The Catholic Church is a precious gift given to us byJesus Christ. It is the mystical body of Christ and the universal sacrament of salvation. Our local diocese and parish communities are called to flourish and grow into our full potential in Christ. For this to happen, we must continually seek to build upon the foundation we have received and increase the effectiveness of our ministry.

As an expression of our shared desire for our church to thrive, we have created a new diocesan pastoral plan for the Diocese of San Angelo. This plan provides a vision and priorities for our ministries for the next three years, from the summer of 2025 through the summer of 2028.

The Process

A pastoral plan is a way for us to work together to discern where God is calling us as disciples of Jesus Christ, and to set goals to move in that direction. Over the past several months, we have consulted the members of our Catholic family around the diocese to determine the needs and the hopes of the people of God in West Texas. We distributed surveys, held public listening sessions at different locations around the diocese, and met with smaller focus groups that highlighted the diversity of our people throughout the vast territory of our diocese. The feedback we received was extremely helpful.

The diocesan Pastoral Plan Committee was instrumental in the consultative process that led to the development of this plan. The members of this committee were Alison Pope, Brenda Maiman, Father Mike Elsner, Bob Moore, Deacon José Gallegos, and Leticia Gallegos.

Catholics from throughout the diocese participated in a Pastoral Plan Leadership Summit in Midland on April 17, 2025, in the gymnasium of Holy Cross Catholic High School. Based upon the compiled input from the consultative process, the participants in this summit reflected on common themes that were emerging from the feedback we received. The reflections from that summit became the foundation for the final plan document, which was prepared by our Pastoral Plan Committee.

The title of our 2025–2028 pastoral plan is “Called to Flourish: Growing into Our Full Potential.” As we take on this plan, we are inspired by the words of St. Paul to the Philippians: “The one who has begun a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil1:6).

Mission Statement

The plan includes a new mission statement for our diocese: The mission of the Diocese of San Angelo is to be faithful to Jesus Christ, seek the salvation of souls, build the kingdom of God, and help the Catholic faith to flourish in West Texas.

Vision Statement


The newly revised vision statement of our diocese reads as follows: “We envision the Diocese of San Angelo as a Church with vibrant, welcoming communities in which people understand their identity as children of God, encounter the love of Jesus Christ, support one another in learning and living the Catholic faith, become servant leaders, and reach out in missionary discipleship.”

Pastoral Priorities

Through a summary of the input and feedback received from around the diocese, we have determined four areas as pastoral priorities for the next three years. We will work together to help our diocese, our churches, and our ministries to grow through specific initiatives in each of these areas. The succinct wording of our four priorities is as follows:

• Faith Formation
• Spiritual Renewal
• Vocation Vision
• Effective Communication

Here I will highlight a few of the initiatives to be promoted in each of these four priority areas. The complete chart of initiatives for each of the upcoming three years can be found in the text of the Pastoral Plan on the diocesan website.

Faith Formation

In the first priority, Faith Formation, the goal is to help people of all ages to grow in faith by deepening their relationship with Jesus Christ and by growing in their knowledge of the Catholic faith. The diocese will make available a variety of resources that can be used in parishes and at home. Parishes will advertise and encourage participation in local and diocesan faith formation opportunities. Parishes will also be asked to implement an evangelizing formation program, such as ChristLife or Alpha. We will develop and encourage participation in small Christian communities. We will also foster various intergenerational learning events that bring together families, children, youth, and elders.

Spiritual Renewal

In the second priority, Spiritual Renewal, we will nurture opportunities for spiritual growth through a variety of offerings. The diocese and parishes will distribute information about current offerings for retreats, days of prayer, and other means for spiritual growth and renewal. The diocese will seek to offer formation to train people how to evangelize as missionary disciples, bearing witness to the beauty of knowing Jesus Christ, and helping others to discover the joy of the Gospel.

We will develop a series to teach people how to pray, including various forms of prayer. We will encourage silent preparation before Mass, Eucharistic adoration, the Liturgy of the Hours, local pilgrimages, home prayer spaces, and spiritual book clubs.

