Coming up on this episode, tomorrow is Giving Tuesday. So we sit down with Michael Shalacey and Nick Zawiki from the Office of Development to talk about ways that you can give to help support the ministries of the Archdiocese of Galveston, Houston. Welcome to Around the Archdiocese. Sharing information, insights and stories about our Catholic faith from across the Archdiocese of Galveston, Houston.
You're listening to Around the Archdiocese. Here's your host, Sean O'Driscoll. Hello and welcome to another episode. My name is Sean O'Driscoll and I am blessed to serve as the Senior Communications Manager for the Archdiocese and the host of this show.
Now, this episode will drop on the Monday after Thanksgiving. And I'm sure many of us took advantage of Black Friday last week with all the sales and discounts as we prepare for the upcoming Christmas season. But in response to Black Friday, tomorrow, we're all encouraged to participate in Giving Tuesday. Now, Giving Tuesday was created back in 2012 with a simple idea, a day that encourages people to do good.
And in a world where kindness and compassion hold, a lot of power, Giving Tuesday isn't just an opportunity, but it's really a beacon calling us as Catholics to embody the spirit of charity and generosity. Because for us, Giving isn't just an act. It's a reflection of our faith. It's rooted in the belief of serving others with love and selflessness, which echoes the teaching and the example of Jesus Christ.
So to join me in today's discussion, we're blessed to have with us in the studio, Mr. Michael Schalacey, Director of the Office of Development, and Mr. Nick Zoicki, one of the associate directors from that office. Gentlemen, welcome.
Good morning. Great to be here, Sean. Now, Michael, you've been Director of the Office for about five years now. And in that time, the Diocese has continued to grow.
St. Faustina, Catholic Church, out in Fulcher, on the west side of the Diocese, just reached a landmark, 6,000 registered families. We are continuing to expand, which goes against the trend that we see in some other Diocese in the United States. But the question I have for you is, with the number of people continuing to grow, do we see an increase with the amount of giving?
For the Architizes of Galveston Houston in this last year, I'll just take our annual appeal, the D.S.F. that asks us some services fund. We saw an increase in participants in that last year, but that's not the norm across the U.S. as you mentioned.
And so we are blessed. A few more people responded this year. But again, that number of people responding still is small compared to the number of families that we have. So about 10% of our families that are registered for our churches are actually participating in the giving.
Very generous. The average gift is going up, which is wonderful. But at the same time, when more give, then we are able to expand the gifts in our ministries, the impact that they're able to have in the community and continue to do the work of the church in a greater way. Now, speaking of the Diocese and Services Fund, Nick, I know you're kind of one of the key drivers of that particular campaign.
We had a great year last year if my numbers are correct here. It's true. We had a really wonderful year. It was the first year, I think, safely we can say in the state of Texas that a Catholic appeal broke 15 million.
That's amazing. And to Michael's point, on participation, we had seen a steady decline for several years. And it was the first year where we saw an increase in giving across the board. So we're very pleased with that and we're on trend for that this year.
But there's still a lot of work to do. So we've had success, but that doesn't mean we need to stop because it's important that the people in the pews, you, me, Michael, those we go to church with on a Sunday morning, are investing in our local church widely. So we had that success, but we're looking to build on it. Now, talking specifically about the SF for a second, where does that money go to?
What is that money? What is that support? If I give to the church to the DSF, how do I see that actualize? Sure.
Of that 15.2 million that was raised last year, I think it's important to note that 2.1 million went directly back into parishes, first and foremost. The remaining amount went into supporting the 64 ministries of the Archdiocese of Galveston, Houston, which do an incredibly varied number of things. They support chaplaincies and hospitals and prisons, nursing homes. They help prepare seminarians.
They help promote vocations. They help care for elderly clergy. They help care for the sick. They help care for the poor.
They help nurture holy and good families. Our ministries do so many great things and it would be possible without the services fund. So that's why it's crucial for us to increase investment in it, to increase participation in it, because it is a real way that we're answering Christ's call to live out the gospel as a church. And I noticed when you're talking about those, those seem to be more of the pastoral ministries, not the administrative side.
