Name: Diane Rosztoczy
Parish: St. Thomas Aquinas, Avondale
Role with the Campaign: Parish campaign cabinet member
What does the campaign mean?
The name of the campaign, “Together Let Us Go Forth ~ Juntos Sigamos Adelante,” is such a meaningful name. It means let’s all work together and make great strides in discipleship and evangelization, helping bring people into a closer relationship with God.
How did you get involved?
Knowing nothing about this campaign, in July I made an appointment to talk to Fr. [John] Muir, our pastor. We met in August as I had heard through the grapevine about a possible building for our St. Vincent de Paul conference to be built on our campus and was very interested. In that meeting, after other conversations he surprised me with a packet about the campaign and explained it to me. He then asked me to be a part of it.
How does this campaign speak to evangelization and discipleship?
Everything! We never really spoke about “raising money” which was very weird to me in the beginning. It seemed we were not being straightforward about what we were doing. However, once we made home visits and chatted with people, I realized that this really was about evangelization and discipleship. We spoke about the worthwhile ministries we, as a diocese, hoped to advance.
People who at first were not too interested really came through when they realized all the good that would come from this and how important it is to be a part of this opportunity to help others. Our campaign was so amazing! It was all about reaching out to others, finding those on the margins, just like Pope Francis has asked us to do. … The result is that we surpassed our goal, which is such a wonderful reflection on our St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Community.