Vocation Vision

In the third priority, Vocation Vision, our plan is to cultivate vocations by developing leaders and fostering support for local vocations. Our diocese will partner with the Scanlan Foundation and its Texas 100 initiative to develop a strategic plan to increase vocations to the priesthood.

We will offer training for the development of vocation teams at each parish that will promote all vocations. We will create digital and print resources for all vocations, featuring videos, testimonies, and social media campaigns. In our parishes, we will seek to support the vocation of marriage by implementing marriage enrichment programs such as Choice Wine, Teams of Our Lady, or Two Years After Forever. Our diocese will create a workshop that offers guidance to parents on how to foster openness to God’s call in their children.

Effective Communication

In the fourth and final priority, Effective Communication, we will seek to develop effective avenues of communication at all levels, utilizing a variety of resources and technology, supplementing personal interaction. At both the parish and diocesan levels, we will seek to modernize and update our websites, making them more user-friendly and easier to navigate. We will seek to utilize more effectively such tools as Flocknote, faith development apps, and social media platforms.

We will establish and utilize clear feedback channels for questions, ideas, and concerns in the parishes and the diocese. We will seek to develop internal channels of communication for various parish ministries to share important updates with each other. We will foster skill refinement and leadership development of parish volunteers, staff, and clergy.

We want all parishes to assess their parish signage, both on the property and on streets or highways, improving or adding signs as needed for clarity, visibility, and attractiveness. We will assess the experience of visitors to the parish, making adjustments as needed to increase an atmosphere of welcome and to facilitate involvement of newcomers in parish life.

Those are the four main areas of focus in our new diocesan pastoral plan: Faith Formation, Spiritual Renewal, Vocation Vision, and Effective Communication. There are, of course, many other areas in the ministry of the church that are not specifically mentioned in this plan. This does not mean that those other areas are unimportant. The goals of this plan represent areas where we will intentionally focus particular energy for the next three years, seeking to grow into our full potential as a diocese. Future pastoral plans may focus on other areas.

Formula for Success

Carrying out this plan will involve much work from dedicated people throughout our diocese. To help the process, there are several things we will be mindful to develop as we pursue these goals. The success of this pastoral plan will rely heavily on two things: an intentional adoption and focus by the people of the diocese, and the approach in implementation by those in leadership, both clergy and laity.

Implementation

Since parishes are by far the most prevalent way Catholics encounter their faith, our Pastoral Plan places primary focus on parishes as the place where the plan is implemented. Parishes are asked to take the four priorities of this diocesan plan and incorporate them into their own local pastoral planning and ministry in the parish.

The following steps are essential for the effective implementation of this pastoral plan:

• Led by the pastor, each parish council shall review the pastoral life of the parish in the light of the diocesan pastoral plan. This review may be done by the pastoral council, or by a committee of that council, or by a pastoral plan implementation committee established by the pastor and reporting to the parish council.
• The parish council shall suggest ways for the diocesan pastoral plan to be applied and implemented in their specific community.
• The council shall assess the progress of the parish regarding all aspects of the implementation of the diocesan pastoral plan.
• A tool shall be developed for parishes to report regularly on how they have implemented this pastoral plan. Reporting shall be done at least once per year.
• In collaboration with relevant diocesan staff members, the diocesan presbyteral council shall assess the progress of the diocese regarding all aspects of the diocesan pastoral plan.

Complete Document

I encourage all Catholics in the Diocese of San Angelo to read the entire eleven-page Pastoral Plan document, “Called to Flourish: Growing into Our Full Potential,” on the diocesan website at www.sanangelodiocese.org. It should be revisited regularly over the next three years, to get the full benefit of its many wonderful ideas.

As we set out upon this journey of growth, let us pray with the words of the concluding prayer from Morning Prayer, Monday Week I, in the Liturgy of the Hours: “Father, may everything we do begin with your inspiration and continue with your saving help. Let our work always find its origin in you and through you reach completion.”