Process Overview

            On Dec. 8, 2005, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Carl Mengeling appointed the Diocesan Coordinating Commission to review a large amount of information that had been collected from clergy, pastoral coordinators, deacons, lay ecclesial ministers, teachers, parish councils and diocesan staff. The commission’s mandate was to make recommendations about how the pastoral and sacramental needs of the diocese would be met over the course of the next several decades.

 The commission’s responsibilities included the following:

• Develop a plan by which the 97 diocesan faith communities’ sacramental and pastoral needs would be reviewed objectively and, with maximum local input.
• Develop processes timelines and monitoring to ensure that the process addressed the pastoral, sacramental and administrative issues raised in the information-gathering phase.
• Make recommendations, based on the guiding principles, to the bishop.
• Communicate the information to the faithful.

            In order to fully engage each parish and school in the process, detailed evaluation tools were completed by parishioners, staff and other constituents. Then, each region’s representatives reviewed the information and presented preliminary findings at parish assemblies. The coordinating commission reviewed all the data and developed recommendations based on the data. The commission’s preliminary recommendations were then forwarded to the bishop’s consultative bodies for review. After their input, final recommendations were given to the bishop. His report is detailed below.

What is the overall ability of the clergy within the diocese to meet the faithful’s sacramental and pastoral needs? With the expectation that the diocese will lose approximately 16 priests in the next two years due to retirement, we are also experiencing an increase in ordinations that can fill a portion of this void. However, those new priests are not enough to bridge the gap. This reorganization process will enable us to continue to meet the sacramental and pastoral needs of all the faithful.

What are the outcomes of these decisions? There were four outcomes that may affect your faith community.

1. Your parish will provide the same ministry to its community of faith – the pastoral, sacramental and leadership roles and resources within a parish will remain. This applies to the majority of parishes

2. Your  parish or school may merge with another parish or school. This means that your parish will join with two or more faith or education communities to form a new or consolidated parish or school.

3. Your parish will become part of a cluster. In this configuration,  each parish will maintain its individual identity, but may be grouped with one or more parishes or schools to share a priest and collaborate on ministries and other resources.

4. Your parish may close. This was a last resort. In each case of closure, the sacramental and pastoral needs of the community will be addressed by neighboring parishes. A guiding principle throughout the process is to maintain a Catholic presence, but realize that it may not be feasible. In the case of a parish closure, parish boundaries will be redrawn and neighboring parishes will be asked to welcome parishioners from a closed parish. As you will note, there are only a few instances in which parishes are slated to close.