Watch the video to learn about the faith of the Church at work in Brooklyn and Queens.

Dear Parishioners:

We are once again encouraging one another to make a sacrifice for the Annual Catholic Appeal (annualcatholicappeal.org), an $8 million initiative conducted by the diocese to support the pastoral, charitable, and educational ministries of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn and Queens. The work and services made possible through your donations to the Annual Catholic Appeal help people in Brooklyn and Queens in ways that no one parish can do alone.

The 2024 theme is Called to Communion, Participation, and Mission. Our parish goal for 2024 is to raise $114,568 toward the ACA total. Once we reach our parish target goal for the year, we will receive all the funds raised over our goal to fund initiatives right here at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. Pledges are payable through December 31, 2024. If you receive a pledge envelope mailed to your home, please use it. We will conduct in-pew commitment weekend at the Sunday Masses on February 25; you can find envelopes in the church, or you can donate online (details below).

OLQM was the top contributor to the 2023 Annual Catholic Appeal. Read more > 

We invite you to watch the 2024 ACA video to learn about the faith of the Church at work in Brooklyn and Queens. We also have answers to some frequently asked questions about the Appeal.

Let us pray that the 2024 Annual Catholic Appeal will be successful in both allowing us to reach out in love to those in need, as well as allowing our hearts to answer the call to communion, participation, and misison. God bless you for your goodness.

— FATHER FRANCIS J. PASSENANT
Pastor, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs R.C. Church

Frequently asked questions

2023 Annual Catholic Appeal Year-End Report for Donors
What programs, exactly, does the ACA support?
How is the ACA different from regular parish giving?
Are matching gifts possible?

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Programs and services that your Appeal donations support

Donations to the ACA have a direct impact on dozens of programs that are beyond the abilities of any one parish and that benefit the faithful throughout Brooklyn and Queens. Funds are used especially for the following:

• Seminarians preparing to be ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn. A gift of $1,920 can provide room and board for one month for a seminarian.
• Faith Formation initiatives include religious education for adults (RCIA), Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) programs, diaconal formation, as well as lay ministries.
• Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens (CCBQ). ACA provides critical support for CCBQ, which delivers child care, elder care, and community services to nearly 100,000 people in the Diocese each year. It provides much-needed food packages and services at the 20 Catholic Charities parish-based food pantries and an additional 27 affiliate pantries located throughout both boroughs.
• Catholic Youth Initiative. ACA provides funding for parishes to hire youth ministers and to serve the formation and spiritual needs of those young people who want a deep encounter with Jesus Christ.
• Catholic Migration Services (CMS) “welcomes the stranger in our midst.” Masses are regularly held in 26 different languages across our Diocese of multicultural populations, and the mission of CMS is to provide pastoral, educational, advocacy, and legal services to advance equality and social justice in this changing and diverse population.
• Futures in Education Scholarship Assistance is available, ranging from $500 to $2,700 per student/year, for 69 Catholic elementary schools and academies that educate 18,713 students in Brooklyn and Queens.
• Chaplaincies within the Diocese bring the sacraments of the church to those who are ill. They serve high schools, colleges, prisons, and 22 hospitals.
• Retired Priests living at the Bishop Mugavero Residence receive assistance principally thanks to ACA funds.
• Parish Assistance is made available to 175 parishes (including our own).

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How is the Annual Catholic Appeal different from regular parish giving?

• The Annual Catholic Appeal is a pledged campaign that raises money that is payable monthly from March through December 31. It is a diocesan campaign that raises $8 million annually for the Diocese of Brooklyn/Queens as a whole to help tens of thousands of people in our city. Online giving to the Annual Catholic Appeal is managed by the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn Queens through the Give Central payment processing platform.
• Appeal fundraising is entirely independent of giving to the parish, even though every parish in the Diocese is assigned a financial goal toward the Appeal total.
• Parish giving is your weekly Sunday offering that provides our parish with ordinary income supporting the work of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church. To give to the parish directly, you can use the envelopes we provide or you can give electronically using the Parish Giving online payment option on this website.

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Double your donation with a corporate matching gift

• Many corporations match the charitable contributions of their employees. Talk to your company’s Human Resources professional to determine if your company participates in a Matching Gift Program that would give either directly to the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens or its educational institution: Cathedral Prep School and Seminary, a four-year academic high school that is fully accredited by the Middle States Association.

• Or contact the Diocese’s Annual Catholic Appeal Office for information about other Matching Gift opportunities. The phone number is 718-965-7300, ext. 1609, or email parishgiving@dioceseofbrooklyn.org.

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