For the first time in more than 20 years, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has embarked on a major capital campaign that Archbishop Bernard Hebda trusts is building community as it strengthens the financial and evangelical position of parishes, assists families as they seek a Catholic education for their children, and renovates and restores the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
The campaign is also investing in the welfare of the archdiocese’s current and future priests, providing funds to assist people in need through the corporal works of mercy and assisting with faith formation initiatives.
Seeds for renewal
In one sense, the effort began as Archbishop Hebda arrived in the archdiocese in 2015 as apostolic administrator and held prayer and listening sessions, seeking input on what qualities the faithful might seek in a new archbishop. The next year, Pope Francis appointed him archbishop, and he was installed May 13, 2016.
“At that time, I had the opportunity to hear people speak about what was in their heart, and what I heard so often was a call for renewal in our local Church, a renewal that would bring unity, a renewal that would respond to the desire in people’s hearts for the Gospel to be preached, and especially for our young people and our children,” the archbishop said in a recent interview with The Catholic Spirit.
“I’ve always been thinking about what we can do to bring renewal,” he continued. “And part of this is reflected in the work that we did in the synod, our two synods (Archdiocesan Synods in 2022 and 2025). But then part of that is what we’re doing now, in Lord, Renew Your Church. I was really happy to have this opportunity to help our parishes and the archdiocese to raise funds to be able to finance that renewal, and to help people to dream about what are those things that are necessary for that kind of renewal and unity to take place.”
Groundwork for the capital campaign began in the fall of 2023 with a feasibility study responding to needs discerned through the June 2022 Archdiocesan Synod: The call to form parishes at the service of evangelization, form missionary disciples, and form youth and young adults in the faith.
The feasibility study included interviews with more than 7,000 Catholics across the archdiocese and a confidential online survey issued to more than 60,000. The overwhelmingly positive response to the call for a campaign led to a pilot wave of 16 parishes in 2025, followed by wave one of 26 parishes, wave two of 39 parishes that ended in July, and a July 14-16 kickoff of 40 parishes for wave three, said officials with the Office of Mission Advancement. Two more waves are planned, with the campaign for pledges slated to end in June 2027.
The pilot wave achieved its goal by 143% and wave one achieved its goal by 135%.
Lord, Renew Your Church involves the participation of all 185 parishes throughout the archdiocese.
MAKING THE CASE
Archbishop Bernard Hebda recently expanded on the impact the Lord, Renew Your Church campaign is intended to have on two of its five priorities: Catholic education and the repair and renovation of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis and the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. His comments have been edited for clarity and length:
Q) Please share ways the money slotted for education will bring renewal.
A) We are called to pass on the faith to our young people, and so we’re dreaming about raising $57.5 million for that purpose. A good portion of that is for an endowment to support the Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education (which involves five areas of strategic importance for Catholic schools: Talent management; curriculum and assessments; access and sustainability; mission schools; and governance). We had great experts come from around the country to help us plot a future for our schools, where they’re going to be places of encounter with Jesus. That’s very clearly related to renewal. And so, the largest portion of the funds that we’re raising for education are for the implementation of that Roadmap, looking at how it is that we develop leadership in our Catholic schools; how we make sure that our curriculum reflects our mission; how it is that we support those schools that we would call our Drexel Mission Schools (schools determined to have the highest concentration of children and families in need). That’s a very clear focus on mission and renewal.
We have to help parents afford Catholic education. We’re trying to raise $20 million just to support parents, and we’re doing that in collaboration with Aim Higher Foundation, which has as their task (via scholarships) supporting families with students in our Catholic elementary schools. And we recognize that about half of our young people aren’t in our Catholic schools. They’re in our public schools. So, there’s an endowment being created to support faith formation programs, especially for our middle school youth and high school youth. To bring them things like Y Disciple, which is an amazing program for young people. Finally, we’re trying to raise $3 million to support Catholic (college) campus ministry.
