2025–2026 IMPACT REPORT
Special thanks to Father Francisco Rodriguez III, the staff and parishioners at St. William Parish in Round Rock.
“Together we bring hope is what happens when every parish, every ministry, and every sacrifice is gathered by Christ and sent back into the world as mercy.”
A message of gratitude from Most Reverend Daniel E. Garcia, Bishop of Austin Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, In our Catholic Services Appeal (CSA), the Diocese of Austin tells one story with many voices. It is heard in the “yes” of a seminarian, the quiet service of a retired priest, the prayer of a Catholic school student, the family welcomed in a moment of need, the young adult who discovers a home in campus ministry, and the parish whose doors remain open ready to receive the People of God. This year’s theme, “Together we bring hope,” is more than a phrase. It is a confession of what we believe: hope is born when Christ gathers his people and sends them out in love. Across 25 counties and more than 21,000 square miles, your gifts become formation, mercy, worship, education, and local support for parishes and schools. As of June 2026, the faithful of this diocese pledged $9 million toward a $7 million goal, with $8.4 million already received from over 20,000 families. These are not just numbers; they are signs of trust, sacrifice, and shared mission. In gratitude we want you to see what your sacrifice makes possible. In every ministry supported by the CSA, the Church is doing what she should be doing: forming servants, accompanying the vulnerable, teaching the faith, strengthening worship, and helping parishes become places where faith comes to life. Thank you for believing in this shared mission. Thank you for your prayers, your sacrifices, and your witness. May the Lord, who is our hope, bless you and your loved ones. Sincerely in Christ,
Most Reverend Daniel E. Garcia Bishop of Austin
2025–2026 Appeal Results at a Glance $7M GOAL
129%
PERCENT OF GOAL
$9M
PLEDGED $2M above goal
96
PARISHES ACHIEVED GOAL
20,191 FAMILIES
$446
AVERAGE PLEDGE per family
A Diocese of Many Communities, One Hope The Appeal serves a Church spread across Central Texas
750,000 Catholics
52 Seminarians
100 Retired deacons
25 Counties
171 Priests in active ministry
19 Catholic schools
21,066 Square miles
143 Deacons in active ministry
5,300+ Catholic school students
129 Parishes, missions, & campus ministry centers
48 Senior & retired priests
27,298 Religious education students
Your gift extends throughout our entire diocesan community — reaching cities, rural communities, college campuses, schools, retreat centers, missions, and parishes.
Areas of Support
How Your Gift Becomes Ministry
Forming Servants • Teaching the Faith
Clergy Formation & Support
Catholic Education
Our diocese is strengthened at the altar and in the hearts of those called to serve. Through the CSA, seminarians are accompanied in formation, priests are supported in ministry, retired and senior priests are cared for with dignity, and permanent deacons are prepared for lives of service.
Catholic education forms more than students; it forms disciples. From religious education programs to Catholic schools, from tuition support to professional development, the CSA helps families and educators pass on the faith with clarity, warmth, and conviction.
Every vocation begins as a whisper of grace. Your gift helps that grace become a life poured out for others.
In classrooms and parish halls, the next generation learns not only what the Church teaches, but how to live as people of hope.
Mercy Made Visible
Life, Charity & Justice
Pastoral Ministries
The CSA helps the Church stand close to families in moments of need. Through Catholic Charities of Central Texas and other ministries and organizations, generosity becomes food, housing support, essential services, healing, advocacy for human dignity, and a path toward stability.
The Diocese of Austin includes people of many cultures, languages, ages, and life experiences. CSA-funded pastoral ministries help youth, young adults, campus communities, families, and ethnic communities find a place of welcome and a path of discipleship.
Hope often arrives quietly: a meal, a counselor, a listening ear, or a hand extended at the right moment.
A Church that accompanies well becomes a Church where people recognize they belong.
Where Faith Comes to Life
Spirituality & Worship
Parish & School Support
The CSA supports parishes and ministries that assist the faithful to return to the heart of Christian life through prayer, worship, and encounters with Christ. Through retreat ministry, liturgical formation, and music ministry training, parishes become more reverent, welcoming, and alive.
