Plan of Action: Progress & New Resources
By Valerie Washington, Executive Director
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Plan of Action: Progress & New Resources NBCC Special Report: A Proven Foundation For Fruitful Ministry ~ Congress X Plan of Action NBCC Special Report: A Report from the NBCC Commission on HIV and AIDS NBCC Special Report: Appreciative Inquiry: Impacting Black Catholic Communities NBCC Special Report: Blessings Received In Buffalo! NBCC Special Report: Crisis in Sudan: Ending the Violence NBCC Special Report: Pope Benedict XVI NBCC Special Report: Progress on First Year Goals of the Pastoral Plan of Action NBCC Special Report: Welcoming the G8 Commitments; Calling for Action

Full Special Report Article Index

Question: What's halfway between Buffalo and Indianapolis, but not in Ohio?
Answer: The NBCC.

For the National Black Catholic Congress, January 2010 means we are midway between Congress X and Congress XI. How is the Black Catholic community doing on the current Plan of Action? What help can we offer each other to move forward on some of the ambitious goals set forth in 2007 by commissions on HIV-AIDS, Spirituality, Social Justice and other core principles?

Survey of Progress:

To answer these questions, the NBCC surveyed diocesan leaders of Black Catholic Ministry in spring 2009. The survey assessed progress on action steps published in A Proven Foundation for Fruitful Ministry: The Congress X Plan of Action, and solicited information about successful programs and practices.

Thanks to detailed assessments provided by forty diocesan offices, we learned a good deal. We now have a new compilation of resources, on-line, to help advance the pastoral plan of action. It's a great guide to who's doing what, where - that is, a source of experienced contacts, resource ideas, and successful practices that you can borrow, replicate, or build upon.

Resources for Ministry: We all struggle with limited time and budgets. Diocesan demographics and structure affect the possibilities for action. Some dioceses have only one or two predominantly Black parishes, while others have several dozen. Some dioceses have paid staff in Offices of Black Catholic Ministry. Many do not. Some have bishops and pastors committed to inclusion and enculturation; others, not so much.

I hope that by seeing "who's doing what, where," we can all can benefit from the experience of those who have had a chance to try out an approach or program. If an idea in this report sounds promising for your parish or diocese, please contact that arch/diocese's Black Catholic Ministry (or Multicultural Ministry) office to learn from their experiences.

For the principle of Spirituality, the Plan of Action called upon the NBCC to create a resource bank of programs and material that have been successfully used to revitalize discipleship and evangelization in Black Catholic communities. We used the survey to gather this information. On this website's Black Catholic Resources page, you'll find a list of books, readings, videos, study programs, and other resources that colleagues around the country find helpful in developing Black Catholic spirituality.

Progress Report: Here are just a few of the highlights of what we found out about current progress on the plan of action:

A majority of dioceses reported moving forward on the action steps for Social Justice, especially calling Black Catholics to become more knowledgeable about and engaged in issues of poverty and the sacredness of human life. On Parish Life, most dioceses reported making some progress in training parishes to develop evangelization plans and in putting evangelization planning on parish council agendas.

Participation in Catholic Relief Services' Global Partnership in Africa is widespread. Most dioceses also reported good outreach to, and collaboration with, Catholics from the African Diaspora. Little progress is occurring, however, on other action steps recommended for the core principles of Africa and HIV-AIDS.

A small majority report making at least "some progress" on the various action steps related to Racism, although those reporting "no progress" far outnumber those reporting strong progress.

An overwhelming majority said parishes are doing a better job using the talents and gifts of Young Adults, but we still have much more to do at the national, regional, and diocesan levels to reach young adults and youth with leadership and faith formation programs.

We also used the survey to gather current data on urban Catholic schools and to find out about successful fundraising and scholarship efforts around the country. It was exciting to learn, for example, that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has received a $1 million donation, to be awarded over a 10-year period, for their new FOCUS-Friends of Catholic Urban Schools foundation. For our part, NBCC board member Kathleen Merritt is heading up the NBCC's work on the plan of action's recommendation for Catholic Schools--the establishment of a national initiative to support urban Catholic schools. We'll report on this effort further in the coming year.

You can find an executive summary of the survey findings, plus the appendices with details for each core principle, on our website's Black Catholic Resources page.

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