Campaign Goal: $35 million

Our parishes are the heart of our diocese. It is where Catholics celebrate the sacraments, learn about and grow in the faith, pass on and model their beliefs to children and youth, and come together to serve their community. Each parish is rooted in the church but has its own identity and unique charism through its members.

Our diocese benefits from the diversity of our 123 parishes and missions, which are urban and rural, small and large, multilingual, with schools and without. Together, they serve more than 500,000 Catholics, and this number is expected to increase. Given the critical role of parishes, ensuring their strength and sustainability is of the utmost importance.

There are three priorities within the pillar of Strengthening Our Parishes:

Local Parish Needs | Rural Parishes

Expanding Parishes

Local Parish Needs: $22.5 million

As with the Our Faith, Our Legacy campaign, 30 percent of the funds raised — $22.5 million, in this campaign — will remain with parishes. In the past, parishes have used these funds to complete expansions, upgrades or renovations; take care of deferred maintenance; reduce debt; or establish reserves for their schools, religious education programs or other ministries. By sharing diocesan campaign funds with parishes, we can achieve both the goals of the diocese and the unique needs of parishes — and strengthen and bring together our diocese as a whole.

Find your parish's goal!

Rural Parishes: $3 million

Crucial to the Catholic community in Central Texas are our 80 parishes and missions in rural areas. Many have less than a thousand families, and may be the only parish for miles within their county. For these parishes, emergency costs may be too great to bear on their own. Although they have not experienced the same growth as urban and suburban areas, our rural parishes must remain open. Through Encountering Christ, the diocese will create a $3 million endowment to provide additional operational and emergency support for rural parishes.

Expanding Parishes: $10 million

Recent population growth has stretched some parishes in this area beyond their physical and ministerial capacities. Knowing this is a reality we will continue to face for years to come, the diocese will reserve $10 million of the overall goal to support the expansion of these parishes to accommodate new membership and ministries. A portion of campaign funds will also be set aside for the construction of new parishes in the future.