Looking Back with Gratitude

As the world makes tentative steps toward that overused “new normal,” we have returned to our offices with a renewed commitment to discern the movements of the Spirit for these new times. We don’t dare presume that we have the answers—just a lot of questions. We’re observing the signs of the times and asking God to help us by shining the light of the Gospel on them so that we may see our way forward.

By now, we are used to hearing the litany of bad news that our times present to us. I won’t repeat it here. Gratefully, not all the signs are negative. This past year we have been blessed by your generosity. Our Annual Fund Campaign exceeded our goals, and we are grateful that along with so many of our long-time and big-hearted supporters (you know who you are!), some new donors and supporters have joined you. We are always seeking new ways to sustain our work as we continue to build and strengthen our long-time means of support.

Below are highlights of a blessed year that your support helped to make possible. In this way, you give us hope! Thank you for supporting all these efforts over the last year. We look forward to continuing to partner with you as we move forward into a new year of building up the Church and Her ministers.

With gratitude!
Fr. Wayne.
 

IMPACTFUL SERVICE

Diocese of Beaumont. With the help of a generous benefactor, we were able to complete a formation inventory for the Hispanic community in the Diocese of Beaumont. The inventory assesses the reality of the Diocese, helping the Bishop and other leaders to get a sense of the demographic reality of the Diocese—which has seen some of the most rapid changes in the country related to the growth of the Hispanic population—along with review of the resources and needs related to developing an effective plan for formation of lay ministers for the Hispanic community and beyond. As the population changes in the Diocese, one of the greatest needs is to foster the development of intercultural competencies for ministry among pastoral leaders, lay and ordained. We hope to build on our work by assisting the diocese in the future to provide formation in this area. Our partnership with Beaumont further gave us an opportunity to expand our online formation offerings.

Fifth National Encuentro. Another journey we are blessed to be part of has been the Fifth National Encuentro process of the U.S. Hispanic Catholic community. Known as the Quinto (Fifth or V) Encuentro, this multi-year process of accompaniment, listening, and responding has borne great fruit for the Church. This year, we have been part of two of those outcomes: the V Encuentro Online Ministry Series and the V Encuentro Young Adult Hispanic Leadership Initiative (VEYAHLI).

V Encuentro Online Ministry Series. The Series “provides national professional development opportunities in English and Spanish that inspire, connect, and offer opportunities to hear best practices, as well as present new initiatives and pastoral responses that emerged from the V Encuentro process.” Each month through the end of this year, two new sessions in English and Spanish are held live online for participants for a total of 28 different ministerial areas identified in need of ongoing formation through the V Encuentro. The bilingual series is being recorded to make it available on a continuing basis for individuals or diocesan formation programs that want to make use of it in the future.

VEYAHLI “is an alliance of Catholic organizations and institutions that works closely with USCCB staff to expand and improve the formation of Hispanic/Latino young adults for leadership in Church and society in dioceses throughout the United States.” Together, we are developing an online process of foundational certification for participants. Currently, two dioceses are preparing to pilot the program with up to 40 participants each. The project will additionally result in a national mentoring program and an online ministry resource center.

Archdiocese of San Antonio. The past year saw some welcome developments closer to home. We are delighted and grateful to have continued our relationship with the Archdiocese of San Antonio with our colleague Lizett Farias, helping to build up their cadre of 30 parish ministry formators through spiritual and intellectual formation.

Oblate School of Theology. We have likewise deepened our partnership with Oblate School of Theology. We assisted with their research into how they might respond to the contemporary context in which they are doing theological education. This was the first phase of a project for OST to apply for a major grant from the Lily Foundation. Another development is in our relationship with OST as our hosting institution. We have been nested at the school for 17 years now and we are both aware of ways that we can mutually enrich one another. At the invitation of President Scott Woodward, we have begun a conversation to formalize that relationship and strengthen our ability to build one another up and reach broader audiences with even greater resources.

Diocese of Salt Lake City. Our joyful journey with the Diocese of Salt Lake City continues. It is a relationship that has been an incredible blessing since 2007 and that has brought us great mutual joy. We continue our accompaniment of the pastoral plan implementation, and their two lay leadership formation programs in English and in Spanish. Some of our most generous supporters come from among the ranks of those we have served there, and we are deeply honored to continue this journey of accompaniment with them.

