BRIDGEPORT—Bishop Frank J. Caggiano will formally launch the new Seton Collaborative with a Mass and Dinner on Wednesday, October 26 at Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824.
Mass will begin at 6 pm in the Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola and dinner will follow at 7 pm in the Dogwood Room of the Barone Campus Center, adjacent to the chapel.
The purpose of the evening is to create awareness and build support for the collaborative, which was announced in the Fall of 2021. The collaborative is designed to partner with both Diocesan schools and parishes to provide them with financial and operational expertise and support including information technology.
“The collaborative represents an exciting and innovative opportunity to re-imagine how we manage the business side of Catholic education and provide support to each of the schools and parishes in the Diocese. I’m grateful to all of those who are interested in providing financial support to this effort and are also willing to share their considerable expertise and experience to help us launch this vital initiative,” said Bishop Caggiano.
The bishop said each of the 77 parishes and 25 school campuses in the diocese strive to offer the best service possible to all, and to do so they need reliable business practices and information technology (IT) services.
“Though each school and parish is unique in character and size, all require similar infrastructure and expertise to provide these services in today’s world. Common improvements are needed in critical areas like IT/computer services, business and finance, development, and marketing across the diocese.”
The kinds of upgrades needed in the business and communications environment require significant time and resources, which are not always affordable and available at the individual parish and school level, the bishop said.
“The Seton Collaborative will provide such support, allowing pastors and school leadership to focus their resources and talent on our primary mission—the ministry and education of our parishioners and students!” he said.
Elise Major of Weston, board chair of the Seton Collaborative, said that by providing an operational support network, the collaborative will “allow pastors and Catholic school leadership for focus their precious resources and talents on what they do best, ministry of our parishioners and education of our students.”
Kevin Lawlor, executive director of The Seton Collaborative, said that the Collaborative is managed by an experienced board of subject matter experts who have responded to the Bishop’s call for renewal and the most efficient use of resources.
“We’re grateful that successful entrepreneurial leaders from various sectors of business, technology and education have stepped up to share their talents and offer guidance as we seek to strengthen schools and parishes,” said Lawlor, who formerly served as the Chief Operating Officer at Fairfield University.
Lawlor said much has already been accomplished by the collaborative. Payroll and accounting systems have been streamlined and additional training and support have been provided to ensure stronger financial systems.
In the area of IT, schools will be supported this fall with our first ever IT help desk and other improvements to benefit our students. As the Seton Collaborative continues to expand, parishes will also be able to take advantage of additional, new financial, IT and other shared services.
The bishop will be hosting a Zoom session on October 25 from 7:30-8:15 pm to discuss the opportunities offered by the Seton Collaborative. Anyone interested in joining to learn how they can support the work of the Seton Collaborative is asked to contact Chief Development Officer for the diocese: Joe Gallagher at jgallagher@diobpt.org.
For information on attending the event, RSVP Kevin Lawlor, exec-utive director, Seton Collaborative Kevin.lawlor@setoncollaborative.org or 203.708.7820.
