Annual Report fiscal year 2023
Dear brothers and sisters,
Last summer the “Year of the Parish Eucharistic Revival” began with celebrations around the country and in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. As I commented at that time, this revival serves as a special time of careful thinking and renewal in our love of the Holy Eucharist.
This year the nationwide movement is leading up to the first National Eucharistic Congress in the United States in almost 50 years. An estimated 80,000 Catholics will gather in Indianapolis in July for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage toward the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith.
Ahead of the Congress, four national pilgrimages will trace paths of faith to Indianapolis. The southern route, dubbed the “Juan Diego Route” begins in Brownsville, at the U.S.-Mexico border. It will trek to Houston on May 31 to June 2, and through the southern region of the U.S. before reaching Indianapolis. I am inviting the faithful to take part in the pilgrimage and Congress in prayer and in person. I ask that you continue to be attentive to related activities at your parish as these events approach. To learn more, please visit www.archgh.org/revival.
On a diocesan level, numerous ministries continue to serve the people of Galveston-Houston. Every week, Holy Cross Chapel provides sacramental and pastoral care to the downtown Houston working community. The chapel offers two lunch-time Masses each weekday, along with the Sacrament of Reconciliation and spiritual direction.
Under the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, the Ministry with Persons with Disabilities assists parishes in opening their doors to invite, welcome and accept persons with disabilities into the full life of the Church. This ministry also informs how to provide religious formation and sacramental preparation in ways that best serve persons with different learning abilities.
These are just a couple of examples of the service and formation taking place in our local Church. On behalf of the many ministries in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston which depend on your support, thank you for your kind contributions and generosity of spirit. As your shepherd, I am constantly encouraged by your great generosity, your trust, and your fervor for the faith. Therefore, in the spirit of transparency, I am pleased to share with you the Archdiocesan financial statements for the fiscal year which ended June 30, 2023. If you are interested, the audited financials of the chancery office of the Archdiocese can be found in their entirety at www.archgh. org/accounting.
Once again, thank you for your continued prayers and support of this local Church, and be assured of my prayers for you and your family.
With every good wish in the Lord, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,
JAMES
The Church in sacraments 2023
6,174 infant baptisms
7,512 child baptisms*
*ages 1-7
12,163 children had their first reconciliation
1,346 adult baptisms
2,432 couples were married
45 permanent deacons ordained
3 priests ordained and
3 transitional deacons ordained
Daniel Cardinal DiNardo Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
JAMES RAMOS/HERALD
8,019 youths and adults were confirmed RAMOS/HERALD
Vocations, outreach and growth highlight 2023
HOUSTON — In the Archdiocese, ministries continued to welcome back the faithful to the churches and ministries around the 10-county Archdiocese.
With a continued focus on vocations, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo ordained 45 new permanent deacons and three priests this year. St. Mary’s Seminary currently hosts 44 seminarians. These priests and deacons continue to strive to minister to the infirm, aged, imprisoned and dying.
Also this year, the Catholic Schools Office focused on opening the first low-cost, Catholic-centered, co-ed high school in Texas (and second in the nation) focused on technical education for students looking to develop jobready skills that will allow them to enter the workforce directly out of high school with an in-demand skillset.
Vocations that model
‘Jesus the Servant’
At two separate Masses, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo ordained 45 new permanent deacons — 23 on Feb. 17, 2023, and another 22 on Feb. 18, 2023 — at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart after they “were found worthy” by their pastors and parishes.
Cardinal DiNardo thanked the men of diverse backgrounds, including a convert from Islam to Christianity, a NASA engineer, a Vietnamese refugee, and a mission worker in Latin America, for their continuing service and thanked their wives and families.
On Feb. 18, 2023, Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, joined Cardinal DiNardo to concelebrate the Mass alongside Bishop José Elías Rauda Gutiérrez, O.F.M., of El Salvador, who also concelebrated the Mass on Saturday because he personally knew
In January, the pastoral visitors at Memorial Hermann, the Texas Medical Center location, gathered for the first time since the COVID-19 and shared their pastoral visitor journeys with one another.
one of the deacons ordained that day.
