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Editor: Bishop Vásquez, the diocese has officially begun the Encountering Christ Capital Campaign. Please tell us more about the campaign and why it is needed.
Bishop Vásquez: The theme of our capital campaign is “Encountering Christ,” and it has officially kicked off in many of our parishes. This campaign was born out of the pastoral plan, “An Encounter that Leads to Transformation,” which is being implemented across the diocese. The idea of an encounter is taken from our Holy Father’s thoughts that all encounters with Jesus are moments of grace that can lead us to a deeper life with Jesus Christ. We must have encounters with the Living Christ if we are to be able to explain and to proclaim Christ to other people. These encounters continue to help people become living and active disciples of Jesus Christ, who are passionate about proclaiming the Good News to other people.
The capital campaign is my desire to respond to the vibrancy and growth of our church in Central Texas. We did not undertake this campaign because something is broken. In fact, we need the campaign because of how alive and vibrant our church is in Central Texas. With this capital campaign, we want to strengthen the good work God is doing in our diocese and to build up these blessings so that our church grows stronger in living our Catholic faith and in continuing to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Editor: The funds raised through the capital campaign will go to address certain needs. What are those needs?
Bishop Vásquez: With the capital campaign, we hope to address several key issues that will help our diocese flourish in the years ahead. The most pressing need in our diocese is supporting our priests. We are blessed with excellent, holy priests, but we have to strengthen them so they can continue to be completely dedicated to God and to his people. In order to have good priests, our men must be well-formed. It is my responsibility to provide them with the best formation so that they are well prepared academically, humanly and spiritually. Therefore, we must send our men to good seminaries where they can learn all aspects of the priesthood. By taking care of our priests, we will be better taking care of our people.
One aspect of supporting our priests involves expanding the St. John Paul II Residence for Priests in Georgetown, which is currently at capacity. As more of our priests reach the age of retirement, the Georgetown residence is a place our retired priests can find rest, support and fraternity with their brother priests. Another important way to help our priests is to strengthen our pension plan for priests. Our priests love and serve our people with great joy, but we know they don’t earn a great deal of money as they do that. The pension is an important way to provide care for our priests after their retirement.
Another aspect of the campaign is strengthening our parishes. The growth in our Catholic population in our diocese has been a blessing and we must expand to accommodate new Catholics and provide more ministries. This means we will need to open new parishes and expand existing ones to meet the growing population. We also have rural parishes that need more attention and support to help them provide for our rural Catholics, so we are setting aside a certain amount of money from the campaign to take care of those parishes that need extra help.
Another aspect the campaign supports involves emerging disciples. Through the capital campaign, we want to strengthen our religious education programs, our catechetical training and certification programs and our Catholic schools. We want our youth to have good solid experiences in our parishes and Catholic schools so they are able to live their Catholic faith well.
At each of our major universities in the diocese we have priests and lay people providing campus ministries. Our programs continue to be models for the rest of the country, and we should be extremely proud of the good work taking place in our university parishes. Our young people in these places are responding to God’s call to serve as priests and consecrated men and women, and beyond this our young adults are becoming active leaders and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Finally, through the campaign we also want to help people embrace discipleship. The resources from the campaign will go to form lay leaders to serve in our varied and diverse ministries throughout our diocese. From catechists to prison ministers to young adult formation to extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, we want to help people connect with ministries and empower them to lead new ministries. We want to continue to strengthen our Hispanic communities and form leaders to respond to the growing needs of those communities. We also need to strengthen our Catholic Charities by expanding our presence beyond Austin and Bryan/College Station. All of these aspects will help our diocese get stronger in the years to come.
Editor: Given the theme, Encountering Christ, how does the capital campaign help participants encounter Christ?
Bishop Vásquez: The encounter with Christ begins in our parishes, which are the heart of the diocese. In the celebration of the sacraments, the preaching, most especially in the Body of Christ, as well as in the countless ministries and charitable works, our people come to have a profound encounter with the living Christ. Our young people meet Christ in our religious education programs, in our Catholic schools and in young adult groups. Couples meet him as they prepare for marriage or baptize their children. As we strengthen our parishes and form disciples with the help of the capital campaign, more and more of us will encounter Christ in a variety of places and ministries.
Editor: How does the capital campaign differ from the Catholic Services Appeal?
Bishop Vásquez: The capital campaign is a long range plan that looks to the future and goes beyond our immediate needs. All of our parishes and missions will be taking part in the campaign in four parish waves during 2018 and 2019. The pilot wave has just concluded –– the seven pilot parishes raised more than 120 percent of their combined goals. The campaign will officially launch in 59 smaller and rural parishes this fall, and will be followed by more parishes launching in subsequent six month periods through 2019. All pledges to the campaign are for five years. The Catholic Services Appeal, which is our annual diocesan appeal, focuses on our immediate needs as a diocese and helps fund our ongoing operating expenses. The CSA will be conducted each year even as the capital campaign is implemented in our parishes.
Editor: How is the average Catholic asked to participate?
Bishop Vásquez: First, I invite each one of us to pray — asking God’s blessings on the success of this capital campaign. Second, I encourage everyone — our priests, deacons, religious, married couples, single people, young adults and our youth — to prayerfully discern what each of us can give to the campaign. We all form the one body of Christ, which makes us responsible to care for one another and the needs of the diocese.
Over the last several months, I have had the opportunity to visit with families from across the diocese about the capital campaign. I have been overwhelmed by their kindness and generosity. I am so grateful for the support of those who have already pledged to the campaign and for those who will support the campaign in the months to come.
Editor: What is your prayer for the diocese as we embark on this campaign?
Bishop Vásquez: My prayer is that as we embark on this capital campaign that we have a true spirit of gratefulness and express our thankfulness to God for the abundant blessings he has showered up on us. We are especially thankful for our good, holy priests, deacons, religious, married couples, families and young people. May God bless all our efforts to provide moments of grace and encounter with Jesus Christ.