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April 4, 2019Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
Sustaining and strengthening parishes is a key component of a new capital campaign under-way in the Diocese of Worcester.
Legacy of Hope is the name Bishop McManus has chosen for the endeavor.
“The goal of this campaign is to make the parishes stronger because the life of the Church happens in the parish – the diocese is as strong as its parishes,” Bishop McManus says.
Legacy of Hope’s target of $32 million would be used to support parishes, the cathedral, retired priests, Catholic education, and outreach and evangelization efforts initiated in the parishes.
In explaining how he chose the name Legacy of Hope, Bishop McManus said that he has received a legacy from his predecessors and his responsibility is to leave the diocese in as good as or better shape than he received it.
Passing on a legacy is a way of describing the passing on of the tradition of faith, he explained.
“We have received something and want to pass it on to future generations,” he said. And society needs hope.
“The essence of the Christian conviction is hope that is rooted in that personal relationship we have with Jesus Christ, who has won for us the victory over sin and death,” he said. The Church is in the world to lead people into that personal relationship with Jesus.
Talking to diocesan employees at a reception about the campaign, Bishop McManus said his answer to the question, “Why now?” is: “If not now, when?” Forward in Faith, the diocese’s previous capital campaign, was conducted 20 years ago and the diocese is different now, he said.
NATIONAL FIRM
Guidance in Giving, a national fundraising consulting firm that works specifically with Catholic dioceses, parishes and schools, is running the current campaign. Preparations started on site last May after Bishop McManus announced the partnership with the company. Michael Messano, executive director of Legacy of Hope, has assembled a staff working in the diocese.
The bishop created a Priest Advisory Council to help with all aspects of parish campaigning and to help determine where the money is to be allocated. Over the summer, volunteers were recruited to form the bishop’s cabinet – to host campaign receptions. The receptions, for people who were invited to give “leadership gifts,” began in September and are continuing.
To date these receptions have raised $2,116, 260, Mr. Messano said. Active and retired priests have given about $300,000 and the first group of parishes is receiving donations as well.
WHO WILL BENEFIT?
Legacy of Hope aims to raise $12 million for parishes. Parishes are to receive 40 percent of every dollar they raise up to their target amount, and 60 percent of whatever they raise beyond that. The rest of the money is to go to the diocese for endowments and for renovation of St. Paul Cathedral.
Campaign donations are to be added to two present endowments: $12 million to priests’ retirement and custodial care and $4 million to Catholic school tuition assistance.
There are 55-60 priests, on average, receiving care and support from the priests’ retirement endowment, Legacy material states. The diocese has faced a shortfall of up to $1 million annually in caring for these priests, some of whom still serve where they can, some of whom require assisted living or nursing home care.
Regarding Catholic school education, “less than 20 percent of demonstrated family need is met,” material says. The campaign aims to enable more families to send their children to Catholic schools.
Two new endowments are to be created with campaign donations: $2 million for charitable outreach and $1.5 million for strengthening evangelization efforts. These will make grants available to parishes to start or expand outreach such as food pantries and retreats.
Endowments are usually structured so that the interest earned each year is what is spent on the designated projects, Mr. Messano explained.
The $500,000 earmarked for the cathedral from the overall campaign is to be used for reinforcements and renovations to the church building, Legacy material says.
“The cathedral is the diocesan church and we need to care for it,” Mr. Messano said.
THE CAMPAIGN
Legacy of Hope activity is staggered; parishes choose to participate in the “block” most convenient for them.
“Each parish will develop their case,” for how they would use the money, Mr. Messano said. “They submit a case, the bishop reviews it and approves” it before the parish starts its campaign.
The nine parishes in Block 1 began their campaigns in January and are expected to finish in June. Two additional blocks of parishes will follow, Mr. Messano said.
Parishioners are informed about the campaign’s benefits to their parish and diocese at receptions at their church. Brief talks are given, the campaign video is shown and refreshments are served. After the receptions are over, the parish has a video weekend to show the video at Masses and give the diocese’s case, then a chairman’s weekend to give the parish’s case, then a commitment weekend with in-pew solicitation for gifts and pledges. Pledges can be spread over a four-year period.
Parish “targets” are based on 115 percent of the parish’s 2017 offertory giving, Legacy material says. Targets are not mandatory, nor are they assessments.
“All we ask is that the parishes work with us and conduct a good-faith effort,” Mr. Messano said.
All the money parishes collect goes initially to the diocese, and the parish’s portion is distributed, based on cash received as pledges are fulfilled, six months after their block’s campaign ends, then quarterly throughout the rest of the four years.
Legacy of Hope is raising money for current and future needs. So it does not replace Partners in Charity, which helps fund day-to-day operations of 28 ministries each year. Nor does Legacy replace parish collections or other fundraising efforts. Members of the diocese are asked to make an additional sacrifice to support the campaign, rather than reducing their giving elsewhere.
Legacy material asks that people pray for the campaign’s success using the campaign prayer, share campaign goals with others, and reflect on ways God has blessed them, then make a tax-deductible, sacrificial pledge, which can be fulfilled on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis over four years.
Bishop McManus said he hopes the campaign calls the Catholic community in the diocese to “reclaim with passion the gift of faith that has been passed on to us” and that it also challenges them to evangelize – to invite other people back to the faith.
– For more information about Legacy of Hope, or to make a secure online donation, go to: https://legacyofhope.worcesterdiocese.org
Giving Back
Giving to the Legacy of Hope capital campaign is part of giving back, according to Father James B. O’Shea, a retired priest of the Worcester Diocese. Despite being retired, he said he’s made himself available to the diocese, and helps at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne when asked. “We benefit from the monies that the bishop, the diocese can gather,” he said after a campaign reception for retired priests. “We receive from the funds.” He also had another reason for priests to donate. “A lot of us, through the years, have had blessings that we weren’t counting on,” he said, explaining with a story. The former pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Worcester, he was surprised one day by a call from a lawyer: a woman had remembered him in her will. “My first reaction was, ‘Are you talking about the parish or me?’” Father O’Shea recalled. Turned out, the woman had left money to him personally, as well as to the parish. “If I didn’t have those gifts, I wouldn’t have the money to give” now, Father O’Shea concluded.
