Strategic Pastoral Plan
- Letter from Bishop Gregory Aymond
- Mission Statement of the Diocese of Austin
- Current realities which mandate planning
- Plan components
- Priest availability and vocations
- Parish religious education, formation and evangelization
- Social concerns ministries
- Family life ministries
- Pro-life activities
- Black Catholics
- Hispanic ministry
- Catholic schools
- Stewardship
- Diocesan staff
- Facilities
- First steps
- Ongoing activities
- Gratitude
- A prayer
Strategic Pastoral Plan of the Austin Diocese
Facilities
Planning Objectives
- Database and Policies
- Develop a database of all existing diocesan facilities. It must have good visual representation, be easily maintained and have a search capability.
- Develop policies and mechanisms to analyze the need for new or expanded facilities. Develop mechanisms to approve and fund land purchases, parish expansions, new parishes, schools, offices and support facilities such as the Pastoral Center, Cedarbrake and a possible new youth center and priests’ retirement center.
- Architectural Design and Maintenance
- Develop a plan to create minimum architectural and engineering design standards for churches, schools, religious education centers, administration facilities and rectories. Develop guidelines for the building sequence at new parishes (i.e. what to build first, second, etc.) and expandability. Develop standards for architect selection.
- Develop a diocesan-wide facility maintenance assistance plan to help pastors and building managers provide building maintenance that assures safe operation and cost effective preventive maintenance.
- Develop a plan to organize and modernize archiving of facility and construction related documents.
As we look to the future we estimate the need for about 35 new parishes over the next 25 years to accommodate the forecasted growth. This growth, which could nearly double the size of our diocesan Catholic community, also brings the need for more retreat center capability, more offices and meeting facilities, more youth ministry facilities and more adequate care for our elderly priests.
Stewardship demands planning in light of human and financial resources, and as some local pastors do not have a regional growth perspective, we must introduce new traditions, new sources of data and new analytical tools to help us make growth decisions from a broader diocesan perspective.
We conservatively estimate that we could spend more than $300 million in necessary facilities over the next 25 years. That very large financial challenge tells us that we cannot ignore the need for careful consideration regarding where and when we add new facilities and how those facilities should be designed and constructed. Controlling the design and workmanship of new facilities allows us to be good stewards of the resources God provides to us.
We will build new churches that are liturgically attractive and serve the people of our diocese for many decades. Our new parishes must be placed in locations that best serve our long term growth needs. Construction can be properly timed to anticipate growth, rather than in response to a crisis. We will attend well to our existing buildings and carefully discern the need for new structures or the renovation, restoration or expansion of current structures.
Construction professionals estimate that with care and attention to our building programs we can save an estimated 10 percent in construction spending. This represents a potential $30 million savings over the next 25 years. This is best accomplished by having a construction professional on the diocesan staff to oversee planning, design, construction and maintenance of diocesan facilities. Accordingly, as of July 2002 we have added a licensed construction professional (architect/engineer) to the staff as director of Facilities Planning.