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	Greensburg Diocese Seeks $45 Million By Richard Gazarik Tribune-Review September 15, 2009 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_643173.html The Diocese of Greensburg on Monday announced a $45 million fundraising campaign designed to increase scholarships to Catholic school students, improve Catholic education, educate priests and deacons, and renovate schools and other buildings in the diocese's four-county area. Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt said the Roman Catholic diocese has received $19 million in donations and pledges. "The bandwagon has wheels on it. It is rolling," Brandt said. The diocese, which serves Westmoreland, Fayette, Indiana and Armstrong counties, relied on a grassroots effort to raise the money. The bishop said 9,000 parishioners, as well as parish priests, have been involved in the process. In August, Brandt issued a pastoral letter outlining a "master plan" for the diocese. "We have already begun in many cases to implement plans in the strategic planning process," he said. "We must give financial legs to what we have identified as our priorities." They include: • $5 million in scholarship aid for Catholic school tuition for the diocese's 3,800 students. • $4 million to help aid the pension fund for the diocese's 31 retired priests. • $3.5 million for an evangelization and faith formation endowment fund. • $3.5 million for capital projects. • $3 million for Catholic Charities, the primary social service arm of the diocese. • $1.5 million for maintaining the diocese's 15 elementary schools. • $1 million to help educate priests and deacons. • $1 million for the education of lay ministers. • $4.5 million for a maintenance fund for the repair and maintenance of churches and other diocese buildings. Among the immediate capital projects planned are renovations to Neumann House, a home for retired priests at the Bishop William G. Connare Center on Route 30 in Unity, and to Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg. Brandt said $18 million will remain in the parishes. How the money is spent will be decided by the parish priest and local lay leaders. Michael Walker of Latrobe, co-chairman of the fundraising campaign, said the effort has been more successful than he had hoped. "As a businessman, I'm impressed," Walker said. "As a Catholic, I'm inspired." Last fall, Brandt closed 14 parishes and merged two others to create a new parish in Indiana County. Forty of the diocese's 85 parishes share 19 priests, he said. Brandt would not rule out more closings, but said it is unlikely. "We've done most of what we had to do," he said. "We achieved what we had to achieve." But, he added, "I can't absolutely exclude that." The shortage of priests is expected to get worse, forcing the church to rely more on permanent deacons, said the Rev. William Lechnar. Lechnar, who doubles as director for planning for the diocese and as pastor of St. Thomas More Church in Indiana County, projects that the number of active diocesan priests will decline from 78 to 51 by 2015. Brandt said the curriculum of religious education will be revamped. Under the current system, children in the second grade receive their first Holy Communion and are confirmed at the same time. Under the new plan, children will not be confirmed until the eighth grade. He said Confirmation is viewed as the "sacrament of goodbye." "They think education is over. They end up with a second-grade religious education," the bishop said.
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