The following comes from a July 15 story in the Oakland diocese paper, the Catholic Voice.
A new department has been created that is consolidating various Diocese of Oakland fundraising efforts into a single, more coordinated structure….
The new diocesan department, the Office for Mission Advancement, will bring disparate elements such as second collections, the Annual Bishop’s Appeal and Family Aid Catholic Education school fundraising, under one umbrella.
“Over the last 24 months, two studies were conducted to assess the fundraising and development activities of the diocese and certain diocesan entities,” explained Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, bishop of Oakland. “It was determined through these studies and recommended to the Bishop’s Administrative Council and then-Bishop Cordelione, that a restructuring and consolidation of such efforts occur.
“The goal of this consolidation was to increase the effectiveness of fundraising/development activities and reduce the cost for the dollars being raised. Though the process was initiated before I became bishop, it was strongly supported by then-Bishop Cordileone, and Archbishop Brunett, the apostolic administrator. I wish to add my support for this restructuring and consolidation of the development efforts.”
A new position to lead and coordinate these efforts was approved, and after an extensive national search, Ken Hokenson was named executive director for Mission Advancement effective Jan. 1.
Hokenson brings a solid background in nonprofit fundraising to the diocese. His career has included top fundraising jobs in the archdioceses of Boston and Hartford, the dioceses of Springfield and Providence, at Spring Hill College in Alabama, and United Community & Family Services in Connecticut. Early in his career he worked at the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
During his 10 years in the Archdiocese of Boston, he helped plan, develop and lead a $300 million capital campaign.
Research done last year by the International Catholic Stewardship Council and the firm, Guidance in Giving Inc., indicates the Oakland diocese lags significantly behind comparable dioceses in fund raising and that it was operating with twice as many staff members as needed. The diocese has shed much of its former fundraising staff through attrition.
The Oakland diocese was spending about 26 cents of each dollar raised on development costs; Guidance in Giving estimates it should be spending 15 cents per dollar raised….
Interestingly the size and demographics of the Oakland diocese compare favorably with Sacramento and Providence, where Hokenson has worked.
The bishop has made it clear he wants to see more collaboration and “that we’re not competing with each other,” Hokenson said.
Some organizations will maintain separate operations. “Catholic Charities has its own operation, and it will still have a separate operation, but there will be more collaboration,” he said.
To read the entire story, click here.
Love the picture: “STEP FORWARD, TIN MAN!”
I have an MPA, and 15-20% is the proper level of administrative expenses for fundraising for an established institution. Consolidation can be two-edged: people will want to give to specific things, not some nebulous fund.
How about “We come in peace. Our planet Karmozog was destroyed and we only seek a place of shelter on earth.”
I hope they can raise enough money to buy a Warp Engine for that Spaceship one they call a Cathedral and then when it flys off to Mypos, they can build a proper Cathedral.
haha. Funny, mbuku! I was thinking even a wrecking ball and a few bulldozers would do. Space has enough flotsam an d jetsom floating about.
Three responses: (1) sell the awful “cathedral” and build a classically traditional church, where the TLM is said regularly; (2) watch out for consolidation, which eliminates your right to avoid collections for apostate groups and organizations, such as the CCHD; and (3) nice job in Boston, what a great diocese! Next, Oakland will be all consolidated so that it can start to close down parishes. Disappointing start for the new bishop.
I attended a stational Mass at Christ the Light Cathedral a couple of weeks before then-Bishop Cordileone left and found it to be so reverently and beautifully celebrated by him and the other ministers and choir and organ that I forgot about the barn it was being celebrated in. It almost seemed beautiful itself.
Also, the Mass is celebrated in Extraordinary Form at St. Margaret Mary in Oakland (1219 Excelsior Av., at the Park Avenue offramp of 580) every Sunday at 12:30PM, at 6PM Mondays through Fridays and at 10AM on Saturdays.
It’s an ark-like the Church.
The medieval Cathedrals were arks. This looks more like a leaky Chinese cargo carrier.