That's right. You know, every dollar given to DSF goes to those 64 ministries that are really about service, they're really about education, they're really about forming future Catholics. The administrative side of things is funded entirely separate from the DSF. Now, I know it's not only the DAS and services fund, it's not only the annual appeal that we have, but there's also other ongoing opportunities that people can give towards whether it's a building fund or initiative for a specific ministry.
Michael, what other opportunities are there for people to give to the diocese? Well, across the board, as you mentioned, while DSF funds the actual ministries, there are always special needs that come across one thing. We spend quite a bit of our time supporting the Catholic schools and the archdiocese and education is a primary focus to Cardinal D'Nardo. And so we have opportunities like the Cardinal Circle, a specific fund, a giving circle of individuals that invest 5,000 or more a year for our across academies.
And these academies serve traditionally marginalized individuals, or excuse me, families, and make sure that those institutions can academically support them and support the teachers that are teaching them. So again, and provide tuition assistance so that those families can access a Catholic education. That's something that Cardinal committed to over 12 years ago. And we continue every single year to look for families to join us in that support.
We also have events for Catholic schools like steps or students where we call together. And this is a diocesan wide event where anyone can come out and be part of a day by the Cook Cathedral in support of Catholic education. That's going to be on February 10th and they can support a school like and run themselves. They can support tuition assistance.
And I tell you what, it's a great day of fun and it's wonderful to see so many of the school communities out here and even some of the parish communities that come and cheer on and are just part of the support team. You know, for me, having been involved with steps for students for many years now, it's such an amazing site to see thousands of people doing this 5k fund run, you know, past the Cook Cathedral through downtown and Easton. All these just variety of people out there supporting Catholic education and benefiting those who may not have an opportunity to participate in that otherwise. I mean, you have priests, you have children, you have moms and dads, you know, pushing strollers and pulling wagons.
It's just a beautiful sight to see the community come together to give to support a common goal and to have benefactors like the members of the Cardinal Circle who are willing to give so generously in a way that they're not directly going to benefit from. I mean, it really is a blessing to the diocese. But I know for many of our listeners, the question is going to come up. You know, $5,000 a year to be a member of the Cardinal Circle is a lot of money that I just don't have.
So if I can't give that amount, how do I know that the little I can give is really going to make a difference? We know what it is again. It's not the amount. You know, again, it's what we're making a gift of whatever we might have.
So that is important to me. That particular project, that community is so important to me. I'm going to give what I can and every little bit adds up to the whole that supports all of those eight schools. And so I guess we have a wonderful, we have a wonderful example of that in the scriptures as well.
Something we can draw back on again. It was the penny was more important than anything else. It's all she had. And for us, it doesn't, it doesn't, it's an opportunity.
If you have that as a passion, maybe, you know, hey, I'm going to give to what I can. We have a, it's called supporting excellence. Actually, it's another campaign. It's the same, it's same beneficiary, the eight cross academies, but it's for everyone to make a general donation.
Maybe you're not part of a getting circle, but you're part of the overall support of the operation of those schools. Now, Nick, working with the SF, I know you're specifically asking for financial donations. But is that the only way people can give or help out when it comes to donating to the church? Absolutely not.
Absolutely not. You know, while, you know, while the financial support is crucial to making our ministries and our works possible and to allowing them to flourish, what really allows our local church to flourish is the donation of time that people give to their communities, the investments they make of themselves into the ministries and their parishes and throughout the archdiocese because volunteers, people leading these ministries, these are crucial aspects to making sure that people have the hands on effect of living out, you know, the gospel to serve and to love one another. There's also a really crucial part in prayer. People are invited to pray for the church.
We are people of prayer. Catholics are constantly called to prayer and supporting the church requires that. And so again, the financial aspect, it's important. It's crucial to making what we do possible, but that talent and that time and that prayer are really just as crucial, if not more so to us.
