According to the best projections of the Committee on Parishes, in the year 2007, the Diocese of New Ulm will be influenced by three significant factors.

• There will be seven (7) fewer priests in active ministry.
  At present, there are 49 priests, but with retirements and other factors, that number will likely decrease to 42. This projection takes into account ordinations and priests coming into the diocese.

• The population of the diocese is slowly increasing.
  At its inception as a diocese, in 1957, there were 68,094 Catholics in the Diocese of New Ulm. By 2007, that population will be near 75,000. It is important to note that a great factor in this increase is the migration of Hispanics to the diocese. This migration is likely to continue.

• There is a population shift from the western part of the diocese to the east. The trend continues (with the exception of the city of Marshall) that cities and counties in the west are decreasing in population and the cities and counties in the east are increasing.
  These factors, first of all, help us recognize that as a diocese we are growing and that our faith communities are active. This is very evident in the fact that average Mass attendance in the Diocese of New Ulm is considerably greater than the national average, about 45% compared to 25% nationally. Secondly, even though the number of priests continues to decrease, the ratio of priests to the Catholic population is lower than in many parts of the country. On the West Coast, for example, there is one priest for approximately 3,000 Catholics, which is double the ratio here. The challenge for priests in this part of Minnesota is the distances they must travel to serve such a large geographical area. The eastern part of the diocese is characterized by large, city parishes. The west is made up of small, rural congregations.

The Diocesan Plan for Parishes process has allowed us to see that the parish of 2007 will be very similar to what we experience today, except for certain characteristics.

• There will be one fewer priest in each region of the diocese.
  There will be some realignment of clusters and some parishes may be clustered for the first time. Additional pastoral administrators will be needed. Larger parishes may need to consider adding additional pastoral staff to provide for the increasing ministerial needs.

• There will be fewer weekend liturgies in each region.
  Mass times and locations will be carefully planned. There will be fewer experiences of half-filled churches on Sunday mornings.

• There will be an increase in weekend and weekday celebrations in the absence of a priest.
  Every parish will need to be prepared to celebrate services in an emergency absence of a priest but this could happen during vacation time as well. In some faith communities, Sunday celebrations in the absence of a priest could be scheduled on a regular basis, such as every other Sunday.

• There will be increases in priest compensation.
  In part, this is because there has been a continual trend in the church toward just salaries and consistent salary scales. Another factor is that data on priest compensation is becoming more available and all dioceses in the country are trying to approximate one another’s salary and benefit packages.

• There will be a need for new models of faith communities beyond 2007.
  As we continue this Diocesan Plan for Parishes process, it is becoming more apparent that our capacity to cluster and share priests has nearly reached its limits. These creative approaches have served the diocese well but different strategies for being church in the future will need to be discerned.