Q) How is renewal reflected in renovation of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis?
A) We know that cathedrals play a central role in the life of the local Church. In our case, we have two cathedrals that are world-class but they also have great needs. So often, they’re the places where we gather as a whole Church to pray for renewal. Whether it be at ordination, whether it be at the Chrism Mass, our two cathedrals are the spot for us to be able to do that. And we know that we have to be responsible in taking care of the great gifts that we’ve received in those two beautiful, beautiful churches.
For us to have that renewal in our Church, we need that symbol of a Church that is healthy and that is connected to our history and that gives us that opportunity for continuing ministry into the future.
Archbishop Hebda identified the largest beneficiary of the campaign to be local parishes, where 60% of funds raised are retained; 40% supports Catholic education, archdiocesan priests, the Cathedral and the Basilica renovations, corporal works of mercy and faith formation.
Jean Houghton, director of Mission Advancement, said the campaign is about much more than raising funds.
“It is about strengthening our relationships, uniting our parishes in a common goal, and ultimately, renewing our Church,” Houghton said. “The gifts of prayer, service and financial gifts from the many volunteers, campaign leaders, clergy and community partners have been one of the most inspiring things I have ever witnessed. The renewal is palpable.”
Budding projects
Money has begun flowing into projects that parishioners with their pastors helped determine were important. For example, St. John Neumann has begun renovating its sanctuary and Guardian Angels in Oakdale has entered the design phase of a sanctuary remodel.
St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis replaced roofs on the church, school and priory buildings, renovation work that was completed July 27, said Dominican Father Joseph Gillespie, parochial administrator. Next up: solar panels on the school’s roof as an investment in renewable energy and a way to reduce costs, he said.
“We’re repairing what needs to be done,” Father Gillespie said. “It’s been 20 or 30 years since the roof has been touched.”
In addition to infrastructure, many parishes are talking about ways to bolster youth and young adult ministry, do more to support Catholic schools and reach out to students and families with exceptional needs, Archbishop Hebda said. “Those kinds of things, parishes are putting in their case studies,” he said.
“Even the very process of bringing people together in the parish to dream about what they need to do for renewal, that in itself is really beneficial to parish communities, and that’s already bringing about the renewal,” the archbishop said.
The July 14-16 kickoff for 40 parishes in wave three drew a total of more than 800 people to St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park, Pax Christi in Eden Prairie, and St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater. About 250 people attended the event in Stillwater, said Erin Lisle, parish director of operations.
“Our parishioners were excited,” Lisle said. “It was great to hear from the archbishop. It was a nice reminder that we’re all in this together, 180-plus parishes. It is unifying.”
Father John Ubel, pastor of St. Agnes in St. Paul, said his parish is using the funds it raised to help renovate the lower level of the church, which includes a social hall and meeting rooms.
Part of the pilot wave, St. Agnes had conducted multimillion dollar campaigns in 2013 for the parish and school and 2018 for a convent renovation. Father Ubel said he was concerned about donor fatigue, but parishioners raised more than $1.8 million or 122% of their goal, with more than 30% of parishioners participating.
“When all is said and done, the archbishop did a masterful job of outlining a vision and choosing initiatives that could be embraced by so many,” Father Ubel said.
Unity is a theme many people are ready to embrace, Father Ubel said.
“I think this is a great example of an archdiocese that is coming together,” he said. “I have been a priest for 37 years. This is the most unified I’ve seen the archdiocese, the priests and the laypeople.”
Crediting Archbishop Hebda with being present to everyone he meets — and recalling the archbishop declaring at his installation that he was “all in” for a more transparent and engaged Church, Father Ubel said, “He’s everywhere, visiting people, parishes, schools. It’s very obvious he is ‘all in.’”
VOLUNTEER VIDEO
Generous parishioners, a well-run campaign, responsibility for the common good and growing community were highlights cited by more than a dozen volunteers in the $250 million Lord, Renew Your Church campaign in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Their comments were captured in a video for the campaign.
