Hope for Years to Come: diocese begins planning process to serve the needs of parishes - trends of population, education, and finances to be discussed

by Sister Kathryn Schoolmeesters

In September, each parish in the Diocese of New Ulm is required to have a meeting to gather information for the future development of 2002-2007 Diocesan Plan for Parishes.

The New Ulm diocese has been involved in diocesan planning since the early 70’s. In 1971, Bishop Alphonse Schladweiler, first bishop of the diocese, gathered the priests of the diocese, for Days of Prayer and Studies for the ‘70’s. They studied "population statistics, migration statistics, numbers of priests in the New Ulm diocese, and possibilities for the future ministry."

In the late 70’s, the diocese formulated goals and objectives that guided the planning process into the 1980’s. In 1986, Bishop Raymond A. Lucker assembled a group of church leaders from around the diocese. These lay, religious, and clergy assisted him in developing a plan for the restructuring of parishes in the diocese. This group became the Task Force on Parishes. Through a process of wide consultation with parishes and regions, a plan was developed for the years 1988-1995.

In 1988 the Task Force on Parishes was renamed the Committee on Parishes. The role of the committee is advisory to the Bishop as Diocesan Plans for Parishes are developed, implemented, and revised.

The last two Diocesan Plan for Parishes; 1988-1995 and 1995-2000 have served the diocese well in providing pastoral leadership and keeping many of our small parishes in existence. At present we have 80 parishes and 2 missions served by 48 active priests, 1 full-time priest in Hispanic ministry, 18 Pastoral Administrators, and 3 Pastoral Administrator interns. We have many more lay people exercising leadership roles in local parishes and ministering in a variety of ways.

It is the hope of the committee that you will take an active part in developing the next Diocesan Plan for Parishes. We call upon the Spirit to guide our planning process as the Spirit has guided us through 2000 years of ministry in Jesus’ name. God has been our "Help in Ages Past". God will lead us into the future with a plan that will give us Hope for Years to Come.

by Father Dennis Labat

As Sister Kathryn mentions in her article above on diocesan planning, the people of our parishes have been involved in a diocesan planning process several times. Each time we have participated in this planning process we have used a slightly different method of developing the plan. Each time we have built upon the work done in the past. Each time the people in the parishes were an integral part of the process along with parish leadership and pastoral leaders.

The method developed by the Committee on Parishes this year also incorporates input from the people of the parishes, parish leaders, and pastoral leaders. However, as you participate in the discussion you will notice that the process is different than last time. We are committed to this process because it provides a well planned system for change in pastoral leadership as the number of priests continues to decrease. The process this year has been streamlined and also has involved the parish pastoral council and finance council much more than in previous planning processes.

In order to make wise recommendations to the Committee on Parishes each parish must first take a good look at itself. The advantage we have in this planning process is that we have the Parish Self Study data for each parish from 1992 to the present. The three primary areas which will be the focus of the September parish meeting in each parish will be on the trends in population, number of students in Catholic School and religious education, and in parish revenues and expenses.

The elements of the planning process which involve members of each parish begins with a September parish meeting in which all members of the parish are invited to attend. They will review and discuss the data and trends in population, number of students, and parish revenues and expenses for their own parish. After watching a video prepared by the Committee on Parishes parishioners will suggest questions or concerns which the parish pastoral council and the finance council need to keep in mind when they meet in October. The second part of the parish participation in the planning process involves the parish pastoral council and the finance council meeting together. They will fill out a parish life survey and also review the parish data in greater detail. They will then prepare a report to be sent to the Committee on Parishes about their parish.

The Priest Personnel Board is in the process of preparing a projection for the number of priests we can reasonably expect to have in the Diocese of New Ulm by 2007. This information will be a primary element of developing our new plan for parishes. The Committee on Parishes is developing a process for a meeting in January in which each parish will give their input on providing good pastoral leadership for the people of the Diocese of New Ulm. This will involve looking at the projected number of priests, the number of pastoral administrators needed, and the collaboration of other professional staff and members of the parish. They will also look at how parishes can better collaborate with neighboring parishes and at how parishes might be clustered. The Committee on Parishes will develop a first draft of a new plan from this input. The pastoral leaders will also have a role in the development of the final plan.

As we work together in this process involving many months of work and much prayer, we begin to realize the Plan for Parishes 2002-2007 is our Hope for Years to Come.

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September parish meetings will focus initial discussions on population, education, and financial trends.

October Parish Pastoral & Finance Council meetings will consider the current trends and look at the ministry needs for parish life.

January meetings will examine projections of the priest and pastoral administrators; consider new models of collaboration between leaders and neighboring parishes; and formulate new parish clusters.

Development & acceptance of a proposal that will determine a parish plan of shared responsibility for leadership & ministry.

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