DETROIT — With pledges having reached $64 million from more than 45,000 households by the end of November, Wave 5 of the Changing Lives Together capital campaign kicked off Dec. 3.

“You’re here tonight to consecrate the resolve you’ve already made to your parish and the Church,” Archbishop Allen Vigneron told representatives from the 78 parishes involved in Wave 5 — the final and largest of the waves in which the campaign has been rolled out — gathered at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

The Mass and reception marked the official start of their fundraising effort, though preliminary organizational efforts were already under way to various degrees in the parishes.

Changing Lives Together Of the overall Changing Lives Together goal of $135 million, 70 percent of collected pledges goes to parishes, 30 percent to the Archdiocese of Detroit for various ministries. Parishes that exceed their set targets, however, keep 100 percent of the funds collected once their target is met. And that overage is exempt from the cathedraticum, the 7 percent “tax” the archdiocese assesses on most contributions given to parishes. Parishes select the purposes to which to dedicate their portion of the money. Of the archdiocese’s share of proceeds: $15 million goes to the endowment established to support Catholic education $8 million to support seminarians and lay ministry students $4 million to maintain the Church’s witness in the city of Detroit For parish-by-parish fundraising results so far, visit www.aodclt.org.

The $135 million campaign is designed to strengthen the parishes of the archdiocese, with 70 percent of the money pledged to meet each parish’s target staying with the parish for its own projects or purposes, and the other 30 percent going to the archdiocese.

Archbishop Vigneron acknowledged that, on one level, Changing Lives Together is about money, but he emphasized that the underlying purpose is to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy that the Church may be a “house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).

“The point is to bring people to Christ Jesus, whom they hope and long for,” the archbishop said in his homily.

At the reception following Mass, some of the parish representatives told The Michigan Catholic why they became involved in the campaign.

“Primarily because I feel it’s our legacy to support and our tradition to pass along — this is where we are in our time to carry on Christ’s work,” said Jeff Wooten, Changing Lives Together chairman at Immaculate Conception Parish in the Ira Township village of Anchorville, the archbishop’s home parish.

Wooten said the parish intends to use its portion of the proceeds to expand its school gymnasium and locker rooms, build a new front entrance for the school, and repair the roof of the church.

Jim Beck, campaign co-chairman for St. William Parish in Walled Lake, said he became involved at the request of his pastor, Fr. Michael Savickas.

“I see it as a way to contribute to the growth of the parish and the growth of the Catholic Church, and, hopefully, to bringing back some folks who’ve maybe strayed a bit,” Beck said.

While the target set for the parish is $1.04 million, he said Fr. Savickas has upped that to $1.4 million to generate additional funds for parish purposes, such as lighting improvements, refinishing pews and supporting the parish’s youth group and other programs.

Pilot Wave parishes have reached 109 percent of their goal, with some still soliciting pledges, said Bill Blaul, campaign communication coordinator for the archdiocese.

Wave 2 parishes have reached 84 percent of their goal; Wave 3 is at 86 percent; and Wave 4 is at 32 percent, Blaul said.