Spanish bishops present 'God is counting on you' campaign for Day of the Diocesan Church

The Catholic Church in Spain will mark the Day of the Diocesan Church on Sunday, November 8, under the motto "Dios cuenta contigo" ("God is counting on you"). The campaign calls for commitment rooted in gratitude and says the life of dioceses and parishes takes on meaning only through the shared response of all the baptized, each according to their own vocation and state of life. It was presented on Monday, October 26, at the headquarters of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, Spain's counterpart of the USCCB. Bishop Vicente Rebollo, head of the conference's secretariat for the Support of the Church, and José María Albalad, the secretariat's director, spoke at the presentation.

The campaign takes as its starting point what Pope Leo XIV said during his apostolic visit to Spain in June. The pope stressed then that the commitment of the whole People of God was central, "each one contributing his gift for the common mission." He also warned that a faith detached from the daily commitment to transform the life of dioceses "becomes a museum of the past."

The campaign sets out several pillars that support the Church's work locally. Prayer is the soul of everything the Church does, it says, because through prayer the fruits are greater and longer lasting. Time given freely takes many forms: a warm smile, a hand held out, quietly staying close to someone who is suffering. The gifts and talents the Lord has given each of the faithful are equally necessary. Financial contributions, both one-off donations and regular subscriptions, sustain the Church's social and spiritual work across the country.

Visibility and shared responsibility

The Day of the Diocesan Church is also an occasion to make known what the Church is and what it does, and to strengthen its commitment to transparency and accountability. The campaign does this through the magazine "Nuestra Iglesia," published in a separate edition for each of Spain's 69 territorial dioceses. Each edition records the life that the shared response of all the baptized brings to that local Church. Full information is available at www.portantos.es.

The Day of the Diocesan Church invites Catholics to renew their commitment to a Church community that is close at hand, participatory and at the service of the mission. The campaign's central message reads: "Your diocese, your family. A commitment of all of us, as a living and co-responsible Church, at the service of the mission."