then entering into discipleship and formation time, and also being able to have fun together.”

Joeckel and Father Staley work alongside young adult Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionaries to minister to Catholic students on campus and reach out to the wider student population.

Anna Borchert came to Lindenwood from Kansas City, Kansas, to study education, starting her freshman year “ready to walk away” from the faith. She did, for the first couple of weeks; then a friend from her sorority invited her to a Bible study.

“Having a community really showed me how to grow and how to be accountable,” Borchert said. “I have grown so much from being involved here…it’s completely changed my life, and now I’m going to be a FOCUS missionary after I graduate. The community here is just so good and constantly pushing you to be a better person and a better follower of Christ.”

Borchert now serves as president of the Catholic Student Union, a student leadership team that helps plan activities and ministry through the Catholic Student Center. This year, she helped organize Service Saturdays, twice-monthly opportunities for students to serve in the wider community with organizations. “We get our faith and we get all these blessings, but then we have to also take it out to others,” she said.

Father Staley has been serving as chaplain at Lindenwood since 2023. His main priority is “to put people in front of the Lord,” he said.

“God is the one who can change hearts, and my goal is just, how can I make a space for the students to come to encounter Christ, to grow deeper in their relationship with the Lord, just to be with Him?” he said. “That manifests itself in a lot of different ways — that can be Bible studies, adoration time, Mass, confession, that could be even just being together for sharing of life.”

College is a time when students are forming their own identity, separate from their parents, and making decisions about practicing faith, Father Staley said.

“I think it’s a crucial time, and I think we as a Church should be walking with them in that moment and proposing something and inviting them, and helping them realize that maybe the faith they’ve had growing up — it actually does have purpose and meaning and is really life-giving,” he said.

Lindenwood University student Alyssa Birkenmeier, left, and FOCUS missionary Hannah Walther talked after a community dinner March 31 at the Catholic Student Center at Lindenwood University in St. Charles.

How to donate

The financial goal of the 2026 Annual Catholic Appeal is $16.5 million. Approximately 93 cents of every dollar goes back into the community in the form of direct services. The appeal will be conducted in parishes the weekends of April 18-19, April 25-26 and May 2-3. To learn more about the Annual Catholic Appeal, visit aca.archstl.org.

SERVING OUR PARISHES DIRECTLY: $3,140,000

Elementary School Assistance: $2,050,000
Stewardship and Development Support for Parishes, Schools and Agencies: $500,000
Office of Peace and Justice: $185,000
Parish Emergency Assistance Fund: $180,000
Parish Food Pantries: $125,000
Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis: $50,000
Basilica of St. Louis, King of France: $50,000

SERVING OUR YOUTH: $3,635,000