Assemble St. Louis: The Church in Everyone's Heart

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As principal of St. James the Greater School in the Dogtown neighborhood of south St. Louis, Karen Battaglia said she’s excited about the local Church’s plan to “revitalize the Church” and make schools vibrant.

Referring to Archbishop Robert J. Carlson’s “Alive in Christ” Mission Advancement Initiative for strengthening Catholic schools across the 11-county archdiocese, Battaglia said the effort will take sacrifices, but added, “it’s all for one reason: and that’s the Church and spreading its mission.”

Battaglia was one of approximately 220 parish and school representatives who attended “Assemble St. Louis,” the archdiocese’s second annual Pastoral Assembly, held Oct. 29 at the Cardinal Rigali Center in Shrewsbury. Archdiocesan officials estimated there were representatives from 95 parishes and 26 schools.

The daylong event included a presentation by Archbishop Robert J. Carlson on the subject of evangelization, the fifth consultation by the Mission Advancement Initiative planning teams, an open forum with the archbishop and shorter presentations on the upcoming Catholics Come Home initiative and Catholic St. Louis, a magazine to be published by the archdiocese in the new year.

In addressing the assembly, Archbishop Carlson said only 6 percent of parishes in the United States have done any kind of evangelization efforts.

“We don’t do a good job of evangelizing,” In the past, that was something the Church didn’t rely upon, but now, it’s a luxury the Church can no longer afford, he noted.

“We have to get out of our comfort zones,” he said. The Church is “a place in everybody’s heart and not just a place on the corner.”

Chancellor Nancy Werner explained that the purpose of the assembly is fourfold: to provide a forum in which to consult with others on the state of the local Church; to serve as a tool for two-way communication between parishes/schools and the archdiocese; to serve as a model of cooperation and collaboration; and to have a chance to personally interact with the archbishop.

A good chunk of the assembly was devoted to a presentation detailing numerous recommendations from the four planning teams of the Mission Advancement Initiative. The teams were established earlier this year to study the four educational goals set by the archbishop: Catechesis/Academic Excellence, Evangelization, Stewardship and Social Justice.

The four teams have been engaged in ongoing study over the last several months. Their final proposals, currently under development, will be presented to Archbishop Carlson sometime later this month. After final consultations, the archbishop will unveil his pastoral plan on Feb. 2, 2012, in conjunction with Catholic Schools Week. The plan, “Alive in Christ 2018,” will coincide with the 200th anniversary of Catholic education in the archdiocese in 2018.

Some of those recommendations included initiating an assessment on all archdiocesan parishes with the purpose of establishing a scholarship fund for Catholic schools. When fully implemented, the assessments should generate $3.5 million for the fund.

Other recommendations included providing spiritual formation for all educators in Catholic schools, additional educational training for teachers, outreach to parents, renewing a commitment to helping children who are financially poor, and more.

Dan Conway, who serves as consultant for mission advancement for the archdiocese, noted that “we want to change the conversation about Catholic education. There’s been a kind of assumption that because we’ve had 40 years of decline that decline is inevitable. What Archbishop Carlson is saying is the opposite: Growth is possible. It won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight, but our objective is to grow Catholic schools.We know we can’t do it alone. We need God’s help. But we also need a new commitment on the part of the Catholic community.”

To submit input on the Mission Advancement Initiative, contact Dan Conway at (314) 792-7326 or email danconway@archstl.org.

Catechesis/

Academic Excellence

• Form a task force of Catholic educators to develop and implement academic standards;

• Develop a program in Catholic identity for all teachers, and a program in Catholic spiritual formation for all Catholic school presidents, principals and DREs/CREs;

• Develop a certification program for youth ministry, and increase faith formation opportunities for youth ministers, including Scouting and sports;

• Strengthen adult religious education, including assisting parents as first and primary teachers of faith.

Evangelization 

• Outreach to parents, from the time their children are baptized in the Church, including faith formation opportunities;

• Develop an archdiocesanwide evangelization program, including the Catholics Come Home program, and follow-up programs, such as Father Barron’s “Catholicism”;

• Design a marketing campaign for “Alive In Christ!” and a Catholic identity awareness campaign.

Stewardship

• Implement an assessment on all archdiocesan parishes to generate a scholarship fund for Catholic grade schools. When fully implemented, the fund should generate $3.5 million;

• Develop an archdiocesanwide capital campaign, to begin in 2013-14, to support Catholic education, with a portion of funds staying in the parishes and a portion going toward the scholarship fund;

• Providing training and mentoring for parish and school staff to assure they are being good stewards of their resources.

Social Justice

• Develop a section of the archdiocese’s website to provide parishes/schools resources for those in need;

• Promote and organize student exchange programs between schools with different racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds;

• Create a process that makes schools receiving archdiocesan funding accountable for pursuing government funding for which they are eligible;

• Work with the Missouri Catholic Conference and others to develop a strategy to increase public and private funding, in all forms, available to the mission of Catholic education.