January 23, 2009
Strategic planning underway in Diocese of Evansville
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
In discussing some questions that were being asked, Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger had a straight-forward response: “Every-thing is on the table.”
The discussion at a recent meeting of the bishop and diocesan department directors was focused on the strategic planning process that had begun in the diocese.
While acknowledging that other dioceses in the United States had called for planning processes with an eye toward consolidation or closing of parishes, Bishop Gettelfinger said the process in the Diocese of Evansville was different: the questions have just begun, no decisions have been made.
Bishop Gettelfinger has ap-pointed a task force to take on the strategic planning process. (Their names are listed below.) The first meeting in December produced scores of questions, including the inevitable: With our shortage of priests, how will parishes be served and staffed?
Bishop Gettelfinger said the questions asked by members of the strategic planning task force were similar to the questions asked by church leaders in preparation for a series of town hall meetings last fall.
The questions were blunt: Will the diocese cut staff be-cause of the budget? Will par-ishes need volunteers instead of paid staff? Will parishes and schools collaborate?
The questions related to fi-nances and many other topics. Why doesn’t the diocese seek priests from other countries? When should children be confirmed? What is required for good liturgies?
The questions that were asked have already led to the realization that more facts need to be gathered. Some research has already been done. For example:
- An analysis of support for the Church shows that more money is being contributed, but that it is being given by fewer people.
- As of September 2008, there were only 48 active priests to serve the 69 parishes of the diocese. Many of the priests who “help out” in the parishes are retired (33 priests as of September).
- One priest is scheduled to be ordained for the diocese in 2009; none in 2010 or 2011.
The research provides some basis for making decisions in the present and the future, dealing with ministry needs, finances, clergy availability, the need for collaboration, and so on.
A major question that cannot be answered, however, deals with the reality that Bishop Gettelfinger must submit his resignation to the pope in Octo-ber 2010.
Bishop Gettelfinger’s resignation must be submitted when he turns 75 — on October 20, 2010 — but there is no surety when the pope will accept that resignation and when a new bishop will be appointed.
What is certain is that the ef-forts underway now are intended by the bishop and the task force he has appointed to prepare the diocese for the transition that will inevitably take place. Which brings us back to the opening statement and the overriding reality, in response to all the questions of how that will be accomplished: Everything is on the table.