MERRILLVILLE – In another boost to missionary discipleship, the Diocese of Gary recently surprised 10 parishes with monetary awards for their outstanding efforts in the 2023 Catholic Services Appeal (CSA).
New this year, the CSA Excellence Awards provide the “Top 10” parishes showing the most improvement in three CSA categories with funding for new evangelization programming and/or materials.
“The initiative this year was a way to recognize excellence and achievement with regard to the Catholic Services Appeal,” explained Father Chris Stanish, vicar general and moderator of the curia. “Our pastors work very hard to help instill a sense of stewardship in their people, and we wanted to do something that would acknowledge that hard work.
“The Finance Office collated the data based on three categories: percentage of CSA funds collected over the parish goal, percentage of increase in number of donors and percentage of increase in actual monies raised. These categories were averaged together in order to create our ‘Top 10’ list.”
The top three parishes were awarded $10,000 towards missionary discipleship initiatives, 4-7 were awarded $5,000 each and 8-10 were each awarded $2,500.
“Our goal is to support parishes, helping them reach those who are unchurched and de-churched,” said Father Declan McNicholas, director of Missionary Discipleship and Evangelization for the new diocesan ministry team. “We have a ripe vineyard.
“The diocese is not doing programs in parishes – we want the parishes themselves to decide what they need and want to do to serve their people – like with the Catholic Foundation’s Mercy Grants and individual funds. These CSA awards can help with that kind of programming,” he added. “Our ministry team's goal is to support parishes, and this award puts resources towards our goal. Doing well in the CSA is in that realm of evangelization.”
The 10 parishes that received awards this year include:
$10,000 level – St. Helen in Hebron, St. John the Evangelist in St. John, St. Patrick in Chesterton
$5,000 level – St. Ann of the Dunes in Beverly Shores, Holy Name of Jesus in Cedar Lake, Holy Spirit in Winfield, St. Mary in East Chicago
$2,500 level – Our Lady of Guadalupe in East Chicago, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Valparaiso, St. Paul in Valparaiso
“The awards are a way for the diocese to promote missionary discipleship and parish evangelization,” noted Matt Kwiatkowski, diocesan accounting and budget administrator, who is receiving the award applications from the parishes.
The first funding request came from Father Douglas Mayer, pastor at St. Paul, added Kwiatkowski.
“We are using the funds for a parish mission that we held April 23-25,” explained Father Mayer. “We were planning for the mission with one presenter, but the CSA award allowed us to expand to multiple speakers, to pay honoraria for three presenters and for hospitality after each session, giving those who attended a chance for fellowship and discussion.”
“I was very pleased to receive the award, it was a nice surprise,” added the St. Paul pastor. “It was great to be able to meet some needs in the parish through the rebate we receive for exceeding our goal, and with this award. We depend on the parish to respond and live the Easter message to share.”
Father Julio Bedoya, A.I.C., pastor at St. Mary in East Chicago, said he was “surprised and excited” to receive his parish’s $5,000 award. “We are hoping to help evangelize our youth – assist our confirmation class, start a teenage youth group, take our youth on a retreat … we also want to use the award for catechesis, to add materials and computer software for faith formation.”
“Excited” and “surprised” were the words echoed by Father Tom Mischler in describing his reaction to building on parish rebates with a $10,000 CSA award to St. Helen and a $5,000 award to Holy Spirit. “They sprung this new award on us, and then to get called up twice to receive an award, it was a reward for both parishes for working hard.”
Father Mischler said the third parish he pastors, St. Mary in Kouts, will also benefit from the award. “I’m still working on ideas geared toward evangelization with Father Ian (Williams, resident senior priest at St. Helen). We hope to fund programs to give people a better grasp of evangelization, to help them be engaged in being good disciples,” he said.
“We want to share the funds across all three parishes – One Catholic Family – to allow the award to lift everyone up,” Father Mischler added. “We want to make sure it is empowering people to benefit and inspire their entire parish. We will work with the diocesan evangelization team to utilize our gifts,”
“There isn’t a deadline for parishes to submit their plans. They are able to ask for the grant money when it would best suit their needs,” explained Father Stanish. “When the request comes in, Father McNicholas’ office will respond to it right away. We want the parishes to be able to have thoughtful conversations about various evangelization initiatives knowing that there is funding available for it.”
Caption: Keynote speaker Father Frank DeSiano, a Eucharistic preacher named by the USCCB and the president of the Paulist Fathers, chats with parishioners during fellowship after the first session of a three-day Eucharistic Mission at St. Paul in Valparaiso. Refreshments for the morning and evening programs each day were funded through a $2,500 CSA Excellence Award received by the parish for its outstanding participation in the Catholic Services Appeal last year. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)