A delegate from the Office of National Collection at the United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB), Mr. Fritz Zuger, has advised AMECEA Conferences to strive to always have proper coordination at the conference level when applying for USCCB grants.
He explained the USCCB approach to pastoral grants in Africa. “The USCCB pastoral grant program, the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, only works with episcopal conferences and regional associations of episcopal conferences. As we all know a Bishops’ conference has a secretary general and different departments. We usually work only with the secretary general or whomever he delegates to that responsibility according to the structures of the conference. That person should be the one coordinating everything about grants and keeping in touch with us,” Fritz who is currently visiting East African Conferences said in an interview AMECEA Online News at AMECEA Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya.
He said that there have been situations when they receive similar grant applications from different heads of departments who are from the same conference due to lack of proper coordination. “The different heads of departments often do their own preparations and independently approach us; this means that we are working with different people from the same place at the same time,” he said.
Fritz explained that in these situations, better coordination would allow all questions discussed and solved among the departments before the requests are sent to USCCB. Then it would only be necessary to work with one principal person. This would make it easier for all involved, he said.
Meanwhile, he explained that the US Bishops Conference is sustained through the contributions of the dioceses, depending on their ability to give. He suggested that this could be a scenario that AMECEA Conferences could adopt for future sustainability. “The conference is financed by the 194 dioceses and eparchies in the United States. Every year they draw a budget of what it will cost to run the conference and the bishops approve it in their plenary meeting.” Fritz explained adding that the total cost is then divided by the dioceses and eparchies based on a particular key that is made up of a number of elements for instance the population of a diocese, the location of the diocese, the economy of the area covered by particular diocese etc.
Based on these factors the diocese is then charged with the mandate to pay an annual amount, which varies from time to time depending on other factors that might arise. He said that the bishops’ conference in the United States does not normally look for external grants because the dioceses are covering everything.
He further explained that there are about 80 dioceses in the United States that are mission dioceses that are not able to support themselves because they are poor. The conference has also established a national collection, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, from all the dioceses in order to help those dioceses in need.
“We are collecting about $10 million dollars per year from parishioners in all the dioceses to support the needy dioceses,” he said. Those dioceses can then make grant requests to help ensure their sustainability.
He advised that this is something that AMECEA bishops can consider and deliberate upon because it is a decision that can only be made by the body of the bishops.
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News