With the goal of revitalizing and strengthening parish life, parish planning recommendations were submitted to the diocese by May 15. The parishes of the diocese have been working to determine the best ways to serve parish communities with available material and human resources as demographics change, populations shift, and the number of diocesan priests available for ministry declines.
Phase one of the planning process began last fall with a period of pre-planning, where data was gathered and reviewed. Phase two of the planning process, which saw the development of planning recommendations, began in January. “I want to express my profound gratitude to the men and women of the diocese who have given so generously of their time and talent, who have shared their insight and wisdom, who have made these recommendations with great hope for a better, more vibrant future for our parishes,” said Bishop Joseph Galante.
“As these recommendations are reviewed in the months ahead, we pray that God will guide us in the work that lies ahead.” The recommendations are preliminary in nature, will undergo evaluation and review, and are subject to change before final decisions are reached. Representatives from parish planning teams met several times early in the year under the guidance of parish chairpersons to review parish data and to review data from other parishes within each deanery.
The twelve Deans of the diocese, who oversee the twelve deaneries or geographic regions of the diocese, took on a major role in successfully guiding phase two of the process. Under the leadership of the Deans, and with trained facilitators, each pastor and chairperson, along with representatives from parish planning teams, met several times with representatives from the other parishes in each region for Regional Meetings to begin to formulate planning recommendations for the region. At the Regional Meetings, the planning representatives considered various models for parish configuration that would strengthen parish life within the region.
These include the merger model (two or more parishes merge and become one), cluster model (two or more parishes are under the care of one pastor), priest team model (several parishes are under the care of a team of several priests), one priest-one parish model (one priest is pastor of one parish), and director of parish life model (the parish has no resident priest, but the Bishop assigns a Director of Parish Life—a deacon, religious or lay leader—for day-to-day pastoral duties; he also appoints a sacramental priest and a canonical priest from nearby parishes).
In addition, the planning process has been addressing the number of priests available for ministry, the ministries needed for vibrant parish life, financial feasibility, and facilities. These factors are contingent on the acceptance of the model of configuration being recommended. Meetings were held this spring at the Deanery level with representatives from the region. At these meetings, planning recommendations were formulated for all the planning partners in the deanery. These deanery recommendations, which were submitted to the diocese by May 15, will be reviewed and evaluated during the summer months by Bishop Galante with the Diocesan Planning Commission.
In the fall, Bishop Galante will visit each deanery representative group to give feedback and pose questions. Following Bishop’s visit, the planning representatives in deaneries will have the opportunity to fine tune or adapt their planning recommendations. During December and January, Bishop Galante with his advisors will review the final draft of recommendations submitted by each deanery. It is expected that Bishop Galante will announce the diocesan plan in February 2008.
For more information about the parish planning process, see www.GatheringGodsGifts.org.