At present, the faithful weekend Mass attendee is constantly being hit-up for second collection deposits. It is possible that one or two yearly combined collections would be worthwhile. My concern over who is getting the money and what it is being used for, exactly, may get shrouded in shadows. It seems similar to the controversy over fee-for-service in health care vs the lump sum payments of HMOs’. In the case of the latter one never knows just what the money is going towards. So, Caveat Emptor is still the guiding principal.
Bishop Cummings promised the diocese that his cathedral would not be built by requiring donations from the parishes – let him stick to his word.
There was an announcement in our parish bulletin that the second-collection towards paying off the cathedral has been cancelled; now I know why. Seems it will go into this all-inclusive fund. Guess Bishop Cummings was wrong.
The Great Commission: 20%.
OK Skai, that’s pretty funny.
YFC, back in the sixties while at a UC campus, the gays were also trying to recruit me. That is when I discovered that no matter how much you trash them, the eat it up and come back for more. To me, that is extremely bizarre behavior.
So Skai did you ever join the military?
USMCR.
YFC, I think what you may be looking for is why your primal motives are different from those of men who are not gay. Consider that the motives are the same, primally, but that there is some sort of a transference from a good object to a perverse object. I think that is the profound battle a gay would face when turning from his ways. You have two choices then: A. sacrifice your basic sex instincts, ie give them to Jesus, or B. immediately refocus on women. Nurture can result in “hardwiring”, which is extremely difficult to repair, but possible. You have to get to the root and seek ways to resolve the problems. Sacrifice and refocus is probably the way to go about it.
Skai, 1) shouldn’t be done and 2) can’t be done Skai. You know not of what you speak.
Christ Cathedral… Crystal Cathedral…Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
‘UGLY AS SIN ‘ by Michael Rose. “How Catholic churches are being sapped of their spiritual vitality — and what you can do about it! The problem with new-style churches isn t just that they re ugly — they actually distort the Faith and lead Catholics away from Catholicism.
So argues Michael S. Rose in these eye-opening pages, which banish forever the notion that lovers of traditional-style churches are motivated simply by taste or nostalgia. In terms that non-architects can understand (and modern architects can’ t dismiss!), Rose shows that far more is at stake: modern churches actually violate the three natural laws of church architecture and lead Catholics to worship, quite simply, a false god.
Not content to limit himself to theory, Rose in Ugly as Sin takes you on a revealing tour through a traditional church and a modern church. He shows conclusively how the traditional church communicates the Faith, while the modern one simply doesn t. In the process, he ll give you a renewed love and gratitude for the gift of faith that is your traditional church — plus a keener sense of just what s wrong with modern churches that look like anything but churches. Rose provides you with solid arguments (as easy to explain as they are hard to refute!) and practical tools that you can use to reverse the dangerous trend toward desacralized churches — and to make our churches once again into magnificent Houses of God!”
Michael Rose’s books might cause a return of the Index.
Good post, Catherine. I’m going to find Mr. Rose’s book.
I have a limited income. I have budgeted a certain amount to give to the Church. I put it all in one Sunday envelope. The parish can decide how to allocate it. Occasionally, if I see a special cause, I will give to it. I still remember when most dioceses were crying that they were nearly insolvent because of the money they had to pay because of the priest molestation law suits. Those bishops supported those evil priests, even after they knew of their crimes against children. When they had milked as much money from the pew-sitters as they could, suddenly they found enough money to build new cathedrals or to buy inappropriate Protestant churches to make into cathedrals. Too bad. I will not donate to them.
I’m thinking of setting up a brokerage for church donations, Sarah. What do you think?
Fond a way to sell that hideous cathedral and build a decent church. Oakland does not need that massive barn. It definitely isn’t Los Angeles with 4 million Catholics. Speaking of which, it’s said that the Los Angeles cathedral was paid for in full by the time its doors opened. Cardinal Mahony was known as a fixer for more reasons than one.
“Barn”, you say? Barns are for beasts … is this new church architecture a subtle intro to the age of the “beast”?
