Cardinal William H. Keeler, kicking off an archdiocese-wide appeal for $3.1 million yesterday at a Northeast Baltimore parochial school, shared the spotlight with about 350 polite, uniformed students -- nearly a third of whom receive tuition assistance.
Money raised since 1992 in the Lenten campaign is "helping hundreds of families send their children to Catholic schools, but the demand for such tuition assistance is much greater," Cardinal Keeler said.
The goal of this year's appeal is $100,000 more than the total raised last year, according to archdiocesan officials.
Cardinal Keeler's pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade audience, the student body of Cardinal Shehan School, was a subtle demonstration of a key claim of the archdiocesan fund-raisers: that thousands of dollars collected in the parishes during Lent will benefit people who are not Roman Catholics. About 80 percent of the Shehan students are non-Catholic.
"This is a big day," the cardinal told them after they stood and applauded him on a cue from their teachers. "Today, we start our 1995 Lenten appeal."
After the cardinal's brief talk for the television cameras about fund-raising goals -- including help for the homeless and people with AIDS -- Sister Mary Vandergeest, Shehan's principal, told him, "Our choir would like to present you with a gift of song."
Travis Sneed, a self-assured sixth-grader, took over. In a strong voice, he said, "Welcome, your eminence," before announcing the first offering by the 33-voice choir, "Lord, I'm Available to You."
This song was followed by a syncopated "Joyful, Joyful, Lord, We Adore Thee," begun by young soloists, picked up by the choir's swaying singers and dancers, and capped by a performance by a line of rappers. A pleased cardinal led the applause. He said, "Look's like we have a whole new generation of people for the entertainment field."
Letters from the cardinal were mailed this week to 225,000 Catholic households, announcing the annual appeal that officially begins tomorrow -- Ash Wednesday -- and concludes 6 1/2 weeks later on Easter Sunday.
This year's $3.1 million goal is divided five ways:
* $750,000 for "our spiritual growth," which includes post-seminary education of priests and lay ministers and for youth retreats.
* $685,000 for "the less fortunate," including programs for the homeless in Western Maryland.
* $885,000 for "parishes in need," including emergency capital repairs.
* $40,000 for Pope John Paul II's "worldwide evangelization";
* $780,000 for the Catholic schools of the archdiocese, including "marketing efforts."
Cardinal Shehan School, at Loch Raven Boulevard and Woodbourne Avenue was once the St. Matthew's Parish School. It was renamed in 1988 when the St. Thomas More parochial school was closed and merged with St. Matthew's.
The Rev. Joseph Muth, pastor of St. Matthew's Church, and the Rev. Victor Galeone, pastor of St. Thomas More's, said 65 of the 355 students in the school come from their parishes. About 30 percent of them receive assistance with tuition, which is $2,475 a year, Father Galeone said.
Father Muth said about 90 percent of the students are from minority groups.
During the assembly, Cardinal Keeler was presented with a wrapped gift from the school. It was Cyprian Davis' "History of Black Catholics in the United States," and it prompted Cardinal Keeler to remark on the importance of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in black history.
Cardinal Keeler also noted the generosity of the Catholics of the archdiocese, saying that 50,000 of its families had contributed $8 million to the appeals since 1992.