Catholic Diocese of Austin
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Strategic Pastoral Plan of the Austin Diocese

Social Concerns Ministries

Planning Objectives

  1. Identify how to effectively integrate the Gospel and social teachings of the church into the service and advocacy components of our lives as Catholics.
  2. Prepare Catholics throughout the diocese to become involved in service of others and to influence systemic and public policy changes. People will develop skills for service and advocacy through a process of awareness, understanding, involvement, and action, which will incarnate the social teachings of the Catholic Church into their daily lives.
  3. Implement programs and services to address current and emerging social needs across the entire diocese so that persons burdened by those needs may move beyond distress and into realizing greater personal potential.
  4. Develop Catholic Charities of Central Texas programs to address diocesan-wide issues of need and to support and assist parishes as they organize services needed in their communities.

The message repeated for us throughout Scripture, Gospel examples, and church teachings is to love God with your whole heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. To be Catholic Christians, we must incarnate our faith as Jesus did — in effective real-life action.

God has given each of us gifts to both address the sorrows and share the gifts of our brothers and sisters. Our first obligation is to identify the realities of those “dis-eases” which are the systemic societal illnesses of our time. Secondly, we are to recognize and use our own talents and skills to address these illnesses. Then we can bring our gifts together in an organized manner to relieve people of the multiple forms of poverty, which keep them from developing full relationships with themselves, their neighbors, and our God.

Jesus spent much of his energy healing, feeding, teaching, and comforting people as well as challenging others to free those held by oppression. His words (Mt 25) remind us of the importance of assisting and speaking up for those in need. The social teachings of the Catholic Church challenge us to be strong in our commitment to foster justice in our society. The church can be an agent of change.

The opening words of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World defined the task of the church as the safeguard of human dignity: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of… this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” (No. 1).

A human and sacred tripod supports the living church: prayer and worship, formation and education, social ministries and advocacy. It is not enough to be sacramental and scriptural — we cannot call ourselves Catholic unless we are sacramental, scriptural, and socially involved. All are invited to participate in the social ministries of the church through programs and services, advocacy, prayer, and stewardship to foster the Kingdom of God among us today.

The social teachings of the church can be distilled into several categories: dignity of the human person; community and the common good; rights and responsibilities; preferential option for the poor; dignity of work; solidarity; subsidiarity; promotion of peace and respect for our natural environment. Each is rooted in Scripture, evolved through church documents, and lived out in the presence of Christ in the current ministries of the church — ministries encompassing both charity (service) and justice (advocacy).

We are not alone. Our activities need to be consistent and collaborative with other champions for social concerns. Models and mentoring are available through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholic Health Association, Catholic Charities USA, and others within and beyond our own diocese. Each person can collaborate (co-labor) at all levels: organizational, parochial, and individual.

We need to use our gifts not only with good intentions, but also in effective ways, addressing real needs. The depth of underlying issues which result in easily seen problems must be probed so the problems can be rooted out, not just trimmed at the surface. There is a tangle of inter-related problems, which need an integrated continuum of programs and services so that the addressing of one issue does not leave people in the strangle hold of deeper problems.

The word “advocacy,” rooted in “ad vocare,” means “to speak out on behalf of others.” Advocacy occurs at several levels. We advocate for individuals when we assist them through the daily struggle to obtain what they need. We advocate for groups of people when we coordinate the resources of several organizations for the benefit of many. We advocate for whole populations and our society when we work toward systemic changes in public policies.

The success of advocacy and service programs needs to be measured in real outcomes for individuals, groups or special populations, and public policy.

The parish is where we live the mandates of our faith. As our rapidly growing diocese moves toward greater emphasis on stewardship and parish social ministry (PSM), collaboration among parish organizations is increasingly important. Parish social ministry ensures coordination of and access to a broad menu of ministries.

Parish social ministry is based in the concepts of formation, integration, an attitude of service, and active striving to become the body of Christ. Resources include the integration framework provided in the U.S. Catholic bishops’ documents on social ministry, such as “Salt and Light” training. Authority within programs and services needs to be used with the awareness that those who lead are the servants who facilitate the ministries. We must expect that each dialogue, each challenge, and each significant interaction will transform not only the individual members, but also the community as a whole. By sharing our gifts we become the body of Christ.

Diocesan structures should shepherd and support. These support systems need the openness and flexibility to address the geographic and cultural diversity that is the fabric of our diocese. Ministry programs and support systems, such as Catholic Charities, need to foster the appropriate formation, coordination, creativity, resources, financial stability, and Christ-centered interdependence of the social concerns ministries of the Diocese of Austin.