Accountability Report
Accountability Report
Here in Central Texas, the Church is experiencing a few growing pains
By Helen Osman
Catholic Spirit Staff
For those who have lived in Central Texas, especially in the Austin metroplex area, growth has become accepted as a way of life. New roads, new neighborhoods, new parishes are almost becoming commonplace. Yet, a look at the numbers is still staggering.
According to the City of Austin, the city will see almost 19,000 new residents every year from 2000 to 2010 –– that’s about 50 people each day moving into Austin!
Recognizing that growth was happening, regardless of the diocese’s preparedness, Bishop Gregory Aymond saw the need for long term planning. A Strategic Pastoral Plan was begun in 2000 to offer a road map for the diocese to maneuver the burgeoning population growth. Analysts determined that the diocese would see 63,000 new people each year, with about 16 percent of those newcomers being Catholic. Most of that growth would happen in Hays, Travis and Williamson counties, although eye popping numbers were also extrapolated for all counties along Interstate 35 and Brazos County.
A strategic plan must realize that goals and targets are constantly changing, however. With the development of a biannual priests’ convocation, new expectations and challenges are constantly being realized. Responses unfold, including the recent announcement to develop a diocesan lay advisory council to provide an additional source of consultation for the bishop, to answer those expectations and challenges.
But the diocese’s response to this kind of growth is limited by both personnel and finances: While new churches might be built, they are not particularly useful without priests and trained staff, and vice versa. While this overview is not exhaustive, it offers a glimpse into a church that is challenged to become more aware of its call to be the body of Christ, and how to respond to that call with both people and buildings.
Personnel
Here’s some more sobering numbers: today there is one priest for every 1,914 lay Catholics in the Austin Diocese. In 30 years, there will be one priest for every 6,866 lay Catholics.
What to do? Over the past five years, a multi-pronged response has developed. It includes such initiatives as:
Dedicating a fulltime priest to the role as vocation director. Since that position was created on the diocesan staff in 2001, the number of seminarians has increased dramatically, from 19 in 2001 to 31 today. The seminarians are also receiving more support and formation from the vocation director, with the goal of ordaining men who are highly committed to their vocation. The most recent priests’ convocation, however, called for greater focus on the need to invite more men to consider the priesthood: every faith community will be asked to provide five names of potential candidates each year to the Vocation Office.
Supporting marriages and families. It’s important for a diocese to have a Vocation Office, to recruit and develop clergy and religious. However, the vast majority of Catholics choose marriage as a vocation. With fully half of all marriages in the United States ending in divorce, it seems equally important for the church to put resources into supporting married and family life. In 2004 the diocese opened the Family Life and Family Counseling Office, staffed for the first time by a licensed psychologist. Not waiting to let any dust settle, Dr. Joseph White immediately became involved in the development of marriage preparation guidelines and the strengthening of marriage preparation programs for use by parishes. In addition, he is training pastoral care volunteers who will be available to lay Catholics as a “first line” of support to families and spouses who are struggling.
Strengthening lay ecclesial ministers. In 1997, the number of lay people in the United States working at least 20 hours per week in parishes exceeded the number of priests in parish ministry. While priests benefit from years of theological training, many lay people find it difficult to complete theology degrees while supporting families or themselves. In 2002 the diocese entered into an agreement with St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. Four locations –– in Austin, College Station, Marble Falls and Waco –– now serve as an extended classroom, allowing local Catholics the opportunity to be part of classes offered at St. Mary’s via technology that beams the professor’s image and voice into their classrooms across Central Texas. There are 46 active participants in the program, with four who have already graduated with a master’s degree in theology.
The graduates are expected to provide five years of ministry within the diocese, such as teaching in the Catholic Adult Formation program or Catholic schools, or serving as RCIA directors, liturgy consultants, parish directors of religious education, etc. Eleven of the students are bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish.
Training spiritual directors. Once considered to be needed only by priests and nuns, spiritual directors are becoming more in demand by lay people. Currently 20 individuals are recognized as trained spiritual directors by the diocese. Realizing the need to provide spiritual direction rooted in Catholic traditions, the diocese began the Institute for Spiritual Direction in the spring of 2003. The three year program will be completed by 19 individuals this April, effectively doubling the number of spiritual directors available throughout the diocese. A new program for those interested in being trained as a spiritual director will begin in September 2006.
Raising cultural awareness. Hispanics comprise the majority of Catholics in the Austin Diocese. Many have assimilated themselves into the culture of the United States, but many others have their hearts in two places: their new home here in Central Texas and their birth place, often Mexico, but others come from Central and South America seeking a better life for themselves and their families. While “welcoming the stranger” is at the core of our Catholic faith, too often we find living that reality difficult. The Hispanic Ministry serves as a focal point of helping parishes and individuals understand the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry, which calls for “a model of church that is communitarian, evangelizing, and missionary, incarnate in the reality of the Hispanic people and open to the diversity of cultures…” The office is midway in offering a series of cultural awareness workshops that are intended to provide a new framework for collaboration among the many newcomers, no matter where they started their journey to Central Texas.