Recently while on vacation in CA, my wife and I went to Sunday Mass at All Saints Church in Hayward. We picked the church due to the traditional architecture we saw on the internet. What we experienced was anything but traditional Catholic. They had moved the exquisite altar away from the center of the sanctuary to a side wing. While we were praying before the Blessed Sacrament in the closed tabernacle, a man in tennis shoes and a sweatshirt walked up to the Tabernacle and without genuflecting, opened it and took the host and departed again without genuflecting. It appeared that anyone could gain access as the key was left in the door! During Mass no Penitential Rite was prayed, the Mass was accompanied by a pop jazz band, all before an ugly, modernist resurrected Christ at the center of the sanctuary. I could not reconcile this “protestant’ service with the incredible Catholic architecture, stained glass windows, old hand-carved confessionals, and general solemnity of the old church. Instead, loud music, an announcement of a LGBT group meeting led by the visiting priest and non-liturgical songs in 3 or 4 languages. This is the bitter fruit of Vatican II – may our Divine Lord have mercy on us and help us restore the Sacred Tradition.
Not really a “Protestant service”, but an anti-Christ service. Many many Protestants are reverent and worship God.
How very sad. Unfortunately, I too have stories like that, as do we all, to the shame of the priests who perpetuate these abuses.
Have you (and all others who witness abuses) reported these abuses of the Mass to the Diocese Bishop? Or to the US Papal Nuncio and the Vatican if the Bishop does nothing?
If not, the abuses will continue, and we have no right to complain.
All Priests MUST adhere to GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) which can be found on the Vatican and USCCB web sites – for the Ordinary Form (vernacular) of the Mass.
The Extraordinary Form of the Mass (Latin) must adhere to the 1962 Missal.
GIRM includes not only rubics but music – etc., etc, etc.
There are no exceptions. Bishops and/or Priests may not make changes to the Mass. Being “creative” is not permitted.
David,
Have you done what you suggest we all do, I have and I got nowhere. I even went to the Vatican and met with ALL the Dicasteries. So I repeat, HAVE YOU DONE WHAT YOU SUGGEST WE ALL DO?
May God have mercy on his persecuted Church.
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Yes, and with some success but patience is needed.
In fact, Pope Francis has appointed a group of Cardinals to streamline the process at the Vatican – to make it even more responsive to everyone in a more timely way.
Many times the documentation provided will determine how and when something is answered since there are both true and false accusations presented.
In addition to the facts of the case – always use the Bible, CCC, GIRM, and Code of Canon Law as part of your documentation.
I’m sorry you had no response in the past. The Vatican is much more responsive now than it was 10 years ago and previous to that.
David – Sounds good but you miss the fact that the Priests do make changes. The Priests of the Diocese of Oakland have ignored the Bishop for years. They do exactly what our general society is doing – if it feels good then it is OK.
Robert – part of the problem is that there are not enough complaints about abuses of the Mass sent to the Bishop, US Papal Nuncio in DC, and the Vatican.
People in the pews just sit there, and then complain to each other – which does nothing to correct the problems.
David, Jesus Christ is not the superman type hero from mythology or video game fame. It doesn’t work that way in reality.
Only because most people (like you), prefer to complain in the media rather than taking complaints and proper documentation to those in authority.
Complaining to each other does nothing to correct problems.
Jesus did physically throw out those abusing the Temple. And overturned tables and benches.
It is stories like the one related to us by St Michael that have convinced me that the only way for things to change and for the Bishops to hear us is direct action. What is that? use leftist tactics against them take over entire parishes, tear down blasphemous image or art (rainbow flags) confront and even threaten wayward priests as I have. I guaranty you that if this happened in Parishes throughout the country the USCCB would have to answer to us… better yet maybe even Rome.
Unfortunately, your experience at All Saints is typical of the Oakland Diocese: a liturgical wasteland, disobedient priests and a disgraceful educational system.
I hear your disappointment – I drive past three parishes to get to a Mass I can pray at. As the Pope said “the smoke of Satin has entered the Church”.
I am sorry to hear that. That church once was so exquisitely beautiful inside. I have often wondered if they had ruined it like so many, and now I know.
