Legacy for Our Mission cabinet celebrates campaign’s success

Members of the Legacy for Our Mission: For Our Children and the Future Campaign pose at the Indianapolis home of campaign chair Jerry Semler on Sept. 29. The cabinet members are, front row, from left, John Duffy, Thomas Hirschauer and L. H. Bayley; second row, Eugene Tempel, Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein and Jerry Semler; third row, David Milroy and Richard Pfleger; fourth row, Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel and Joseph Therber; fifth row, William McGowan and Timothy McGinley. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

Four years ago, the lay leaders that made up most of the cabinet of the Legacy for Our Mission: For Our Children and the Future archdiocesan capital campaign were a bit skeptical.

They weren’t sure if $100 million could be raised to support the ministry of the archdiocese’s 151 parishes and such shared ministries as giving aid to people in need and forming future priests.

Just ask campaign vice chairman Richard Pfleger, a member of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis.

“When I heard $100 million, to be honest, I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” he said. “The economy then was not good.

“But the people continually stepped up. It’s amazing how generous Catholics are when they’re given a clear case of supporting the less fortunate in particular.”

Campaign cabinet member David Milroy, a member of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, was even more stark in his initial assessment.

“I thought, ‘You’re nuts,’ ” he said. “There’s no way that we could do this. I was willing to give it a try, but it just seemed doubtfully ambitious.”

On Sept. 29, some four years after the campaign was launched, cabinet members met at campaign chair Jerry Semler’s home in Indianapolis to celebrate the fact that 33,000 Catholics across central and southern Indiana pledged $104 million and some 14,000 volunteers worked to make the campaign a success. (See a list of all the cabinet members)

“It’s incredibly inspiring,” Pfleger said. “When you look at the amount of people—33,000 people who ended up donating something to this campaign across 151 parishes—that’s incredible when you think about it.”

At the celebration, Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, just back from leading an archdiocesan pilgrimage to the Holy Land, put the campaign in the context of the yearlong observance of the 175th anniversary of the archdiocese’s founding, which the pilgrimage kicked off.

“[Founding] Bishop [Simon] Bruté’s focus on serving Christ and the Church, and his understanding that the work of God would need to be accomplished little by little are still guiding principles today,” Archbishop Buechlein said.

The archbishop also noted that the celebration of the campaign’s success took place on the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, whom he described as “God’s messengers.”

“I’d like to think that, in our own limited way, we are being God’s messengers through the blessings that will come from the Legacy for Our Mission campaign,” he said. “Your leadership on this campaign serves not only the Church today, but it will [also] serve generations to come.”

Semler echoed the archbishop’s gratitude for the cabinet’s work on the campaign.

“I want to thank the campaign cabinet for all they accomplished these last three or four years,” Semler said. “Rick and I met with the archbishop before the campaign. We discussed some of the issues facing the archdiocese, and what we needed to do and how to lay the groundwork for a successful campaign.

“I think we were very blessed. The Spirit was with us through the time [of the campaign].”

Joseph Therber, executive director of the archdiocese’s secretariat for stewardship and development, praised the cabinet.

“The campaign cabinet is a tremendously gifted group of leaders,” he said. “Their generous involvement, advice and counsel were instrumental factors in the success of the campaign. Our campaign consultant often told us that the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ lay leaders are unmatched nationally in the depth and quality of their contributions.

“Working closely with this group has been a unique and powerful experience that I will always treasure,” Therber said. “The entire Catholic community has been touched by the work of the campaign cabinet. For this, our Church will always be grateful.”

In his work on the campaign’s cabinet, Milroy primarily assisted parishes in the southern part of the archdiocese in understanding the campaign’s goals and how they could benefit through it.

“The success of it says volumes about the health of the Church here locally,” Milroy said. “In that sense, the amount of money we raised and the good that’s going to be done in local parishes and at the archdiocesan level is huge.”

Milroy was gratified to be able to work with his fellow cabinet members on the campaign.

“It was just humbling to be a part of a group of so many successful, talented people who were all committed to making this campaign a [success],” he said.

But he was even more impressed by the thousands of people in parishes across the archdiocese who invested so much of their time and talent for Legacy for Our Mission.

“I know that at every parish there were people who put in as much, if not more, time than I did to try to make this thing successful,” Milroy said. “It was a good opportunity for me, and it was an honor to be a part of it. But I was just one small story in the whole broader Church that came together.”

(For more information on Legacy for Our Mission, log on to www.archindy.org/legacy.) †