Totus Tuus fund aims to strengthen one of Diocese of Wichita’s hallmarks
If a special sort of tree bore a bumper crop of both choice apples and select cherries, might it not be worth some extra care, especially if doing so would almost definitely expand that harvest?
As he reflects on the fruits from a program in its 39th year, Totus Tuus Executive Director Anthony Keiser notes that it has influenced the lives of the thousands of youth, from grades 1-12, who have participated – often repeatedly – in both the camp and parish contexts.
“Attending creates encounters with Jesus that those children remember for the rest of their lives,” he said. “We have seen entire families come into the Church or reconnect with their faith because of what their children experienced in the parish program or at camp.”
Profound as that is, the fruit borne in the lives of the young adult missionaries who administer the program is arguably an even greater bounty. “Study after study shows that the strongest, fastest growing religions have young adults go through intense formation and then specifically send them out into mission,” Keiser said. “Totus Totus is really the only program in the Catholic Church that does that right now, and the proof is in the pudding.”
That includes dozens of missionaries who have gone on to priestly and religious vocations, as well as numerous examples of forming what Keiser calls the Diocese of Wichita’s “pillar Catholic families.”
In light of that, he reports, the diocese is establishing the Totus Tuus Fund to help grow the program that produces so much. According to Keiser, some key considerations flow from the fund’s creation:
• Fees have not increased for the parish Totus Tuus program for six years, despite notable inflation in the broader U.S. economy during that period. The fund seeks to ensure a parish’s hosting price remains stable.
• Fees for Camp Totus Tuus will remain the same indefinitely to prevent financial considerations from weighing heavily for those who want to participate.
• Totus Tuus will have more resources to recruit, train, and form missionaries from among the best pool of potential candidates to serve in the program and make a generational impact on the broader Church.
Essentially, Keiser says, every dollar given to the Totus Tuus Fund – now and in the future – will duplicate itself in every generation.
Aiming at growth
In the time since its humble launch in a couple of Southeast Kansas parishes by Fr. Bernard Gorges in 1987, Totus Tuus has sent thousands of young adults throughout the United States on mission to teach, preach, and bring children to Jesus Christ, Keiser notes.
Although it remains headquartered in the Diocese of Wichita, Keiser notes that 50 other U.S. dioceses provide Totus Tuus. “This fund will also help us further cultivate that,” he said. “It’s amazing that we have grown to 50 dioceses in the United States alone, but we have 145 to go.”
In the Diocese of Wichita, parishes pay $2,000 to host a weeklong Totus Tuus program, but the actual cost is much greater. Each missionary receives a weekly stipend of $375, Keiser reports, and he estimates increasing it to $500 will expand the pool of potential missionary candidates considerably.
“With the cost of living and of college, a lot of young people cannot even consider it based on our stipend,” he said. “We want to recruit from among the best while also being able to keep prices low for the parishes and for camp.”
Increasing missionaries’ stipend to $500 each will increase the total cost per parish to about $5,000, Keiser estimates, but the diocese has no plans to increase parishes’ share of that. For many years, Totus Tuus has bridged the gap between its expenses and income with a fundraising banquet, but now Bishop Carl Kemme has decided that the diocese will fill that shortfall. Therefore, funds raised from the banquet will build the Totus Tuus fund.
“Totus Tuus is important enough that it’s worth propping up to ensure that any family and any parish can afford it,” Keiser said. “We haven’t raised prices since 2019, but the only way we can do that is by supporting it through other means. This fund is one way we hope to do that.”
The next Totus Tuus banquet is Friday, April 10 at St. Catherine of Siena in Wichita. Learn more by clicking here.
“People may wonder if this will be a fund that just sits there,” Keiser said. “No, we will be able to utilize these dollars immediately. Donors can make an impact on Totus Tuus forever.”
