2008 Accountability Report
To the People of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis
Dear Friends in Christ:
As we wait with joyful anticipation for Christmas, many people are surely more anxious than usual this Advent season due to the uncertain economic climate. Let’s remember to pray for everyone who is hurting economically and to do what we can to help those in need. By working together to be good stewards of what God has given us, we move closer to fulfilling Jesus’ teaching that we are all brothers and sisters and everyone is our neighbor.
Here is our annual archdiocesan accountability report. In this report, you will find an accounting of our stewardship of the human, physical and financial resources for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for the 2008 fiscal year. We’ll also take a brief look at the year ahead.
It is a privilege to lead this archdiocese as we mark the 175th anniversary of its founding. We are truly blessed to have such dedicated clergy and religious, lay leaders and parishioners. As we celebrate our rich Catholic heritage in central and southern Indiana, let us pray that God continues to bless our efforts to build upon the strong foundation our ancestors left us.
Archdiocese’s 175th anniversary
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis, originally established as the Diocese of Vincennes, was founded on May 6, 1834, by Pope Gregory XVI. Like our ancestors 175 years ago, we continue to invite everyone to learn about the Catholic faith and to follow Jesus Christ. It is also a time for all Catholics in the archdiocese to renew their commitment to continue growing in faith and holiness throughout their lives. The theme for our anniversary year is “We Have Seen the Lord: Come and See.”
We officially launched the anniversary celebration with a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from Sept. 17-27. Forty-two pilgrims from across the archdiocese joined me as we visited sacred sites throughout Israel. Each day as we walked where Jesus once walked, we prayed for special intentions for our archdiocese and its people. It was fitting that we explored the place where the Catholic Church was born as we began a year of solemnly celebrating the founding of our local Church.
I will be leading pilgrimages in March and April of 2009 to Vincennes, Ind., to reflect on the founding of this archdiocese. It will be a good opportunity to see where our first bishop, the Servant of God Simon Bruté, began building our archdiocese with few resources in what was then truly a frontier land.
Our 175th anniversary celebration will culminate in a solemn Mass on May 3, 2009, at the new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. We expect that as many as 40,000 people will attend this Mass. For more information about the 175th anniversary celebration and special events for the upcoming year, please visit the archdiocesan Web site at www.archindy.org.
Legacy for Our Mission Campaign
I’m pleased to report that the Legacy for Our Mission capital stewardship campaign was an overwhelming success. More than 33,000 Catholics from across central and southern Indiana pledged nearly $104 million. The goal was $100 million. In addition to the $104 million pledged, we also received $10.4 million in corporate gifts.
Thank you all for helping make this campaign such a success. Your contributions will benefit all 151 parishes and the many ministries we carry out throughout the archdiocese. You can find a more detailed financial accounting in the Chief Financial Officer’s letter in this report, which explains how money from this campaign is already being put to good use.
The success of Legacy for Our Mission is surely evidence that all things are possible with God. We thank God for all the blessings he has given us, knowing that everything we accomplish is only possible through God’s grace.
Contributions to the Legacy for Our Mission campaign are being used by parishes to renovate churches, schools and parish centers. Some parishes are paying off outstanding construction loans. More than $1 million has been used for high school capital building projects. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are already going to help support the ministries of Catholic Charities—everything from providing shelter for the homeless to caring for girls and young women who are dealing with crisis pregnancies.
Poor children in the center-city in Indianapolis are getting a chance to go to a Catholic school—one of our Mother Theodore Catholic Academies—because of your support of the Legacy for Our Mission campaign. For many of these children, this will be the opportunity that helps them break free from the cycle of poverty.
We also used funds from the Legacy for Our Mission campaign to purchase the former Carmelite Monastery near Marian College to use as the new home for our Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary.
You can find dozens of stories about how parishes and agencies throughout the archdiocese are using funds raised through Legacy for Our Mission on the archdiocesan Web site at http://archindy.org/legacy/stories.html.
One of the most satisfying results of this campaign is that roughly 14,000 people in parishes throughout the archdiocese volunteered to make it such a success. The blessings that will come from their continued involvement in their parishes are still to be seen and will be astounding.
Vocations
We currently have 25 seminarians in formation. We are blessed to have a great group of future pastors who are bright, committed and caring. We ordained two men to the priesthood in 2008 and we expect to ordain five men in 2009. This will be our largest ordination class since 2002 when we also ordained five men.
