A Letter from Our Bishop

I need your help! Can you imagine a neighborhood without a local Catholic Church, where the nearest Masses are so full that you cannot even get into the church building, and you have nowhere else to go to a Catholic Mass?  Are you thinking this is some far away place like Africa or China? My friend, this situation exists, right here in Santa Clara County - in our Diocese - in the Santee area on the eastside of San Jose.
Yes, I need your help! I need your help to open a new parish in this area of San Jose, in one of the most economically challenged neighborhoods in the county. Our future parishioners cannot build this church alone and they need our help now. I am asking you to help me help them.
Providence has made it possible for us to purchase land with a church building and to establish a new parish as early as January 2012.  I need your help to raise $6M to open the doors of this new Catholic Parish dedicated to Our Lady of Refuge.  I am asking every registered diocesan family to participate in this one-time appeal on behalf of the people of Our Lady of Refuge Parish.
Your one-time gift of just $100 (or more if you can afford it) will allow us to meet the needs of this Catholic community and provide the support it needs to flourish as our newest parish. If every registered family in the Diocese would make a one-time gift of $100, we would meet our goal. All of the money raised in this appeal will go directly to establishing and operating this new parish.
If you are not able to support this effort financially, please commit to a pledge of prayer for its success. Return the enclosed envelope with your commitment to your local parish the weekend of November 5 or put it in the mail today. You can also donate online at www.dsj.org/ourladyofrefuge.
This is truly a unique opportunity for all Catholics throughout the Diocese of San Jose to come together in one great effort to make this dream come true. I am depending upon you to help open the doors of Our Lady of Refuge Parish. Let us be a Diocese unafraid to dream. With your help, we can build our new parish, together in Christ.
With every best wish and kind regard, I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Patrick J. McGrath
Bishop of San Jose