All Saints is one of the most vibrant parishes in the Diocese. They serve a very diverse population of people from Asisa, Nigeria and many other places. Whenever someone like St.Michael Defend Us lodges massive complaints about a parish, I like to go to their web site, get a feel for the parish and read a couple of weekly bulletins. Much of what you say has to do with your own taste. I find the statue of the risen Christ against the cross to be very nice. The church is designed to put the altar center stage where it is supposed to be. The ministries are diverse and well planned. The staff seems well educated with at least on or two doctorates. It is not unusual to have parishes design, as much as they are allowed, to design the liturgy to follow the culture of parishioners. Many parishes have African based music, of Filipino music, Tongan chants, etc.. Me thinks you complain too much about things that are not all that important to the search for Christ, a journey that we all make in our own way.
“Vibrant”, “inappropriate”, “adhere”: These pc words are indicators, ques, that introduce the reader or hearer to a fantasy story. B.O., you might as well wear clothing from the Haight of the sixties as to use such a word as “vibrant”. But that is the consequence of committee life in the dungeons of bureaucracy. You need light, B.O.
I will start looking for churches that are not vibrant, who’s music is dull, who’s interiors are dull, and who attract people who are dull in their practice of the faith. God forbid that the parish should be a vibrant star in its community, where people practice their faith rather than just talk about it, where services are not friendly to the people in the neighborhood, etc. I suggest, lovingly, that I am not the one who needs to see the light. I have seen it and it is magnificant! He makes it that way.
Bob One and the cult of novelty and hipness….
I know the Cathedral in Oakland is controversial, and I’m not surprised many don’t like it. But I have this story that may make you rethink its value as an evangelical tool: My partner and I decided to BART to Lake Merritt on a particularly nice day and walk around the lake. I hardly ever get to Oakland, so I don’t know the lake or the buildings around it. Most were the typical modernish office buildings, a few condos, some elegant looking hotels. But across the lake we saw a smaller building tucked amongst the office buldings. It was almond shaped, and quite interesting. We resolved to check it out when we got around to the other side. First we saw a reference to a rectory, so we figured it was a Catholic church. Then it occurred to us that it was the new Cathedral. We went in, looked around (even though they were prepping for a wedding), took some pictures and said some prayers. We went to the bookstore and picked up a book for our niece who is converting to Catholicism to marry her husband, and were amazed that such a building was right in the middle of a modern downtown, in fact, immediately adjacent to the Kaiser headquarters, which my partner often has to frequent for work meetings. We have resolved to go to Mass there on another of these fine late summer Sundays.
May God have mercy on His Church when a sodomite openly talks of his “partner” on a Catholic Website!
Viva Cristo Rey!
Kenneth M. Fisher
I know, Kenneth. I feel so sad for these young men and their families. It sounds arrogant to feel sorry for someone, but I do not in anyway mean to seem superior. As an authority on sinning, all I can say is I hope that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their errors. It is a blessing to feel remorse and to be forgiven and restored at reconcilitation. They know they’re not to take communion in a state of grave sin, but I’ll bet they’re there week after week. Do they even confess this sin? I suppose they’ve found a priest who just gives them a wink and a pass. This ugly church is an outward manifestation of a warped and jaded interior life and those who find beauty in such an aesthetic dump are modernists at heart. I see conceit and emptiness with a vaporous image of what I imagine is meant to convey Christ asking Scottie to beam Him up?
Dana, my feelings are more like “p*$$ed off”. They do not have any right to behave in such ways … “Jesus wept”.
Dana you and Mister Fisher are so focused on the gay that you can’t even keep to the topic at hand. Once again. Keep changing the subject, keep insulting your fellow catholic. I can take it. My partner can take it. Our families can take it. We all pray for you. I just feel sorry for the young ones, the innocent ones, who are gay and who have to face the kind of attitudes that you both put into the world, a poison that is not Catholic or Christian or Christ like.
No insult was intended Yfc. I speak as a mom. If you were my son my heart would be torn and utterly broken. What if a child of yours chose to become a Muslim and turn her back on the family and Catholicism? What if he becomes a Mormon? Like Tevia found in Fiddler on the Roof, there’s a line that must not be crossed and I’m sorry that you cannot see that.
PS. I have never and would never reject a child …especially since your sexualizing of what doesn’t even exist until puberty is ludicrous . I have effeminate cousins, and students when I was a teacher and have never felt anything but the love I feel/felt for all children. Shame on you! You speak of poison! I can see why the men get so angry with you…you’re really mean!