The archdiocese was also blessed this past year with the ordination of 25 permanent deacons on June 28 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. This was our first class of permanent deacons. The new deacons are ministering in parishes and in the broader community in such places as jails, prisons, hospitals and nursing homes.
As permanent deacons, these men will baptize, witness marriages and preside at funerals. At Mass, they will be able to proclaim the Gospel and preach, but will not serve as celebrant or consecrate the Eucharist. In the ministry of the Word, the deacons will teach the faith and provide pastoral guidance. The deacons’ primary ministry, however, will be focused on charity.
On a sad note, Deacon Ronald Stier, who was a member of the first ordination class, died on Aug. 24 from pancreatic cancer. He was 71. He ministered at the Richmond Catholic Community parishes of Holy Family, St. Andrew and St. Mary, and at the Wayne County Jail.
A second group of 18 men have already begun formation classes for the permanent diaconate. We expect to ordain these men in 2012.
Pray that God will bless our archdiocese with more vocations and pray for all men and women who are discerning a call to the priesthood, permanent diaconate and religious life.
Catholic Charities
This past year was extremely busy for our Catholic Charities agencies due to worsening economic conditions in the country and severe flooding that hit central and southern Indiana.
Thousands of households across the archdiocese were affected by flooding that ravaged many communities on June 6-7. It was the worst flooding seen in the state in more than 100 years. At least 2,500 homes were damaged in Columbus. More than 2,500 homes were damaged in the Terre Haute area and another 1,500 in the Martinsville area. In Johnson County, from Greenwood in the north to Edinburgh in the south, hundreds of families were severely affected by the flooding.
Catholic Charities and parishioners throughout the archdiocese responded by helping families with financial support and by providing shelter. Volunteers also collected food, water and clothing and helped with the cleanup.
During the past year, our six archdiocesan Catholic Charities agencies went through a process to review each of the nearly 35 programs they operate to serve the most vulnerable in our communities. Motivated by a call issued by Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (“God is Love”) to ensure that no member of God’s family goes without the necessities of life, Catholic Charities is working to see that as a Church we are providing the best and right kind of services.
One of the things we learned from this review process is that Catholic Charities needs to collaborate more closely with parishes in the archdiocese. We hope to greatly enhance this collaboration in the coming year through a program called SHINE, which stands for Spreading Hope In Neighborhoods Everywhere. This social ministry renewal effort will involve parishes, schools, agencies, hospitals and other social service institutions throughout the archdiocese.
You will be hearing more about SHINE in the upcoming year, but to learn more now about how you and your parish can become involved, visit the archdiocesan Catholic Charities Web site at www.CatholicCharitiesIndy.org.
Annual Appeal changes
Now that the Legacy for Our Mission campaign is winding down, although there is still much work to be done in seeing that the pledges are fulfilled, we have spent much of the past year examining how to refine and improve our stewardship operations.
It’s been 10 years since we combined the local parish stewardship initiative with the United Catholic Appeal into what we know now as Called to Serve: Parish Stewardship and United Catholic Appeal. I believe it is time to freshen up our annual appeal.
In 2009, we will be rolling out some enhancements to the appeal to re-emphasize stewardship principles, refresh communications, and illustrate the fact that every parish—and, thus, every parishioner—has a role to play in the ministries of our archdiocese. With the help of a consulting firm, we have been conducting a survey and meeting with various groups throughout the archdiocese to gather input about the best ways to raise funds for all of the archdiocese’s various ministry needs. You will be hearing more about this next year.
Catholic education and faith formation
Our archdiocesan schools and faith formation program continue to receive national attention. More than 7,000 Catholic educators met in Indianapolis March 25-28 for the 105th annual Convention of the National Catholic Educational Association and the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors Convention. It was the first time the Archdiocese of Indianapolis hosted this important gathering. By all accounts, we received excellent reviews from those who attended. Hosting this national convention laid the foundation for further relationships that will benefit our students and schools for years to come.
Our archdiocesan schools have been recognized as among the best academically in the United States. Our Archdiocesan Religion Curriculum Guidelines and Faith 2000 assessment instrument for religious education have made us a national leader in faith formation.
Conclusion
The deepening economic crisis in the United States will almost certainly bring more pain to people in the archdiocese as jobs are lost. We must continue to put our hope in God. We will continue to be good stewards of all of our resources in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and we will use our ministry resources to the best of our ability to help care for those most in need.
Let us all continue to work for the common good of the archdiocese and our society. Thank you for your support and God bless you!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Daniel M. Buechlein, O.S.B.
Archbishop of Indianapolis