After more than six years of discernment, study and pastoral counseling at St. Mary’s Seminary, these men and their wives now share their lives with the ministry of the Word, Liturgy and Charity — the three pillars of a deacon’s vocation — at their parishes and Archdiocesan ministries.
In his homily, Cardinal DiNardo told the deacons, “You are to be a living, breathing image of the Gospel — all four of them.”
He reminded all the new deacons and the filled Co-Cathedral of more than 1,500 each day that they are “as Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. Jesus is ransomed for His crooked people, and we are all crooked.”
Cardinal DiNardo added, “May Jesus
the Servant help you all.”
At one point, Cardinal DiNardo asked the deacons to applaud their wives and families who walked with them along their journey to the diaconate, a moment which drew tender glances of affection and appreciation.
At the end of each Mass, following the group photo, Cardinal DiNardo shared a quiet moment with the deacons before they were sent off to find their wives, families and loved ones. In an intimate, striking moment, Cardinal DiNardo encouraged them personally, sharing his appreciation for their vocation to the permanent diaconate.
Then, on June 3, 2023, Father Zachary Muldrow, Father Matthew Krusleski and Father J Serrato were ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Dinardo at
the Co-Cathedral.
More than 1,200 turned out to witness the occasion, including Bishop Dell’Oro, 75 priests, 22 deacons and many beloved family, friends and former teachers.
During his homily, Cardinal DiNardo congratulated the three new priests.
“God’s blessings upon you, who has brought you to this day,” he said.
Cardinal DiNardo stressed that when it comes to the priesthood, preaching is “pretty significant.”
“This will be a major work that you will have,” he said. “The first part of the Liturgy is for you to be attentive to the Word of God as it’s already filtered through the lives of your people to distill it as it is heard in the readings, and then to preach and teach.”
In service to the sick and the dying
As Houston continues to grow, the Catholic Chaplains Corps (CCC) is increasing its efforts to bring Christ’s love and compassion to over 120,000 patients, families and staff located at the Texas Medical Center, The Woodlands and Conroe each year.
“Serving our Catholic sisters and brothers with love and passion who experience varying emotional and spiritual needs is central to CCC’s vision, which is to bring Christ’s aroma to the infirm, aged, imprisoned and dying,” said Romani Perera, director of the CCC. “Our mission is to provide an effective sacramental and pastoral care ministry to all regions within the Archdiocese uniformly and efficiently. We have significantly increased the pastoral care and sacramental ministry provided to Catholic religious and laity.”
Perera said the CCC continues to carry out the mission that began in 1960 when Bishop John Markovsky established
The Church in formation 2023
420 priests supported by the Clergy Formation Office
36,733 PreK through 8th grade students in religious education
426 deacons supported by the Permanent Diaconate Office
14,415 high school students in religious education
375 sisters and religious women serve in the Archdiocese
12,512 students in Catholic lower schools
46 Archdiocesen seminarians in formation
5,476 students in Catholic high schools
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS CORPS
JAMES RAMOS/HERALD
Cardinal DiNardo ordained 45 permanent deacons at the CoCathedral of the Sacred Heart in February 2023.
the ministry. It was expanded in 1967 to include a designated group of Catholic priests whose sole responsibility was to minister to hospital patients and families. In 2017, under Denice Foose’s leadership, to secure the program’s future viability and assist these priests, CCC launched “Pastoral Care Outreach” to recruit lay persons to minister in the role of pastoral visitors.
Perera said over the upcoming year, in collaboration with parishes and Archdiocesan ministries, the CCC will continue to offer education, training and support to clergy and laity to bring Christ’s compassion and love through kindness, joy, prayer and listening presence.
According to Father Jojo Cal-Ortiz, the chaplain priest at Baylor St. Luke/ Texas Children’s Hospital, this training has been crucial to CCC accomplishing its mission, which is dependent on the DSF.