You’re right though, about staying on subject! And I always appreciate prayer, YfC. My back is out & I’m hobbling about with a cane and I missed Mass today! Both my brothers have severe heart problems and my husband won’t quit smoking ! Sorry, I digress. I’ll stop wagging my finger at you as it’s pointless…pun intended.
YFC, it is not a matter of “taking it”; that is a false macho fantasy. It is a matter of your eternal salvation … homobots do not enter Heaven, at least not according to Jesus.
You better Reject Satan, all his works and all his empty promises. If you do not, you will burn in eternity.
The question of ‘raising money’ for the Diocese is actually one of Wise Stewardship in its use as well – by All parties to the process, and also involves Saving money and Spreading it around – to the Faithfull.
Too often donations are collected on Sunday, and by Monday handed over to those Pope Benedict called ‘Professional Catholics’…
– Who then put on their Other Hat, as Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex Demicrat Political Activists – and spend the money Trashing the Church, Magisterium, Pope and Parishioners from whence it came.
As observed before, students at many Catholic Grade Schools in Oakland would themselves be able to see the peaks of the magnificent glass Cathedral from the tops of their Jungle Gyns – if they had any to climb on. But pretty Cathedrals are not playgrounds, although we need those too.
Catholic Education should be Free, and Teachers should be Volunteers subsidized with Grants – so as to avoid entanglement with Caesar’s ‘Pander or Perish’ employment laws.
For without Future Generations of Catholics, the notion of a Future itself is absurd – unless it constitutes selling off assets to pay for the retirement perks of Professional Catholics.
I once was solicited to help Purchase student backpacks, apparently bought from a foreign supplier for cheap. I think twere better to give Grants to Poor Catholics (along with the supplies & tools) and enable them to make something useful in Oakland.
Keeping our Donations within the Faith puts them to better use than enriching strangers hostile to it.
Teachers should be volunteers? Are you serious? Let me see, I go to college to get a degree which comes with a $20,000 loan that needs to be paid off. Then I go for another year to get a credential, and build up the loan payments. What can I do with the degree and credential? Of course, I can volunteer to be a teacher. Now, how do I pay the rent, buy food, buy clothes for the family and keep up with the car payments? Oh, and those pesky student loans. There has to be another approach!
BobO kind of missed out on the last part of the sentence, I suppose… The part where i said: “Catholic Education should be Free, and Teachers should be Volunteers subsidized with Grants”
Giving a Grant Up Front (say for a Full Year) to a qualified vetted Volunteer allows them to handle their own finances, without Caesar’s employment laws and all the other toxic strings that come with them (like Misandrist curriculum) interfering with Catholic Education.
What is ‘revolutionary’ is the Trust Aspect – as in Giving a Grant Up Front, means that they could take off for a wild week of partying at a casino with the cash – and then go teach in the public zoo.
I Say – Fine, and well rid are we of someone who would be nothing but mucho problemos down river.
So long as we have Paychecks that depend on Caesar’s system – we will get Caesars stooges, and we already know what they have done for the legislature they can do for us too.
Soooo,… BobO, notice any difference when you include the whole idea, or not?
What you propose cannot be done as you would wish. If a “volunteer” gets a grant and are expected to teach in the school, they are considered an employee. It is against the law to not pay an employee. A grant would be renumeration that is taxable in this case. Besides, what is wrong with a teacher being an employee of the church, paying taxes, etc.? What you suggest is crazy.
BobO – I still don’t think you quite fully grock the concept of “Trust”…
A “Grant” that is Contingent on Required Action is not much of a Grant. Grants confer Freedom – Not Constraints.
Catholics (MIGS – Members in Good Standing) who receive them would Hopefully be the same people of Conscientious Service they were Before the Money freed them to Volunteer as their Conscience Directs…
But as they say – Money Changes Everything – and if they would Betray a Trust over something as trivial as money – I submit we don’t want them around school kids.
McD, they get away with it because they are de facto slum lords. They hold the keys to the Tabernacle, and hold the rest of us hostage. They suppose they can ransom us for passage to Heaven. It may be what Jesus has meant by “they will storm Heaven”. But they have yet to reckon with Bob One and his committee that will fix them good … some day.
