November 6, 2009

Strategic Planning for the Diocese of Evansville: An update

By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)

By the time this newspaper reaches homes in the Diocese of Evansville, four Town Hall meetings will have been completed in the Diocese of Evansville, all part of the information-gathering phase of the strategic planning process.

Focus groups were completed or on schedule at all of the parishes in the diocese, and over 100 individual interviews were conducted or scheduled.

The interviews, focus groups and town hall meetings were conducted by members of a “discernment team” numbering at about 40 individuals from throughout the diocese.

Additionally, members of the Priests’ Council were interviewed or are scheduled to be interviewed by staff members of a consulting company assisting the diocesan planning process.

A web based survey continues to provide opportunities for comment. It can be found at www.evansville-diocese.org.

Town Hall meetings

Town Hall meetings were open to the general public, and held at Mater Dei High School in Evansville on Oct. 26; at St. Joseph Church in Jasper on Oct. 29; at the Old Cathedral in Vincennes on Nov. 2 and at St. John the Evangelist in Daylight on Nov. 4.

Participants at the meetings were asked for their responses for two topics. Their comments were collected confidentially — that is to say, no one’s name or parish was connected with any of the comments made at the town hall meetings.

The first topic was, “Describe a situation in your life, where the Church has been most meaningful to you.” Many comments were related to Mass and the sacraments, finding support from the Catholic Church in a time of need, an experience of Cursillo or Christ Renews His Parish, an experience of Teens Encounter Christ. While some comments identified a specific moment or experience, others included references to such things as the stability of knowing that Mass would be available every weekend.

For the second topic, participants were asked to “Fast forward to the year 2015. What are your hopes, dreams and vision for the diocese and/or your parish?

Many of the comments in-cluded the hope that every parish would have a priest. Other comments included a wide range of items, such as expansion of the Guadalupe Center, better job descriptions for priests and deacons, education and formation programs for youth and adults, more opportunities for laity — especially women — to participate, more youth and their families participating in the parishes, and more collaboration among parishes.

All comments from the town hall meetings are to be examined by the consulting company, Bishop Gettelfinger and the Strategic Planning Team along with the responses to other group and individual interviews.

The harvest anology

Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger uses an analogy of harvesting grain to describe the information gathering phase of the planning process.

He describes how wheat was harvested in the early twentieth century. The grain was cut in the field, gathered into shocks and carried in bundles to a threshing machine. The wheat was separated from the straw and the chaff, and taken to a mill for processing. The flour produced by the mill could be used for baking bread or other items, depending on the recipe used.

At this stage of the process, “we are carrying the bundles to the threshing machine,” he said.

The timeline

Bishop Gettelfinger described a timeline in his letter to all members of the diocese, published Sept. 25 in the Message.