Eastern Oklahoma Catholic June 2012 : Page 28
your news St. John employee receives national award Reggie Ripple, director of St. John Hospital’s Home Health and Hospice, has been named one of eight recipients of the Catholic Health Asso-ciation’s Tomorrow’s Leaders Award. This is the second year for the national award that, according to CHA website, is meant “to encourage the promising young leaders of to-day to continue their careers in the ministry, CHA is introduc-ing the Tomorrow’s Leaders program, each year honoring Reggie Ripple an impressive cadre of dedi-cated, high-performing individuals who already have demonstrated commitment to advancing the mission of Catholic health care.” Mr. Ripple, a parishioner of the Church of St. Mary in Tulsa, said that coworkers and supervisors nominated him for the award without his knowledge. He was, to say the least, surprised when he received a letter telling him that he had won. “I was speechless,” he said. “I was also very humbled that my coworkers would take the time to fill out the papers and write the letters that were part of the nomination process.” Mr. Ripple and the seven other award recipients will be recog-nized at the 2012 Catholic Health Assembly on June 4 in Phila-delphia. He also will attend an exclusive leadership formation retreat where he can meet face-to-face with senior health-care leaders from across the ministry. “I am really looking forward to sitting down with a lot of the great minds in the industry,” he said. Thank you – DDF goal reached Thanks to the generosity of the people of the Diocese of Tulsa, the Diocesan Development Fund has reached its goal. In recent years, due in large part to the downturn in the economy, parish contributions have fallen short of their goal. That was not the case in 2012. Parish donations topped the goal of $2 mil-lion on May 1, faster than any appeal in recent memory. Suzanne Pisaturo, director of the DDF, said in an email to all pastors and chancery staff, “The pastors have done a wonder-ful job in presenting the cause to the people … and the people have placed great importance on the ministries of their church.” The DDF is the major source of funding for operation and staffing of the chancery and it also funds a number of ministries ranging from catechetical services to vocations to marriage preparation classes. It is the support of the people of the dio-cese that makes it possible to do collectively what no one par-ish can do alone, Mrs. Pisaturo added. New this year was the Crozier Society, which recognizes those who reach a special level of giving of $1,000 or more. Those 547 individuals gave nearly half of the goal, almost $1 million. In addition, 27 parishes had met their fundraising at press time. That’s important because when a parish reaches it DDF goal, a percentage of the donations is returned to that parish. There is still time to help your parish reach its goal. The cam-paign runs through Dec. 31 and any gifts received between then and now will be credited to the parish goal. To see a list of parish donations and goals and to find out how the DDF campaign is progressing, visit the diocesan website, www.dioceseoftulsa.org, click on the Development Fund tab at the top of the page and then click on the DDF results tab on the left side of the subsequent page. For ques-tions or comments about the DDF, contact Suzanne Pisaturo at 918.307.4921 or Suzanne.pisaturo@dioceseoftulsa.org Todd Goldsmith has announced that this academic year will be his last as superin-tendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Tulsa. Mr. Goldsmith began his tenure in January of 2003. In a letter dated April 26, Mr. Goldsmith, who has three growing children, said that it was time for him to “take a step back, spend more time with my family and pursue other profes-sional teaching opportunities.” While his many accomplishments include working to maintain an outstanding level of quality education in diocesan schools and pro-viding avenues of tuition assistance in challeng-ing economic times, Mr. Goldsmith said that working with individuals committed to Catholic education will be his fondest memories. “I’ve met some amazing people that do their absolute best to make Catholic education in the diocese as good as it can possibly be,” he said. “I will always cherish every day that I have been in this position and also cherish those relation-ships I have developed.” He went on to thank Bishop Slattery for his unwavering support throughout the years and for the opportunity to become an administrator at a relatively young age. Although no longer serving as superinten-dent, Mr. Goldsmith will continue to contribute to Catholic education in the diocese. Starting in the fall semester, he will teach fourth grade at St. Pius X School. Bishop Slattery has asked Msgr. Dennis Dorney, vicar general, to form a national search committee to find a replacement. The committee met for the first time on May 3. “I know will you join me in wishing Todd well,” said Msgr. Dorney in a letter to priests and chancery employees. “He has done a marvelous job over the years and we will miss him.” 28 Eastern Oklahoma Catholic / June 2012 / www. dioceseoftulsa .org
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