by Barry Vollmer
We are coming up on another annual conference. For me this is a special event. It is my one professional organization in which I belong to that provides the opportunity to visit an interesting place each year and share ideas and stories with others around the country who assist in the building and maintaining of our Catholic facilities. And it is not just the shoptalk that goes back and forth, but it is the liturgies we share, the meals that we enjoy, and the karaoke that we endure that makes it so great.
I used to be intimidated by the level of expertise that some of the other members displayed at these conferences, but not so much anymore. No, not because the level of that expertise has diminished, or that I have finally risen to their level. It is rather that I have begun to understand the nitch that I fit into within my diocese and in the way that my chancery operates. Not that I don’t waiver sometimes, and look upon others in envy, but not as badly anymore. In the past I wished that I could understand contracts like Walt Wostenburg, and know buildings like Bill O’Connor, and get into Real Estate like Maureen O’Brien.
But alas, this is not Chicago (but then again its not Salina KS). This diocese is like so many of our dioceses out there. I am a lone voice in one little basement office where I share space with the educational resources of the school office. Not so much as a part time secretary in which to share the coffee duty with. In fact I was adopted by Religious Education Office so as to be included in their Birthday Celebrations because I was such a lone entity.
So you see, these conferences are very important to my job performance and mental health. While I do not understand construction to the level of Greg Veith, I have been around Greg and others enough now to learn how to learn. How to pay attention, how to grasp the key words and issues that identify the point that I am trying now to convey to the next person. I have learned in my diocese, it is not important to be all knowing as it is important to understand how to supplement my knowledge with the experience of the professional people I surround myself with. Then to temper this information with diplomacy and clarity so as to work within the parish building committees who have their own level of experience and egos (a whole another story).
Concentrate on the procedure rather than the finished product. That is what you can learn from the education program next month in New Orleans. I have found that if I follow a well-conceived procedure, and supplement that with data gleaned from conversations held with the people who make it their livelihood to concentrate on that issue that I am involved in at that time, the project will progress as it should. So the next time an anxious parish building committee person tells me that she is afraid she is going to make a poor decision I can say: No fear. If you follow the steps that I lay out for you, the procedure will lead the project in the direction that God would have it to follow. The building you wish to happen will be the building that the parish needs and can afford.
So maybe we will see you in New Orleans. And if not, maybe in Denver in ’05. Rest assured, we will keep all our fellow members in prayer throughout our days in New Orleans.
