The Diocese of Nashville will hold four informational meetings at parishes across the diocese in the coming weeks to solicit views from people about the possibility of launching a major fundraising campaign to pay for several long-term needs of the diocese.
The meetings are part of a planning study being conducted for the diocese by the Steier Group, a firm based in Omaha, Nebraska, that conducts campaign planning studies and manages capital campaigns for churches, schools and nonprofits all over the country.
“This is a chance to learn more about the planning study,” Diocesan Stewardship Director Ashley Linville said of the upcoming meetings.
The diocese and the Steier Group are studying the interest in funding five priorities where there’s potential need for future growth, Linville said.
The priorities fit the diocesan mission of “Living and Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, Welcoming All,” and the accompanying four pillars: service to one another through love; fidelity to God and his Church; respect for life; and solidarity with all humanity, Linville said.
The priorities include:
• Vocations: building an endowment for the education of seminarians.
• Catholic education: to increase the endowment for the Advancement of Catholic Education, which raises money for tuition assistance and other needs of Catholic schools in the diocese.
• Parish growth and expansion: to raise money to build new parishes and schools.
• Helping the marginalized: creating an endowment for Catholic Charities of Tennessee, which would provide a large, permanent, sustainable funding source.
• Individual parish needs: 25 percent of money raised from a campaign would be returned to the parish for its needs.
“The goal of the planning study is to collect as much information as we can about the five core areas,” Linville said.
“We’re trying to determine if we should have a campaign to address these needs for many years,” Linville said. The five priorities represent long-term projects rather than annual operations, he explained. While the Bishop’s Annual Appeal for Ministries provides operating funds for a wide variety of diocesan ministries, a campaign would raise money for the identified long-term needs.
“We’re trying to make sure the diocese is in a good position moving forward to fund these important priorities,” Linville said.
Before moving forward with a campaign, Linville said, “It’s important we hear back from as many people as we can.”
The informational meetings will be held:
• Thursday, Jan. 30, 6:30 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Nashville.
• Sunday, Feb. 9, 6: 30 p.m. at Holy Family Church in Brentwood.
• Thursday, Feb. 13, at 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Hendersonville.
• Sunday, Feb. 16, at 3 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima Church in Murfreesboro.
The sites were selected to be accessible to as many people as possible, Linville said. The sessions will be open to anyone interested.
At the sessions, which will be led by representatives of the Steier Group and the diocese, “We’ll walk through the potential pieces of a possible campaign, answer questions, share information about the priorities and why they’re important for the future of the diocese,” Linville said.
“A campaign of this magnitude will have a long-term impact and the gifts will have a long-term impact,” Linville said. “If we did move forward with a campaign, the gifts made would not only benefit the diocese today but would benefit the diocese in the years to come.”
The diocese also is conducting a survey about the priorities. Copies of the survey will be available at the informational meetings. People can also fill out the survey online at the diocesan website: www.dioceseofnashville.com.
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