The CSA empowers local communities through grants that support needed capital projects in low and middle-income parishes and schools. These funds help sacred spaces remain beautiful, safe, and ready for mission, and help schools continue forming students in the faith.
When worship is strengthened, the whole life of the Church is strengthened.
The CSA returns home in concrete ways: repaired spaces, strengthened schools, and parishes better equipped to welcome the People of God.
Allocation of Funds by Ministry Pledged
$9,000,000 Thank you for contributing to the Catholic Services Appeal (CSA). Your generosity has made a profound difference in our parish communities, helping us to continue our mission of faith, education, service and support. Our goal of $7 million was surpassed, raising $9 million. This remarkable achievement of exceeding our goal has allowed us to provide assistance for capital projects in our low and middleincome parishes as well as additional funding for our increasing number of seminarians. You truly have brought hope to so many.
HOW YOUR GIFT SERVES OUR MINISTRIES Clergy Formation & Support
$3,561,000
39%
Catholic Education
$1,915,000
21%
Life, Charity & Justice
$1,780,000
20%
Spirituality & Worship
$885,000
10%
Pastoral Ministries
$609,000
7%
Parish & School Support
$250,000
3%
Where Your Gift Becomes Hope in Action CLERGY FORMATION & SUPPORT: $3,561,000 (39%) Supporting pastors and priests active in ministry: $1,005,000 | Caring for retired and senior priests: $624,000 | Strengthening vocations and educating seminarians: $1,501,000 | Forming permanent deacons: $431,000
SPIRITUALITY & WORSHIP: $885,000 (10%) Reflecting on our faith through Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center: $517,000 | Training parish liturgical and music ministers: $368,000
CATHOLIC EDUCATION: $1,915,000 (21%) Forming children and adults in the faith through religious education: $110,000 | Supporting Catholic school students and developing staff administrators: $1,805,000
PASTORAL MINISTRIES: $609,000 (7%) Integrating people from across the globe into the Mystical Body of Christ in Central Texas: $237,000 | Forming youth and young adult ministers: $274,000 | Supporting campus ministry centers and campus ministers: $98,000
LIFE, CHARITY & JUSTICE: $1,780,000 (20%) Serving the poor and vulnerable through Catholic Charities of Central Texas: $638,000 | Ministering to families at every stage and honoring the dignity of life: $464,000 | Social Concerns, Missions, and Evangelization — spreading Christ’s light to the world: $678,000
CSA GRANT PROGRAM: $250,000 (3%) CSA Parish and School Grant Program: $250,000
Every gift is gathered into one mission: to proclaim the Gospel, serve Christ in and through his people, and bring hope across Central Texas.
A CSA Grant Check, a Story of Hope Parish & School Grant Program
The moment captured in this photograph — Catholic school students receiving a tuition assistance grant — is more than ceremonial. It is a powerful reminder that every CSA gift carries a message to our parishes and schools that you are not alone. Your needs matter. Your future matters. Your mission is shared by the whole Church. Each gift becomes a visible expression of Catholic unity, as the generosity of thousands returns to local communities — strengthening programs, uplifting ministries, and ensuring that they continue to grow and thrive.
Catholic school students receive CSA grants for tuition assistance.
Together, we bring hope. Together, faith comes to life.
This is why the Parish & School Grant Program of the CSA matters so deeply. It makes the unity of our diocese tangible and alive. It enables parishes to repair and renew, to welcome and serve, to teach and inspire. Through this shared commitment, we see that hope is not only proclaimed — it is built, restored, opened, and shared.
A Sack Lunch, a Daily Work of Mercy When generosity becomes bread for the hungry, hope becomes visible. At St. Mary Church of the Assumption Parish in Waco, a CSA parish grant helped sustain a ministry that is simple, yet deeply merciful – the parish Sack Lunch Program. The parish provides food, water, and essential supplies to neighbors in need. On weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon, dedicated volunteers prepare and distribute lunches that not only offer nourishment, but also hope and compassion.
