Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron blesses an image of St. Anne, which was given Sept. 30 to each parish that participated in the Changing Lives Together campaign.DETROIT — Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron presented representatives from nearly every parish in the Archdiocese of Detroit with a blessed image of St. Anne on Sept. 29 as a way of saying “thanks” for their participation in the ongoing Changing Lives Together capital stewardship initiative.
The images, framed portraits of a stained-glass window of the archdiocese’s patroness from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, were given to parish representatives during a Mass of thanksgiving at the cathedral. The images will be displayed in every parish that participated in Changing Lives Together.
According to a description on the back of each image, “it depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary being taught to read the scriptures by her mother, Saint Anne, who was recently named by the Vatican as the Patron Saint of our Archdiocese.”
Changing Lives Together has received pledges of nearly $109 million toward a goal of $135 million, with 72,000 Catholic households participating so far. Seventy percent or more of funds from the campaign will remain with the parishes that raised them, with the remaining 30 percent being used to help Catholic families with tuition assistance at Catholic schools, training priests and lay ministers, and strengthening the Church’s presence in the city of Detroit.
The campaign has been conducted in six “waves,” with groups of parishes conducting the campaign at different intervals. The sixth and final wave involving 14 parishes is under way.
