In 1885 when Father Peter Bard embarked on building a church in the new town of Collins he went directly to the people and solicited “subscriptions” or pledges. He soon reached his goal and Sacred Heart was built.
Today, the Diocese of Corpus Christi is conducting a capitol campaign entitled “Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope” to address the most pressing needs and most promising opportunities facing the diocese today.
The notion of asking for the faithful to contribute to efforts promoting the faith is not new. In the early days of the Diocese of Corpus Christi when it was still a missionary field, organizations such as the Propagation of the Faith and the Catholic Extension Society made substantial contributions to build churches in the remote and less affluent areas of the diocese.
As the diocese grew in numbers and wealth, stewardship for its patrimony fell on the lay faithful in the pews.
“Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope is an opportunity for us to give a part of ourselves to the Church that will build our faith and help our children as well as generations to come,” Cande de Leon, Director of Parish Stewardship and Development, said. “At the very core of Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope is the gratitude we have for our forefathers that have built our local Catholic community and carried our faith to us. We see their sacrifices as a model for how we can give of ourselves to help lead the Church with the same spirit of love and generosity.”
After his installation, Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey engaged in consultation with the presbyterate and lay-faithful and identified some areas of immediate need in the diocese. He directed that a feasibility study be done, which reached out to all pastors and key religious and laity. After further discussion of the study’s findings with a Priest Advisory Committee, five areas of need were identified as the most pressing.
The five areas of most need are: caring for retired clergy; investing in young adults; increasing access to Catholic education, as well as increasing the support for the education of seminarians; providing ministry support to brothers and sisters in need in outlying areas of the diocese; and directing financial support to parishes.
“We are ever grateful for the legacy of faith that we have inherited. Bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity, for over a century, have worked together tirelessly and selflessly, in communion, to build the Body of Christ,” Bishop Mulvey said. “Each, in their own way, gave of themselves sacrificially as the genuineness of their faith was tested as they gave witness and glory to Jesus Christ. For their legacy of faith, we are forever grateful because today their efforts provide us a solid foundation to continue building our Church.”
With the median age of priests at 55, a growing number of priests in the diocese are beginning to reach the retirement age of 70. Most retired priests continue to work in some capacity long after the ‘official’ retirement.
“After a lifetime of devotion and service, we must ensure that they are taken care of in their retirement years,” Bishop Mulvey said.
Currently there are 20 priests in retirement. Between 2011 and 2020, 12 priests will reach retirement age and 27 more will reach retirement age between 2021 and 2030. To help meet this growing need, the diocese plans to build the St. John Vianney Residence for Priests, a facility for retired priests who would prefer to live in community with other retired priests.
Additionally, the diocese hopes to raise sufficient funds to establish an endowment fund to ensure the operational needs of the residence. This endowment will guarantee the availability of funding long into the future.
The diocese currently funds priest retirement through the Diocesan Priest Pension Plan, which is currently underfunded and will not be able to take care of the growing number of priests reaching retirement age. Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope will augment the Priest Pension Plan to enable the diocese to prepare for the influx of retired priests over the next 10 years.
Another area of concern is that of ministering to the needs of young adults. Campus Ministry reaches out to young adults during their critical formative years. It is during these important years that these young adults are the most vulnerable and inquisitive regarding their faith and place in life.
A recent opportunity has developed with the Newman Connection to strengthen the campus ministry in Texas A&M–Kingsville. The Newman Connection will build dormitories for 300 students and proceeds generated from the dormitories will be used to support the Newman Center ministry.
The diocese will provide additional funds to build a chapel that will provide young adults and students at the university an intimate place to pray and reflect. In addition to the chapel, a Newman Center will provide pastoral services and ministries to the students of the university. Finally, an endowment fund will be needed to ensure continued operation of the chapel and center.
The capitol campaign will also help expand the campus ministry facilities at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, which will provide students with an ample place to continue to learn and grow spiritually. A growing area of opportunity to serve the needs of young adults exists at Coastal Bend College in Beeville where more than 1,300 students can benefit from an increased attention to their spiritual needs by building a Young Adult/Campus Ministry Center on their campus.
While Catholic schools provide students with stability, moral values and the individualized attention that enables them to excel as responsible members of society and faithful members of the Body of Christ, many Catholic parents cannot afford to send their children to Catholic Schools. Through Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope, the current Diocesan Catholic School Tuition Assistance Endowment will be increased to create more scholarship opportunities so more Catholic families with extraordinary need can be able to send their children to a Catholic school within our diocese.
The formation of seminarians is another area of education that the campaign will address. Funds will be raised to help offset the rising cost of tuition in seminaries and post graduate studies, so we can ensure that financial impediments will not hinder young men from responding to the Lord’s call.
Currently there is a strong need in the outlying areas of the diocese for support of services provided by Catholic Charities. Current accessibility to Catholic Charities resources for families living in these outlying areas of our diocese is limited because families do not have the means to travel into Corpus Christi to receive critical assistance.
Funds raised by Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope will be allocated to bring satellite locations of Catholic Charities to outlying areas of the diocese, such as Alice, Refugio, Beeville and Kingsville, and make the services of Catholic Charities more accessible to people in these areas.
Finally, Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope will begin to address Bishop Mulvey’s plans to strengthen parish life.
“The parish is the center of our Catholic life. It is where we enter the Church through baptism, and grow closer to God through reconciliation, Holy Communion, confirmation and adoration. We bind members of our parish communities together in matrimony, and we pray for those who go before us to be with the Lord and console their families,” Bishop Mulvey said.
To meet all the sacramental, spiritual formation and religious education needs of the growing Catholic population, parishes must act now by repairing, maintaining, and in some cases, constructing new facilities to meet the demands for services and ministries. Churches, parish halls, rectories and schools must be improved or repaired to address the needs of each community.
Twenty percent of funds raised by a parish for Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope will remain in the parish. If a parish meets its assigned goal, eighty percent of the excess collected will remain with the parish to meet its capitol needs.
Legacy of Faith~Future of Hope is currently being tested in a select number of pilot parishes and will soon come to every parish and mission in the diocese.
“Your gift to this campaign is an opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Scripture tells us that Christian stewardship goes beyond our giving from our surplus. Stewardship requires a gift made from substance,” de Leon said.
“At this important moment of our history, let us keep in mind the many blessings the Lord has given us. Recognizing that all of our material goods are gifts from the Lord, we are asked in the Gospel to give back a portion of these gifts in thanksgiving for God’s generosity and goodness to us,” Bishop Mulvey said.