What’s all this nonsense about “tearing down” the Cathedral?
Hogwash!!!
Churches are built in many styles, and the people in this country are SPOILED ROTTEN — if it’s too “traditional,” they gripe; if it’s too “modern,” they gripe.
Remember, folks: there are tons of Catholics on this planet who would LOVE to have even a safe place to worship God, much less a large and solid Cathedral in which to do so. While we are quibbling over Gothic versus Romanesque versus Rococo versus Modern, they are having their churches blown up, their schools burned down by extremists, and not enough priests to even visit their villages once a year.
There is a faithful Indian priest serving in West Marin County, who even celebrates Mass in the fields and on the beaches for the migrant farm workers who are grateful for his faithful service for the few free hours they have from their back-breaking work. They are not whining about not having flying buttresses!
I bet those migrant workers would love to have a church with those flying buttresses than some ugly alien space ship design church. Better to have Holy Mass out on the field in God’s creation than in an ugly modern minimalist design church. Just because there are awful things happening to fellow Carholics in other parts of the world by terrorists doesn’t mean our concern for having beautiful church’s and cathedrals is somehow being a whiner. The church building is for God it is an expression of our love for Him. That is why sometime ago the working class and poor parishioners built beautiful churches with the finest altars, statues, stain glass, etc… Sadly now we have a dumb down and liturgical poverish laity with many in the hirearchy and clergy who have an agenda to strip our faith of all that is beautiful because what they believe is truly not the Catholic Faith.
They should have thought about the poor when they tore out the beautiful altar rails and remodeled churches that were not old enough yet to be remodeled, then made the parishioners pay for all the destruction of such churches right after Vatican II. I am not against all modern churches when they have some traditional value, but I am certainly against remodeling when it is not necessary.
Anne T., I agree with you about some of the HORRIBLE remodeling that was done TO our churches.
Why spend good money to make a church less beautiful?
However, I’m also puzzled by people who yell “tear down the cathedral!” as if THAT wouldn’t cost gobs of money…
I can’t stand the smell of the synthetic materials they glue all over the inside of the modern church buildings … extremely obnoxious to the nostrils and rest of nervous system. Whereas stone, wood, iron, wool and other natural building and furnishing materials are actually pleasant to the olfactory sense and subsequently to the rest of the senses including common sense. They make a big splash of synthetics and charge more for them, but they really are extremely way cheaper and a bad environment and not that healthful to humans.
One exception would be the electric imitation prayer candles, with the little switches. Drop a coin into a slot and the “flame” comes on. The plastic flowers are another touch that puts the soul into a more Catholic mode of being.
Just like Federal, State and Local Governments, each Catholic Diocese must learn to live within their means.
Fundraising has become big BUSINESS, and would be unnecessary if they would stick to basics – spreading the Gospel. Cut out the bureaucracy so that we don’t have to feed its’ appetite to grow.
By bringing collections “under one umbrella”, Catholics will have a more difficult time knowing where their donation money is going, and if something is truly deserving.
CCC: ” 2411 Contracts are subject to commutative justice which regulates exchanges between persons and between institutions in accordance with a strict respect for their rights.
Commutative justice obliges strictly; it requires safeguarding property rights, PAYING DEBTS, and fulfilling obligations freely contracted. Without commutative justice, no other form of justice is possible.
One distinguishes commutative justice from legal justice which concerns what the citizen owes in fairness to the community, and from distributive justice which regulates what the community owes its citizens in proportion to their contributions and needs.”
The means for the federal govt depends on global production and distribution, which presently have not approached their natural limits but are expanding. That all trickles down to lesser economic jurisdictions. Presently the whole shabang is a wild west open land kind of thing in a metaphorical sense.
Which explains the new morality of the Catholic bishops … just following the money. Morality follows economy … much easier for bishops to rule this way.
Unfortunately -” following the money” says it all.
Rather than following Christ, many US Bishops follow the money, and therefore brown nose politicians. It’s amazing how much money the Church gets from the government – for their CCHD, CRS, Catholic Charities, etc. So behind the scenes when the government says to jump – they jump. And they regularly support the Democratic Party of Death, and evil politicians.