A new venture in Catholic education
The very first teacher hired for the new St. Peter Catholic High School, a career and technical school, said he was excited to be part of a new innovative academic effort combining college preparation and workforce careerready skills.
“I believe in this mission to provide both character formation and an excellent academic education,” said Steve Liparulo, Ph.D. in English literature and creative writing. “Our students will not just be a number. They will have a real part to play. They will have a voice in the decision-making.”
St. Peter is located on a 10-acre campus off Old SpanishTrail near the 610 Freeway and the Texas Medical Center. The two-story brick building received a multi-million-dollar renovation to offer an education that prepares students for careers in information technology and web development; business, marketing, and finance; education and training; and architecture and construction.
address (PA) systems that replaced antiquated systems thanks to a recent grant in 2023.
Each school’s new system was customized to meet the needs of each student community. The work was done at three campuses at a time, with most of the intensive infrastructure work completed during the summer while students were out of the classroom.
Soon after, all new devices and connections were finalized after the equipment was delivered, with the provider completing all of the programming, including the testing of horns, speakers and call buttons during times that were not disruptive to the regular school day.
According to Archdiocesan officials, school staffs were trained on using the new public address systems, and they now have the ability to make schoolwide announcements. The schools also have their bell schedules programmed, and each classroom has the ability to have direct two-way communication with the main office in the event of an emergency.
In the fall of 2023, St. Laurence Catholic School in Sugar Land achieved an exceptional milestone, earning the prestigious 2023 National Blue Ribbon Award for the third time in the school’s history, the U.S. Department of Education announced.
St. Laurence is one of the largest pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade schools in the Archdiocese and has been recognized as a STREAM Synergy School, which celebrates the school’s efforts to incorporate science, technology, religion, engineering, the arts and mathematics in its programming. The diverse school is also accredited by the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops’ Educational Department and was voted a “Best of the Best” finalist by the Houston Chronicle
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said, “The honorees for our 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award have set a national example for what it means to raise the bar in
education. We take tremendous pride in the achievements of these schools and their commitment to empowering educators, serving students and engaging families.”
Dr. Debra Haney, secretariat director and superintendent of Catholic Schools, said, “Catholic schools have a long history of academic excellence, and St. Laurence continues that legacy with this third National Blue Ribbon Award.”
Grants improve campus communications at CROSS Academies, aid parish renovations
In a system-wide effort to improve campus communities and safety at the CROSS Academies in the Archdiocese, the eight schools received new public
Among the eight schools that received the new system, staff at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School in Houston said announcements and school-wide communications can now be heard in nearly all the buildings on campus, including the gymnasium, which was not previously available, hallways and classrooms.
Staff said they now see students stopping to bow in prayer in the hallways when they hear school-wide prayers during the school’s afternoon announcements over the PA system, a new habit as announcements were only heard in classrooms before, but not in the hallways.
Other grants also helped communities, such as St. Pius V Church and St. Christopher School, and some four other parishes to receive renovations to improve or repair fire alarms, foundations, air conditioning and HVAC units, and lighting, landscaping, plumbing and communications systems.
The Church in ministry 2023
1,461 attended the Archdiocesan Youth Conference
2,057 youth attended retreats at Camp Kappe
7,000 young adults are served by Young Adult and Campus Ministry
830 youth attended the School of Environmental Education
1,500 young adults attended Café Catholica
1,000 young adults attended Vigilia Pastoral
543 receive the Office of Aging newsletter
305 attended the Aging Catholic Conference (English and Spanish)
PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. LAURENCE CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN SUGAR LAND
St. Laurence Catholic School Principal Suzanne Barto in Sugar Land celebrates with students on recently winning the National Blue Ribbon School award for the third time from the U.S. Department of Education.
PHOTO BY JAMES RAMOS/HERALD
The 2023 Archdiocesan Youth Conference featured a Eucharistic procession and adoration with over 1,400 youth in attendance.