“My great-grandmother from Madelia, Minnesota, was saving money for a new winter coat,” said Carol Rusinko of Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale, making a point about past generations doing their part for the Church.
“She knew they were raising money for the church bell,” Rusinko said. “She had already given. He said, ‘Well, we need this much more.’ So, she took her money for her winter coat and she gave it for the church bell. And then she went home and put shoe polish on her winter coat so she could wear it another year.”
Nancy Alvarado of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis said she and others were nervous about asking fellow parishioners for campaign pledges, but campaign staffers guiding their efforts were reassuring.
“He was correct all along,” Alvarado said. “You know, just go and do it because you never know if it’s going to work until you do. So, we went out and did it. And we didn’t only reach our goal; we doubled our goal.”
In an interview, Alvarado told The Catholic Spirit the process was fulfilling in part because volunteers got to know each other and the families they visited. Some parishioners have faced great hardship, she said.
“We got to learn people’s stories,” she said. “The little they had, they still contributed. The faith they had in God was amazing. They truly believed that everything comes from God.”
Supporting Catholic education was a big draw for Wayne Beierman, a member of St. John Neumann in Eagan. The importance of his Catholic education was driven home when he joined the Air Force as a high school graduate and was assigned to a squadron that worked on the technical side of maintaining missile systems.
“I’m with college graduates,” Beierman said, recalling his concern. He went to see the sergeant, who didn’t even look up from his desk.
“You went to a Catholic school?” the sergeant asked. “You’re going to do fine.”
In the campaign video, Beierman noted the universal flavor of Lord, Renew Your Church. “I see it as much bigger than just our parish,” Beierman said. “It’s archdiocese-wide, is what I see.”
Kris and Peter Bauer of St. Odilia in Shoreview also appeared in the video.
“I think it was important to know that this is the first campaign in 20 years for the archdiocese,” Kris Bauer said. “And that the pots of money were very thoughtfully done. And these are big projects. How many cities have a cathedral and a basilica to maintain? So, they’re not small. They’re big. So, the ask is big.”
“What’s really made a difference to me is meeting the people in the parish,” Peter Bauer said in the video. “I just really feel like I’m more involved in it. There’s a bigger association with people around me.”
Reached by The Catholic Spirit, Peter Bauer said he and his wife decided one evening to learn more about the campaign as it was getting underway at St. Odilia.
“We kind of stumbled into this,” he said. “We came home with like 10 (campaign) packets and said, ‘Oh, I guess we’re committed. Our church is a great place.’”
BY THE NUMBERS
Lord, Renew Your Church Priorities:
Strengthening Our Parishes | $125 million (50%) *
- Supporting local parish needs
Educating Children and Young People for Discipleship | $57.5 million (23%)
- $21.5 million endowment for the pursuit of Catholic educational excellence aligned with the Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education
- $20 million to grow financial assistance and scholarships
- $13 million endowment for Catholic faith formation initiatives
- $3 million toward bolstering campus ministry
Sustaining the Cathedral of St. Paul and Basilica of St. Mary | $30 million (12%)
- $15 million investment in the Cathedral of St. Paul
- $15 million investment in the Basilica of St. Mary
Caring for Our Clergy and Future Clergy | $25 million (10%)
- $10 million investment in the priest pension plan
- $15 million endowment assisting retired priests with special needs, clergy wellness and training, and support for future clergy
Providing for Those in Need: The Corporal Works of Mercy | $12.5 million (5%)
- $12.5 million endowment to extend resources to those in need
* The campaign’s goal is to raise $250 million, with parishes raising $200 million and Archbishop Bernard Hebda raising $50 million. Of parish-raised funds, 60% will remain with the parish and 40% will support archdiocesan initiatives. The archbishop’s fundraising effort will provide additional support for archdiocesan initiatives, resulting in an overall 50/50 split between parish needs and archdiocesan priorities.
