Diocesan Development Drive strives for $2M mark

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Michael and Carolyn Stransky have stepped down as chairpersons of the Cathedral of the Madeleine’s DDD, but said they are willing to continue to make calls during the phone-a-thon.

SALT LAKE CITY – The annual DDD celebration dinner this year was not only a gathering to give thanks for God’s goodness, but also an unveiling of a new wrinkle in the perennial search for financial support for the local Church.

The DDD is the primary funding mechanism for the bishop’s programs and services, which include everything from support for seminarians to youth programs.

Although the amount pledged this year is $2 million – a mark reached each of the last three years – the total number of people donating to the DDD has declined since 2005.

“We know that a part of the reason is because of our economy, but this also tells us that this is the area we have to work harder and become more creative in the way our message is told,” said DDD Director Shannon Lee at the dinner. “In light of our economy the way it is today, we have to work to ensure the message is reaching prospective donors and at the same time keeping our faithful donors.”

About 70 percent of the money from the drive is raised during the in-church solicitation phase, which begins in February and includes phone-a-thons. The phone-a-thons will continue, but in 2011 the DDD will roll out a new website featuring videos of Utah Catholics telling why they support the DDD.

“Video is quickly taking over the Internet,” because people would rather watch than read, said Roger Kerr, creator of the website, which will have about a dozen videos in Spanish and English of Utah Catholics and their stories.

This is in keeping with the DDD’s 2011 theme ‘Why I Give.’

“I think people give because, first of all, there’s a need and secondly, they’re asked. That’s why Carolyn and I first gave,” said Michael Stransky, who with his wife has coordinated the DDD for the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

At the dinner, the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, thanked those who volunteer to collect pledges for the DDD. “It’s a very crucial and integral part of our life as a Church, and yet it’s something that’s not easy,” he said. “It takes a lot of work; it’s emotionally draining. You’re giving of yourselves to our local Church and that’s the great beauty of it. You are making possible those buildings and those programs and those salaries that go toward making this local Church, the Diocese of Salt Lake City. All of the money that goes into the DDD is being used for these purposes, to build up the Body of Christ. This is a gift that is participating in the divine. We are responding to God’s call, and that response is precious, it’s beautiful and sacred.”

During the dinner, Lee announced that Michael and Carolyn Stransky are stepping down as organizers of the Cathedral of the Madeleine’s Diocesan Development Drive, a position they have held since 1999.

Most people chair the drive for a few years at most. The Stranskys will be missed for their “determined efforts each year on behalf of the Cathedral and the Madeleine and the diocesan ministries, programs and services,” Lee said., “I believe that Mike and Carolyn have called every parishioner ever registered in the Cathedral of the Madeleine during the phone-a-thons since 1999.”

The Stranskys became involved with the DDD in 1970, when volunteers went door to door asking for pledges, Michael Stransky said. “That was 40 years ago and since then the DDD has grown immensely. It’s much more sophisticated now but you still talk to people one on one but you do it via the phone.”

While announcing the theme for the 2011 drive, ‘Why I Give,’ Stransky said he and his wife gave the first time to the DDD because they were asked. “We believed in our Church, we believed in our parish, we believed in Msgr. McDougall, God bless him, and when Msgr. McDougall asked you for something, you did it, and you did it willingly and you did it with love because that’s the way he asked.”

Although asking people to donate may be perceived as an uncomfortable job, “there were maybe two or three people in 40 years who really got the least bit angry with us.… I think people expect to get the calls.” Stransky said. “They really do expect us to ask them to give and they’re really receptive to the notion that there is a need. We have to ask, and then we have to ask others to ask, and then we have to give.”