USCCB Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service. For a long time now, we have served in a consulting role on the USCCB Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service. Serving alongside several bishops representing a variety of USCCB Committees related to the area of formation for ministry, our service not only provides us a national view of the state of the question of formation for lay ministry, but it also provides us the opportunity to represent the special needs of rural and underserved populations as well as Hispanic Catholics whom we serve. The bishops on the subcommittee are open to these perspectives and it is very gratifying to bring these concerns to the table. We likewise successfully advocate for broader representation of these populations on the Subcommittee.

DEVELOPMENT

Annual Fund Co-Chairs. We worked this year for the first time with Annual Fund Co-Chairs Jeff and Mindy Allen. Jeff and Mindy are long-time supporters both of whom over the years have participated in the Lay Ecclesial Ministry formation program we’ve accompanied in Salt Lake City. They were generous with their time as well as their treasure in helping us to build our annual fundraising campaign. Their efforts were instrumental in its success this year. We were blessed by their generosity and patience as our first Co-Chairs!

2022 Congar Gala. We are especially grateful for our successful 2022 Gala. At the center of our gratitude is our dear friend Fr. Ron Rolheiser, whose humble acceptance of our 2022 Yves Congar Award was a tremendous gift to so many who gathered in deep gratitude for all that he has given to the church and to promote evangelization in our time. Due to Fr. Ron’s gracious presence and the generosity of his many friends and admirers, our Gala became for us this year a significant means of support for our ministry. Thank you for supporting that effort, especially to our small army of generous volunteers who worked so hard to make the Gala not only a wonderful success, but also a really enjoyable evening. That includes our Board of Directors, each of whom threw all of their considerable gifts behind the event, significantly contributing to its success.

Spem Miram Internationalis Foundation. We were likewise blessed this year to receive the support of the worldwide Dominican Order through its Spem Miram Internationalis Foundation. Our recently-elected Master of the Order, fr. Gerard Timoner has let us know that he recognizes the importance of our efforts to build up lay ministry especially among those who are underserved, in line with his predecessors who have been consistent in strongly encouraging our ministry.

ADMINISTRATION

Strategic Plan. After its restructuring, our Board of Directors gave considerable time and energy to developing a 5-year Strategic Plan for the Congar Institute. This first year of implementation has proven its value in helping us to track important ways to build up the ministry and its support and to keep us responding effectively to the changing realities in the world and in the Church. The intentionality that it brings to the work of the Institute, both in terms of internal administration and external services and support helps us to be aware of those areas in need of strengthening as we move forward.

New Co-Workers. This past year we’ve had a transition on our team. Toward the end of the year, we bid farewell to Gaby Farias who was with us for quite a few years, first as a part time office assistant and then as full-time administrative assistant. Gaby found a position in marketing, her first love and an excellent use of her marketing skills which we benefited from so well. We will miss her smile and her keen eye for design. In July, we were pleased to welcome to our team Jessica Del Rio who takes over the Administrative Assistant role. You can learn more about Jessica elsewhere in this newsletter. Please help us to welcome Jessica to the Congar Team.

We are equally pleased to have two new part time assistants. Marcie Crutchfield has taken on bookkeeping responsibilities and is a wonderful addition to our team. David Walker, who already began his second year of working with us in April, has been instrumental in helping us to strengthen our institutional advancement work as we strive to professionalize our development efforts and grow our network of support, which makes this ministry possible. We are blessed to have all on our team.

PANDEMIC RESOURCE

Weekly Blog. Finally, we continue to preach Hope in the Time of Corona through our weekly blog. This simple outreach is a wonderful collaboration with our Resource Persons who are happy to reflect together with us and with you on how the Spirit is moving in our times and what divine message we can wrest from this challenging context in which we find ourselves. Hope is a specifically Christian virtue that must be intentionally nurtured in such times, and we are blessed to offer a little something that helps to sustain hope in you, our dear friends and partners in ministry.