May 14, 2010
Strategic Plan
‘Emerging implementation plan’ testing ‘recipes’ for the diocese
“I want my parish to stay open and I want a priest to be there.” That is the wish of many of the people responding to a question from the strategic planning group in the Diocese of Evansville. That response was among the answers given by the one-thousand-plus people who came to town hall meetings, met in small groups or who answered an on-line questionnaire.
“I want a school for my children that is really Catholic,” was another prominent expression.
“Good Masses, good preaching,” was another often-repeated phrase. “Do something for our young people after they finish high school” was another demand.
After a year-and-a-half of interviews and questions, members of a strategic planning group have compiled a set of nine strategic initiatives – the set of recipes, as Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger might call them. To start responding to the concerns and hopes of the diocese.
Bishop Gettelfinger has used the imagery of a wheat harvest to describe the lengthy process of planning. First comes the gathering of the wheat, as in olden days. Then during threshing, wheat kernals are separated from the chaff and the straw, and the kernals are taken to the mill for grinding into flour.
The information was gathered, Bishop Gettelfinger said, from over 1,000 people in the diocese; the ideas were refined and the grains of wheat were collected.
The flour has been ground and the recipes have been chosen. It is now time to follow the recipes, all part of “the emerging strategic plan.” Nine initiatives have been stated, and listed below not necessarily in the order of importance or urgency.
Town hall meetings were held to begin the information gathering process in the fall of 2008; Bishop Gettelfinger is planning to return to a town hall type meeting in late summer or early fall, to report on the initiatives for the diocese.
The strategic initiatives were presented to the priests and pastoral life coordinators of the diocese April 23, and have since been forwarded to diocesan directors and staff to begin planning action steps.
Download entire update on the Strategic Plan (PDF format)
(Related: Bishop Gettelfinger calls for continual prayer as the plan emerges)