Detroit — For the first time in four years, the theme for the annual Catholic Services Appeal has changed — but that doesn’t mean its mission has.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron was set to announce the 2014 campaign — in its 33rd year — in a video message played in parishes the weekend of May 3-4. The goal of this year’s campaign is $17,839,175 — virtually unchanged in the five years since Archbishop Vigneron’s installation — while individual parish goals reflect parish membership and other factors. All of the proceeds from the campaign support vital archdiocesan ministries, programs and national collections.

This year’s theme, “Serve One Another,” takes its inspiration from the Last Supper, Archbishop Vigneron said, when Jesus washed the feet of his apostles.

“As we know, at the same time he instituted the Eucharist, the ‘source and summit’ of our faith. We are called to embrace the special challenge Jesus gives us in our baptism to witness him through serving others,” the archbishop said. “Our Catholic faith gives us the strength and will to meet this challenge, as evidenced by the remarkable support for the CSA over so many years.”

The Catholic Services Appeal, which has been the most successful diocesan fundraising campaign of its kind in the U.S. in recent years according to a 2012 study by the International Catholic Stewardship Committee, funds a variety of vital ministries and services at the archdiocesan level and beyond, including help for Catholic schools, parish religious education programs, vocations initiatives and programming for youth and young adults.

“In these and many other ways, we all share in the benefits of the CSA,” the archbishop said. A list of the 117 ministries and programs funded by the CSA can be found at www.aod.org/csa.

The archdiocesan Office of Priestly Vocations, for example, funds discernment programs for young men considering a call to the priesthood, which Fr. Tim Birney, director of priestly vocations, called a vital first step.

“Often times they ask themselves the question, ‘is the Lord calling me to the priesthood?’” Fr. Birney said. “If they can answer ‘yes’ to this question, then a visit to the seminary for a discernment weekend or discernment overnight provides the best opportunity for me as the director of priestly vocations to work with them and assist them in their discernment process.”

The CSA also helps support youth ministry programs throughout the archdiocese, such as at St. Gabriel Parish in Detroit, where Elizabeth Rodriguez found her home.

Rodriguez, 17, is now a member of the parish’s youth council after joining the youth group at the parish last year.

“It didn’t take me a lot to know that I liked it and wanted to be more involved in it,” said Rodriguez, who also participated in the National Catholic Youth Conference in Ecuador, an experience she said “completely changed my life.”

Participation in programs like the youth conference wouldn’t be possible without the CSA, Archbishop Vigneron said.

“No one parish can provide all that is made possible through the CSA, and because of gifts to the CSA, no parish has to duplicate the efforts of the archdiocese,” he said. “CSA-funded ministries, programs, and services are available to all of our parishes, benefitting faithful in our archdiocese.”