The following is a transcript of Bishop Coakley's audio address to the diocese introducing Stewards of Hope.

My Dear People:

I am very happy to have this opportunity to speak to you.  It was very moving for me to see so many of you at the special Diocesan Assembly in Hays on June 6.  Over 1,000 people attended the Assembly.  It was certainly another high point in the long, proud history of this Diocese, and the Lord blessed us with fine weather for the beautiful Eucharistic Procession to honor the Feast of Corpus Christi.

At the Assembly, it was my pleasure and privilege to introduce Stewards of Hope, the Pastoral Plan that has been in development since the spring of 2008.  The Diocesan Planning Commission did a fine job preparing the Plan, and I believe Stewards of Hope will prove a steady guide as we walk and work together over the next four years.

The Diocese will distribute full printed copies of Stewards of Hope and its executive summary toward the end of the year.  In the meantime, if you would like to see the full text of the Plan, it is available on the diocesan website.  Just click on “Diocesan Pastoral Plan” in the right margin.  If you prefer a briefer account, brochures describing the Plan are in the pamphlet racks of your church.

The Diocesan Assembly marked an important transition point.  Plans are wonderful, but they ultimately create frustration if they are not vigorously implemented.  The last thing we want is for Stewards of Hope to end up on a dusty shelf.

Therefore, I am calling on the Catholics of the Diocese to adopt Stewards of Hope as a sure means of reinvigorating the spiritual life of their parishes.  I call on each of you to familiarize yourself with the Pastoral Plan, to open your hearts to its message, and to help bring it to life in our Diocese.  I call on you to support and cooperate with your pastor and the lay leaders charged with making the Plan work.

Formal implementation of Stewards of Hope will not begin until January 2011, but preparations are already well under way.  In March, I appointed a Diocesan Plan Implementation Committee to guide and coordinate our work together.  That committee, collaborating closely with the diocesan staff, is making the necessary arrangements to ensure that Stewards of Hope is a success.

The Implementation Committee’s first task was to create a practical way for all the parishes of the Diocese to participate fully in the Pastoral Plan.  Stewards of Hope is quite detailed and comprehensive.  It has 13 sections devoted to a range of topics from keeping the Lord’s Day holy to religious education to the training of priests and lay leaders to Catholic social teaching.

The committee members realized immediately that the smaller parishes would be at a serious disadvantage in trying to implement so complex a plan over four years.  They decided that the best solution is to create groups of parishes that will collaborate on Stewards of Hope.  While nine of the largest parishes will work alone, the remaining 77 will be in units made up of two, three, or even four parishes.  In nearly every case, parishes that have the same pastor will work together.

Let me repeat this point to make sure it is clear.  Most parishes will work in groups.  But every parish will retain its unique identity and much autonomy.  They will be grouped only for the purpose of bringing Stewards of Hope to life in our Diocese.

I want to stress also that participating in Stewards of Hope will help small parishes become stronger Christian communities.  Parishes will collaborate to achieve a common goal: to strengthen and revitalize parish life. Larger parishes will benefit by serving their brothers and sisters within the diocesan family.  Smaller parishes will benefit more directly.  By becoming part of stable groups with more families and more resources, they can avoid isolation and decline.

You will be hearing more about these parish-based committees as time goes on.  Your pastor will appoint the members soon, and the Diocese will be offering training for pastors and Committee Chairs in the fall.  I expect the committees to be up and running by January, when implementation of Stewards of Hope really begins.
How will this collaboration among different parishes work?  I have approved the creation of parish-based Stewards of Hope Committees to help the Diocesan Plan Implementation Committee on the local level.  There will be one parish-based Stewards of Hope Committee for each group, working with the pastoral councils and finance councils of the participating parishes.  Each committee will be chaired by a leading lay man or woman. The pastor and parish life coordinator, if there is one, will, of course, supervise and work closely with the committee.

I realize that I am describing a new initiative that will require much real work for the Diocese of Salina and its parishes.  I realize also that extra work can be upsetting and hard to adopt with a cheerful heart but I believe the results will be worth the effort.  I have already asked you to follow me in accepting stewardship as a way of life for Catholics, and in supporting the Diocese’s forthcoming Capital Campaign, Yesterday, Today and Forever.  Now there is Stewards of Hope.

Perhaps a few words of explanation will help put all these initiatives in perspective.  First of all, the Capital Campaign called Yesterday, Today and Forever, will be an important one-time-only fundraising event targeting a few well-defined and familiar causes: our retirement fund for elderly priests, the education of our seminarians, the good works of Catholic Charities, and additional diocesan support to help parishes implement Stewards of Hope.  The Capital Campaign will end next summer.

Stewardship, on the other hand, is a way of life whereby Catholics regularly and routinely express their faith through gifts of time, talent and treasure in gratitude for God’s gifts to them.  Stewardship Weekends, workshops and conferences will be a feature of parish and diocesan life from now on.  Unlike the Capital Campaign which ends next year, stewardship is here to stay.

The love of Christ impels us to be the best Catholics we can be.  That means earnest worship.  That means strengthening our parish communities.  That means handing on the faith.  That means sharing our faith with others.  That means doing our part to transform the world according to the light of truth, justice and charity that Jesus has shown us.  In sum, it means responding to God’s call to holiness, a call addressed to each one of us. Finally, some people will ask: “Is all this really worth the trouble?”  “Why are we adopting this pastoral plan?”  Let me respond by repeating some of the points I made at the June Assembly in introducing Stewards of Hope to the Diocese. Stewards of Hope is also here to stay.  It is a comprehensive pastoral plan intended to guide the Catholics of the Diocese of Salina for years to come.  So what’s the difference between stewardship and Stewards of Hope?  Well, Section 2 of Stewards of Hope is entitled “Stewardship.”  Stewardship is part of Stewards of Hope.  The Diocese just got an early start with that aspect of the Pastoral Plan.

I hope these brief remarks make you eager to embrace the spiritual pilgrimage that Stewards of Hope calls us to undertake.  These are exciting times for the Diocese of Salina.  I need your help, your cooperation, your prayers--especially your prayers--for the success of our Pastoral Plan.  Please pray for your pastor and the lay people charged with making Stewards of Hope work.  I am grateful for their faithful commitment and affirm their leadership.  We Catholics of the Diocese of Salina are on a mission: following in the footsteps of the faithful who came before us, to become holier people, to become better Catholics and more faithful disciples of Christ.  And we’re all in this together!

Finally, please pray for me, as I always do for you.