Town Hall events draw crowds

Arthur Haas, parishioner at St. Patrick's Church in Corpus Christi, places a sticker next to an idea proposed at a recent town hall event hosted by the Diocese of Corpus Christi to elicit feedback for a pastoral plan. Other participants look on while trying to decide which ideas to support from the choices offered by other participants.

Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic 
 

Tony Valverde had a heavy weight on his heart. As a parishioner at Christ the King, he had recently experienced the closing of their school. Seeking to share his opinion on the matter, he attended the Town Hall meeting hosted by the Diocese of Corpus Christi at Ss. Cyril and Methodius in late February.

“I wanted to provide some input on the direction our Catholic schools are taking,” said Valverde, who also serves as the president of the parish pastoral council at Christ the King. “The closing of our school had a big effect on our church. In reality, we realize there was not enough funding to keep the school open, but we are very disappointed it had to close. It has been a struggle to maintain the now empty buildings.”

Tony Valverde, Richard Reyes and Rolando Sifuentes, all parishioners at Christ the King Church, discuss the future of the Diocese of Corpus Christi with Father Emilio Jimenez pastor of St.  Peter, Prince of the Apostles during a recent Town Hall meeting of nearly 100 participants. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

The Town Hall meetings were designed to gain input from parishioners about the future of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, based on the vision laid out by Bishop Michael Mulvey.

About 100 people from parishes across the diocese participated in the event at Ss. Cyril and Methodius. The diocese held similar listening sessions at various parishes. A facilitator assisted the crowd with working in small groups to identify elements of the bishop’s vision that most related to each group. After sharing their ideas as a group, participants were asked to use multi-colored stickers to notate which ideas were most important to each.

Participants were asked to reflect on their understanding of Church as communion, a vibrant parish life, priests as leaders of communion, strengthening the role of laity and catechesis evangelization, which includes religious education programs and Catholic schools.

“Collaboration, working together and unity is really what the Church is all about,” said Father James Stembler, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. “We need to communicate and hear from our community in order to move forward as a whole.”

Father Stembler said the diocese would compile data collected at the six different open house events into one master plan. No preliminary data is available yet, however, Father Stembler said he has heard that people were thrilled to have a chance to share their opinions.

“People have been edified by that. It’s important to keep the avenues for open dialogue,” he said.

Valverde said he felt blessed to be a part of the community event. 

“I’m trying to assist the bishop in his vision. During the open house, it seemed like many different parishes are seeking the same things: formal training for catechesis, a formal program for evangelization and saving our elementary schools,” he said.

Valverde added he believes Bishop Mulvey is on track on trying to strengthen faith through knowledge.

“I believe we should center the plans for the future around the youth and non-Catholics. Also, I would like to see better relationships between congregations and the priests. All priests should be approachable,” he said.

Laura Hebert, an active volunteer at St. Paul the Apostle in Flour Bluff, was pleased there were a lot of great ideas shared. She said she prays the bishop takes these recommendations to heart.

“One issue I heard receive resounding applause throughout the night was ensuring laity are properly trained in all aspects of the Church,” Hebert said. “If you participate in RCIA at one church, it would look and feel completely different at another church. It needs to be more uniform.”

Father Stembler said the next step in the process is to gather feedback from local civic leaders via one-on-one interviews. There is also an online survey  (www.surveymonkey.com/r/DioCC-Plan) parishioners can take via the Diocese of Corpus Christi’s website until April 6. Additionally, through the weekend of April 14-15, selected parishes will participate in a survey during Mass.

“As church leaders, one of the worst things we can do is say ‘That’s not the way we’ve always done it’. Instead we need to ask ourselves: ‘Maybe that’s the way we should be doing it,’” he said. “We need to keep spreading the Gospel’s message, but relative to the time we are in. Maybe we’re not typing it out on paper like 20 years ago, but tweeting it out in digital format instead.”

Father Stembler noted the time was right to evaluate how active the diocese is in outreaching into the community, bringing the new faithful into the church and evangelizing to current parishioners. A multi-faceted Pastoral Plan is the best way to gather the data needed, he said.

“My prayer is that from this process, all of this pastoral planning, it will bring us closer together as a diocese. Not that we are not close now, but there is always room for improvement. We need to emulate our namesake: The Body of Christ,” Father Stembler said.