Des Moines Catholic Diocese seeks to raise 20 million dollars

The Catholic Diocese of Des Moines is conducting a 20-million-dollar capital campaign. Diocese spokesman Tom Chapman says nine million’s already been raised.He says the church thought it would be better to have a stable source of income so it could help more people. Chapman says churches will still do annual fundraising, but they’ll have a solid base and not have to increase their appeal each year. Plans for the endowment range from the care of retired priests, to Catholic Social Services that offer many kinds of aid,such as health care and retirement for priests. And they’ve had a lot of requests for help this year with energy bills, and food pantries. Chapman says the Des Moines Diocese includes roughly the southwest quarter of the state, about 30-thousand families or 95-thousand people. He says world membership in the church is increasing, and also growing in Iowa. There are nine seminarians studying to be priests in the Des Moines diocese, and there could be twenty by the end of the year. Seminary study is another beneficiary of the fundraising campaign.