CHANCERY OFFICE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS of the ARCHDIOCESE OF GALVESTON-HOUSTON
For the Years Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022
STATEMENT of ACTIVITIES
The Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston financial statements include the following entities: Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Texas Catholic Herald St. Mary Seminary
CHANCERY
STATEMENT
ASSETS 2023 2022 Cash $ 11,888,184 $ 81,115,603 Short-term investments - money market mutual funds 92,865,400 6,627,697 Accounts receivable from related entities, net 1,736,277 1,816,056 Prepaid expenses and other receivables 1,538,528 1,632,947 Contributions receivable 1,485,946 1,649,443 Notes receivable from related entities 65,185,524 75,231,541 Cemetery inventory and other assets 2,121,011 1,960,609 Investments 152,685,708 150,487,219 Contributions receivable restricted for Ignite Camp., net 6,746,360 13,469,330 Chancery Office property, net 51,054,056 51,181,217 Other property 4,524,043 4,524,043 TOTAL ASSETS $391,831,037 $389,695,705 LIABILITIES and NET ASSETS 2023 2022 LIABILITIES: Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 7,549,630 $ 5,873,901 Construction payable 267,108 148,378 Grants payable 868,817 651,845 Deferred revenue Cemetery sales and services 826,484 848,358 Other 137,319 17,997 Accrued insurance, claims and other liabilities 3,202,324 4,139,018 Funds held for others 3,944,746 3,617,336 DS&L deposits held for related entities 208,968,192 200,964,573 Accrued pension and postretirement health 87,138,348 117,509,939 benefits liability Total liabilities 312,902,968 333,771,345 NET ASSETS Without donor restrictions 37,270,598 12,971,857 With donor restrictions 41,657,471 42,952,503 Total net assets 78,928,069 55,924,360 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $ 391,831,037 $ 389,695,705
OFFICE
of FINANCIAL POSITION
OPERATING REVENUE 2023 2022 Health insurance premiums $ 32,885,912 $ 31,826,471 Contributions without donor restrictions 17,352,102 15,322,648 Archdiocesan assessments 13,950,799 14,957,896 Business insurance premiums 12,178,321 11,321,334 Fees and program revenue: Cemetery sales and services 1,820,379 1,951,175 Other 2,824,453 2,033,544 Interest on notes receivable from related entities 2,075,722 2,243,133 TOTAL OPERATING REVENUE 83,087,688 79,656,201 Net assets released for operating purposes 11,241,243 12,072,048 TOTAL $ 94,328,931 $ 91,728,249 OPERATING EXPENSES PROGRAM SERVICES: Health insurance program 30,584,109 27,272,677 Chancery services 16,488,800 13,255,578 Business insurance program 11,622,296 10,097,485 Pastoral and education 6,409,988 5,482,816 Seminary 4,638,059 4,025,027 Clergy 4,385,485 4,632,421 Vocations 2,009,762 1,646,540 Catholic School Office 5,221,568 4,878,905 Diocesan Savings & Loan 2,585,908 1,991,972 Cemetery operations 1,356,159 1,372,997 Total program services 85,302,134 74,656,418 Management and general 10,246,005 9,498,943 Fundraising 2,881,716 3,127,570 Total operating expenses 98,429,855 87,282,931 Changes in net assets from operations (4,100,924) 4,445,318 OTHER CHANGES in NET ASSETS Contributions 9,814,564 13,428,370 Loss on valuation of contributions receivable restricted for Ignite Campaign (850,740) (2,759,147) Net investment return 4,060,907 (9,348,969) Gain on sales of property 362,314 Net claims expenses – hurricane recovery (20,000) (670,330) Other benefit-related changes 17,975,460 51,280,268 Other periodic benefit costs 7,396,131 (180,594) Non-operating grants and transfers (30,446) (91,419) Net assets released for expenditures (11,241,243) (12,072,048) CHANGES IN NET ASSETS 23,003,709 44,393,763 Net assets, beginning of year 55,924,360 11,530,597 Net assets, end of year $ 78,928,069 $ 55,924,360 Annual Report fiscal year 2023
