Fr. Kang Young Lee, pastor of St. Columba Kim Mission, elevates the Eucharist during the Ash Wednesday Mass earlier this year, March 6. Ninety-eight percent of parishioners are participating in the “Together Let Us Go Forth ~ Juntos Sigamos Adelante” campaign. (Jesús Valencia/CATHOLIC SUN)

The “Together Let Us Go Forth ~ Juntos Sigamos Adelante” campaign gives parishes the opportunity to meet the immediate needs of their community while joining with the rest of the diocese to build up the body of Christ through the work of discipleship and evangelization.

It has been a great joy to see the generosity of so many in the Diocese of Phoenix to support their brothers and sisters in Christ, both those in their own parish and those they will never meet.

The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted is the bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix. He was installed as the fourth bishop of Phoenix on Dec. 20, 2003, and is the spiritual leader of the diocese’s 1.1 million Catholics.

Your charity is a reflection of the wondrous gift we have received in Jesus Christ, for “We love because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). Through your generosity, you are sharing the love and mercy of Jesus with thousands of people throughout the Diocese of Phoenix. You are building up the body of Christ, of which we are all a part.

This is the cord that binds each of us together: through Baptism, we are all members of the body of Christ, and we each have a responsibility to care for one another. Thank you for your prayers and support of the “Together Let Us Go Forth ~ Juntos Sigamos Adelante” campaign, which cares for the physical and spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters, both now and for years to come.