St. Mary Church of the Assumption Parish, Waco volunteers for the Sack Lunch Program.
Together, we bring hope — one meal, one neighbor, one act of mercy at a time.
In a world where hardship can leave people feeling unseen, this ministry offers more than a meal. It offers a welcome. It restores dignity. It proclaims, in the name of Christ and his Church, “you matter, and you are not alone.” Through the CSA, benefactors across the Diocese of Austin make it possible for parishes to meet real needs close to home — serving Christ in one another with love and mercy.
Repairing a Parish Hall, Renewing a Mission One deanery grant. Two works of hope. In the Brenham/La Grange Deanery, a $10,000 CSA grant became a powerful sign of hope — strengthening two communities in different yet equally meaningful ways. Damage from flooding
Repairs after flooding
St. Mary Parish, Lampasas flood repair
Together, we bring hope — strengthening parishes, forming disciples, and building a Church where faith comes to life.
At St. Mary Parish in Lampasas, $5,000 helped repair flood damage in the parish hall — a place where parishioners gather in fellowship, serve one another, and prepare breakfast tacos that help support the life and mission of the parish. The remaining $5,000 supported Blessed Virgin Mary Mission in Old Washington-on-the-Brazos — the oldest African American Catholic community in Texas — by providing scholarships for parish teens to attend the annual Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference, where they can deepen their faith and encounter Christ in a profound and lasting way. Through a single grant, the CSA helped restore a parish home and open a path for young people to grow closer to the Lord. Hope is not only proclaimed — it is restored, opened, formed, and shared.
Parish Leadership Highlights A snapshot of your generosity through June 2026 Top Pledged Totals
Highest Family Participation
Highest % of Goal
1. St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Austin $790,197
1. S t. Albert the Great Parish, Austin 924 families
2. St. John Neumann Parish, Austin $706,334 3. St. Thomas More Parish, Austin $355,299 4. St. Theresa Parish, Austin $292,760 5. St. William Parish, Round Rock $287,398
2. S t. William Parish, Round Rock 801 families 3. S anta Barbara Parish, Austin 740 families 4. S t. Vincent de Paul Parish, Austin 713 families 5. S t. Margaret Mary Parish, Cedar Park 667 families
1. Our Lady of the Lake Parish, Sunrise Beach 969% of goal 2. Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Temple 283% of the goal 3. St. Mary Mission, Pin Oak 253% of the goal 4. St. John the Evangelist Parish, Luling 251% of the goal 5. Sts. Cyril and Methodius Mission, Marak 233% of the goal
Thank you to every parish, mission, priest, deacon, parish staff member and volunteer, school and family who assisted the CSA to grow.
Preview of the 2026-2027 CSA
WE ARE
Coming this fall, the 2026-2027 Catholic Services Appeal — Together, We Are One invites our diocesan family to continue the mission of Christ. Special thanks to Father Francisco Rodriguez III, the staff and parishioners at St. William Parish in Round Rock.
The community of believers was of one heart and mind… A :
COMMITMENT WEEKEND October 24-25, 2026
2025–2026 Catholic Services Appeal Diocese of Austin 6225 E. Highway 290 Austin, TX 78723-1025 (512) 949-2442 donorservices@austindiocese.org www.austindiocese.org/give Go to the website at www.austindiocese.org/csa-impact for Spanish and Vietnamese reports. Visite la página web www.austindiocese.org/csa-impact para consultar los informes en español y vietnamita. Hãy truy cập trang web www.austindiocese.org/csa-impact để xem các báo cáo bằng tiếng Tây Ban Nha và tiếng Việt.
Mission of the Catholic Services Appeal The CSA supports the spiritual and material needs of the Catholic community in Central Texas. Through the generosity of donors, the appeal provides essential resources for programs and ministries that foster faith formation, evangelization, social justice, charitable outreach, pastoral care, worship, education, and parish life. Every gift is an expression of hope. Every pledge is an act of love. Every act of generosity helps the Diocese of Austin proclaim the Gospel and serve Christ in his people. Thank you for standing with us in this shared mission.