So we often hear those three, that time talent treasure wrapped under that banner of stewardship. And I know that's been kind of an emphasis within the office over the past couple of years on how to promote the concept of stewardship within the parishes. I know there's actually a stewardship network. There's a stewardship advisory board.
Explain a little bit more about this concept of stewardship for us, Michael. Sure, Sean. Well, you know, the U.S. C.B.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops created a pastoral letter on stewardship stewardship, a disciples response. It's over 20 years ago, just to talk a little bit about the idea of how we respond to God's call on our lives. And as Nick mentioned, we respond in different ways. Some of us are able to make a financial gift in support of the church and the work of our local church.
Others can give themselves via time. And always, we are people of prayer. So all of those different areas are spoken about in this stewardship, the disciples response and our stewardship advisory committee and the work of our office in general is to help people understand, be formed as disciples and stewards of God's gifts, and then encourage to participate and to join in the work of the local church by giving of ourselves. And again, prayerfully in response to God's call to each one of us personally.
So that's that's an effort that we do every single day in the phone calls we make. But then we have had, as you mentioned, an engagement, parish engagement and stewardship conference to try to train across the archdiocese and fight others across the archdiocese, some ways to incorporate those things in the parish life, because really Sean, one of the things we know is that we experience our church often at the parish level. We don't realize that we're necessarily part of a wider church. And that's that's one of the issues we're saying, Hey, come on everybody, we are part of the local church.
And this is a mission of our church being part of it and being active at it. You know, don't sit down and just be a receiver or taker. It's an opportunity to give back. It's an extension of that idea that it takes, you know, everyone in the parish participating to make the ministry of the parish happen, you know, father alone can, you know, confect the uterus and, you know, confer the sacraments, but it's going to take everyone combined to do the education, the formation, the outreach, the social ministry to really form that community.
And to have that opportunity to participate with that on a larger diocesan scale, but there are things as a diocese we can't do effectively unless we have participation on that level. What was definitely and again, we are all part of the church and it is, you know, again, leity and clergy alike have a part to play. You know, and Sean, if I might just point to an example, one of the big things we drive support for is a St. Mary seminary.
Now, the average person in the pew will never attend the seminary because that's not their vocation. However, they can show up in support seminarians, they can promote vocations, they can join us at the seminary for events, they can make a financial contribution for the seminary because they're making an investment in the future lifeblood of our parishes. Without our clergy, we don't really have functioning parishes and vice, but we also need to really engage laity. And so that goes hand in hand, but we're asking people to make an investment in something that they're not going to see for years.
And so it's a different way of approaching how they invest in the church. Again, it's a financial contribution, it's a talent contribution, it's a prayer contribution, but the fact is that they are making a contribution that we can succeed together. And that's really it. It's trying to encourage everyone to do what they can regardless of what that giving is.
It's that reminder that everything we have, everything we are, is a gift from God and part of our responsibilities offer that back to him. I want to stay offered back to them to him, but also if we look a little bit further the next step offer back to him with increase. So we're not supposed to just put it under our pillow and let it sit there, but to develop it within ourselves. You have wonderful speaking voice, Sean, you develop that over time and you're getting back to it by leading a podcast, being a broadcaster, speaking at your church, if you're a lecture.
That's a way that we are increasing the gift and giving it back with increase. So as we mentioned at the beginning, tomorrow is Giving Tuesday. It's an opportunity, especially at the end of the calendar year, to see where people have the opportunity to donate. In the midst of all this giving to one another, our friends, our families, to remind or to give beyond that circle, to give to those truly in need.
Michael, why should people consider giving to their parish or to the diocese of all the opportunities that are available? Why should they consider giving to the church this Tuesday? Well, Sean, I think one of the greatest opportunities we have, again, we spoke about a moment ago, is how are we responding to God's call to give in our lives? Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to, again, make a difference in the life of our community.
