(Radio Iowa) – The Catholic Diocese of Davenport will launch the public phase of an ambitious capital campaign next weekend, with a 28-million dollar goal. Michael Hoffman, director of development and stewardship, says the silent phase of the campaign began last fall after a consultant’s feasibility study showed a strong majority of diocese members supported a campaign and would be willing to contribute.

“We decided it would be a good time,” Hoffman says. “Obviously we’re coming out of the pandemic, churches are back open, people are feeling a need to get back into the church, and we felt that it was the right time to launch this campaign.” The money will pay for health care for priests and their retirement benefits, to train new priests, and to help parishes in the diocese.

“Whether or not it’s maintenance, new roof, repairing tuckpointing, or mission – that is expanding the role of the church in that particular community,” he says. The Davenport Diocese includes 85,000 Catholics in 74 parishes, and covers 22 counties in southeastern Iowa — from the Quad Cities and Clinton, west to Grinnell, south through Pella and Oskaloosa to the Missouri border, then east to the Mississippi River.