Dear St. Agnes Family,

This year let’s approach the Annual Archdiocesan Appeal in a new way. We are part of the greater family of the Catholic Church in the Bay Area and around the world and your generosity helps many important ministries of the Church that rely on the funds generated by the AAA every year.   

For example, AAA funds the salary and work of Julio Escobar, director of the Archdiocesan Restorative Justice Ministries.  He has done amazing work over the years supporting jail and prison ministries.  He created a ministry of presence in the city for all those who are victims of violent crimes in the Bay Area, hosting prayer vigils at the places where people have been murdered in the streets and providing some measure of healing for the victim’s families.  I and members of our St. Agnes community regularly participate in these prayer vigils. Julio organized a powerful prayer vigil in Half Moon Bay recently in response to the tragic, senseless shootings there.   

For the past 2 years, St Agnes parish has been the home of the Restorative Justice monthly Excell breakfasts.  These wonderful and inspiring meetings serve formerly incarcerated young people by offering them financial support and encouragement to complete their education.    We are blessed to be able to reach out to the marginalized and poor members of our community through this program which is also funded by the AAA. 

All of our San Francisco and Marin County Catholic hospital chaplains, and our Police and Fire Department chaplains are paid through the funding raised in the AAA each year. 

The AAA also funds the training of permanent deacons in the Archdiocese.  Our own parishioner, Xristopher Compagno is in the diaconate training program.

This is the kind of work AAA supports.  This year we are asked to contribute $61,738 to AAA.   We almost met our full assessment in 2022. 

We are so blessed and gifted here at Saint Agnes.  The people of this community have consistently been faithful stewards of God’s gifts.  Let’s aim to raise the full amount in this year to come! Thank you for all you do here.

In Christ,

Fr. George Williams, S.J.