And so in this particular time, if you're rushing about and if you are attempting to do all the other things to get ready for the holidays, why not start one with that prayerful consideration of how I'm impacting my local church? If I'm going to make a gift to 10 people in my family, what about those that might not have the opportunity to have something for their own lives? And our parishes often support the families that are within the area and beyond their walls with community gifts, etc. So this is an opportunity to say, OK, wait a minute, I'm going to serve the community, make a gift, and giving Tuesday or in this case, we participate with something called I Give Catholic, which will be opportunity for people to make a contribution to those parishes that have signed up to those social service agencies that have signed up to be part of this and to focus their giving on Catholic entities.
And so we're just inviting people to prayerfully consider and then act. And that's an opportunity. And Sean, beyond this Tuesday, oh my gosh, I missed giving Tuesday. What do I do?
Well, still take that prayerful moment and then look at ways that you can make an individual gift to your parish community, the diocesan community or social service agency that is making a difference in the world in our area and make that commitment. I need to say that some of this and some individuals think of it only as a tax deduction, but it's true, you know, if you make a gift to a nonprofit, there is that opportunity if you itemize your taxes. But more than anything else, I think it's better about our spiritual condition. You know, where am I in that?
And can I get back in that manner as well? And I think one of the big questions people ask themselves before they make a gift is will this have an impact? Will this make a difference? And I want to take a second and note that, you know, for example, if you make a gift to Catholic Charities on Giving Tuesday or through D.S.F.
or directly to Catholic Charities, they serve over 325,000 people a year with numerous programs that help the homeless, single mothers, children, veterans, you name it. They're out there doing that work. If you make a gift to us to the San Jose Clinic, they serve 20,000 people a year who don't have insurance, may have maybe underinsured, or be college students who don't have insurance. You know, we support Saint Dominic Village.
They're the only Catholic retirement home in Houston with 600 people a year served. That's an incredible group that would be served in Catholic setting otherwise. And so when you want to talk about impact, just look at what the church does day in and day out and know that, yes, your gift will have an impact. It will make a difference.
It will change someone's life through the name of Christ. So if someone wants to give, if God's kind of put it on their heart that I need to give back and I want to give to the diocese, what's their next step? You know, Sean, thanks for asking the easiest way to make a gift to any of the ministries of the Archdiocese of the Alvesant Houston on Giving Tuesday is to visit us at either ongiftcatholic.org or to visit us at the Archdiocese and website, archgh.org, where you will have access to any numerous ways to support the works of this local church. Again, that's archgh.org and you will see front and center opportunities to support the church that's giving Tuesday.
And we'll go ahead and put those links in the show notes for this episode. Michael, if someone is listening to this, say a couple weeks after Giving Tuesday, but they still wanted to make a gift. If they still wanted to help out, maybe they're looking and going, well, you know, I gave the DSF earlier in the year, but where else is help needed? What more can I do to help?
Is there one central place where they can go online to find out all the different ways that they can give or maybe all the different funds or initiatives that they can give to? Sure, Sean. As Nick mentioned, you can go to the diocese and webpage at archgh.org and at the top of it, you'll see ways to give. It's an orange button at the top of every single page.
Click that button and a whole list of opportunities from Catholic schools to the same area seminary to retired priests or all there for your selection. And a huge thank you to Michael and Nick for joining us on today's episode. Again, we want to encourage everyone if you have the opportunity, if you have the ability to join us in giving tomorrow on Giving Tuesday or any time in the future. This is really an opportunity for us to live out the principles of stewardship, sharing blessings and uplifting those in need, which really mirrors the core values that are so deeply ingrained within our Catholic tradition.
Giving Tuesday is a day where Catholics can unite really in solidarity, extending a helping hand to the marginalized, offering hope and fostering a real sense of community and belonging. So if you are interested, please reach out, give to your parish, give to the archdiocese, give to other charities in need, all the information's on the website. And as always, if you want to learn more about the ministries and offices of the archdiocese, you can find us online at archgh.org. That's A-R-C-H-G-H.org.
Thanks for joining us. We'll talk to you again soon here on Around the Archdiocese.