Improving communication and adult faith formation. The Catholic Spirit serves as the official diocesan newspaper, attempting to bring into Catholic households each month the “good news” of salvation, but also not flinching from reporting the challenges and obstacles to that good news. It has been recognized locally and nationally for its efforts, including being awarded the General Excellence award by the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada nine times in the past 20 years. In 2002 the paper began distributing to all registered Catholic households. The Catholic Spirit’s circulation is now the second highest in Central Texas, outranking all circulations except that of the Austin American Statesman. The newspaper is also one of a few Catholic publications that provide material in both Spanish and English, in an effort to help its readers understand the realities of their fellow Catholics, whether they are transplants from south of the Rio Grande or north of the Red River.
Included in its coverage was one of the last initiatives made by Pope John Paul II, a Year of Eucharist for the worldwide church. Parishes in the Austin Diocese observed the year in a variety of ways, and the diocese followed the year of focusing on eucharistic spirituality with a Year of Forgiveness and Healing. The Catholic Spirit includes in each issue stories and special features based on these themes.
Ethics and Integrity in Ministry. Initiated in the fall of 2001, as diocesan and parish staff recognized the need to provide better safeguards for children and young people, the Austin Diocese’s Policies on Ethics and Integrity in Ministry were in place before the country was rocked by the Catholic clergy abuse scandal, whose epicenter was Boston. Months before “pedophile” became a household word, word of mouth spread quickly from the first workshop at St. Thomas More Parish in Austin, where approximately 500 lay people attended, about the quality of the presentation. By the final workshop that fall, people were lined several deep and out the door to hear the presentation on “Protecting God’s Children.” Since then, approximately 25,000 have attended a workshop, in English or Spanish. In the spring of 2006, a long-awaited program tailored to teenagers, Called to Protect for Youth, will be piloted.
Advancing Catholic education. Preventing sexual abuse is not the only focus of the diocese in regard to its young people. San Juan Diego Catholic High School, which opened in the fall of 2002, will see its first graduating class this spring. The “school that works” is based on the Jesuit Cristo Rey model, which offers means for economically disadvantaged families to afford private Catholic education. Students attend classes four days and work one day a week in a corporate setting. In addition, schools have opened in areas where the population has grown rapidly, including Holy Family in northwest Austin and St. Helen in Georgetown. At the same time, pastors, parents and the superintendent grapple with the reality that schools in more rural and urban settings are struggling financially. A new paradigm must be found to give Catholic education a more secure foundation in the diocese.
Supporting retired priests. The John Paul II Residence for Priests opened in the fall of 2005, the first retirement center for diocesan priests in the diocese’s 57-year history. The complex that is adjacent to St. Helen Parish in Georgetown will eventually have 24 apartments and a communal building, with a chapel, common room and dining room available to the residents. The first eight units are already committed and a waiting list is still in place for the next eight units, which should be completed within 2006. The facility will allow the retired priests of the diocese to live in independence in comfortable accommodations, yet not be isolated.
Temporal goods
With an extended population boom in much of the diocese, parishes and schools often found themselves caught needing to build with little financial reserves. The diocese turned to a financial tool already used by universities and health care institutions. The diocese borrowed the proceeds of a $79.8 million bond issue in April 2005, thus allowing parishes and schools to literally save millions of dollars in interest over the 40-year life of the bond. Parishes and schools can now tap into the diocese’s line of credit, instead of having to go individually to financial institutions when needing to borrow money. The financing is being toted as a model to other Catholic dioceses, and offers a way for the church to be a better steward of the financial gifts of Catholics in the pew.
With the opening of a Facilities department in the diocese, parishes and schools now have professionals with architectural and engineering expertise on staff. The oversight and advice has allowed parishes and schools to move forward confidently in renovation projects and new construction. And move forward they have: there are 48 construction projects currently listed in the Facilities Office’s master list, with an estimated $31.3 million in construction costs. In addition, 27 other parishes or schools completed construction projects from 2000 through 2005, with total cost of almost $70.7 million.
The Catholic Church has a different ecclesiology from many Protestant churches. The “particular,” or local, church is defined as the diocese. That reality makes Catholicism unique in many ways: the bishop is responsible to appoint pastors to provide pastoral care for various communities, for instance. It also offers opportunities for adjoining faith communities to share resources and unite to meet local needs more effectively. The Austin Diocese has taken this ecclesiology into the world of technology, by asking parishes to use ChurchDB, a Web-based database that is shared by all parishes and diocesan offices. Its ability to allow multiple sites to use common information not only spares staff from duplicating efforts, but also provides a concrete way for parishes and diocesan staff to live in the “particular church” that is the Austin Diocese.
Much has been accomplished in the past five years. Yet, much still needs to be done. More priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, and trained lay leaders are needed. Churches, religious education buildings and schools must be built. A stronger and more vibrant Catholic Charities, with a presence throughout the diocese, is needed. More efficient and effective ways of gathering and distributing resources are required. While the tasks might seem overwhelming at times, God will continue to be faithful. We are called to be as much.