Spanish Church launches 'God is counting on you' campaign for Diocesan Church Day

Spain's Diocesan Church Day will be observed this year on Sunday, November 8, under the motto "Dios cuenta contigo" ("God is counting on you"). The campaign describes the day as a call to commitment rooted in gratitude. The life of dioceses and parishes, it says, makes sense only through the shared response of all the baptized, each according to his own vocation and state of life.

The campaign was presented on Monday, October 26, at the headquarters of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, Spain's counterpart of the USCCB. Bishop Vicente Rebollo, who heads 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 the messages Pope Leo XIV delivered during his apostolic visit to Spain in June. The pope said then that the commitment of the whole People of God is central, "each contributing his own gift for the common mission." He also warned that a faith cut off from the daily work of transforming the life of the dioceses "becomes a museum of the past."

The campaign sets out several pillars for the Church's work in each diocese. Prayer is described as the soul of everything the Church does, bearing greater and longer-lasting fruit. Time given freely takes many forms: a friendly smile, a helping hand, quietly supporting those who suffer. The gifts and talents the Lord has given each of the faithful are equally essential. Financial contributions, both one-off donations and regular subscriptions, sustain the Church's social and spiritual work throughout the country.

Visibility and shared participation

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

The day is an invitation to renew commitment to a Church community that is close, participatory and at the service of the mission. The campaign's central message reads: "Your diocese, your family. A commitment of all, as a living and co-responsible Church, at the service of the mission."