June 24, 2011

3,300 individuals complete strategic planning surveys

By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)

As of June 20, over 3,300 surveys have been submitted by individuals who either completed the survey on-line or completed a hard copy of the survey, according to Tim McGuire, chief operating officer for the Diocese of Evansville.

McGuire said surveys may still be submitted, and will be used for the planning process.

The online version of the survey is available at the diocesan website, www.evansville-diocese.org. It may also be accessed from the Message online edition, at www.themessageonline.org.

Printed versions of the survey were made available at parish offices and the forms were published in several recent issues of the Message.

McGuire said the hard copies that were returned to the Catholic Center were entered by Catholic Center staff.

USI will analyze the surveys and provide results to the diocesan planning committees and to the parishes.

With a total of 31,400 households in the diocese, according to the 2011 Yearbook and Di-rectory, the survey response represents about 11 percent of the diocesan population. Some households may have submitted more than one response, e.g. from husband and wife.

In regard to the survey, McGuire issued an apology for an oversight in a copy of the survey that was published in the Message.

The Message April 29 was delivered to each household in the diocese, along with the introduction of Bishop-elect Thompson to the diocese.

This survey “contained an inadvertent omission on my part,” McGuire said. “In the ethnicity demographic question on the last page of the survey, ‘African American’ should have been included as one of the options to check. The online survey and the PDF version distributed that same week correctly included ‘African American’ as an option,” McGuire said.

“There are no excuses for this oversight but please accept my apology,” McGuire said to members of the diocese in general and in particular to members of St. John the Apostle Church in Evansville.

What’s next?

USI should complete the analysis of the survey responses by approximately July 31, McGuire said.

During August, this analysis will be shared with Catholic Center staff and personnel.

In September, the information will be reviewed with the two committees that devised the original draft of the survey, and with Bishop Thompson.

(Names of committee members are listed below.)

At this time, the bishop and the committees will not take any action on the data. It will be for informational purposes only.

In October, the information will be shared with the parishes. USI will prepare a PowerPoint presentation for each parish with their unique results and a comparison to the overall diocesan results.

Also, in October, each parish will submit their Leadership Survey. During the next several months the committees will evaluate the Leadership Surveys, the Individual Survey results, and other empirical data. In addition, as needed, the committees will meet individually with parishes to better understand their unique characteristics.

In the first quarter of 2012, these committees, using the information previously mentioned, will then submit their recommendations to the bishop and his advisory boards.

The parish committee

Following are the members of the parish committee.

Cynthia Bernardin, St. Mary Church, Evansville
Sue Ellspermann, St. Ferdinand Church, Ferdinand
J.P. Engelbrecht, Holy Spirit Church, Evansville
Father Dave Fleck, St. John and St. Vincent de Paul churches, Vincennes
Patricia Fuhs, St. Peter Church, Montgomery
Ruth Goepfrich, St. Joseph Church, Jasper
Alan Hoffman, St. Joseph Church, Jasper
Lynda Provence, St. John the Baptist Church, Newburgh
Deacon David Rice, St. John the Baptist Church, Newburgh
Kristel Riffert, Holy Rosary Church, Evansville
Paul Weaver, St. Joseph Church, Princeton
Sam Woehler, St. Philip Church, Posey County
Diocesan staff member, Tim McGuire, chief operating officer

The membership includes representation from all of the deaneries — Evansville East and West, Jasper, Newburgh, Princeton, Vincennes and Washington. Committee members include parish staff and members from large and small par-ishes, some with schools and some without schools, or-dained and lay.

Providing continuity in the planning process, J.P. Engelbrecht is a member of the original Strategic Planning Committee.

School committee

Following are the members of the school committee.

Ron Beckman, Our Lady of Hope Church, Washington
Timothy “Tad” Dickel, St. Anthony Church, Evansville
Tara Eckman, Holy Family Church, Jasper
Father Bernie Etienne, Holy Rosary Church, Evansville
Donna Buehler, Precious Blood Church, Jasper
David Niehaus, St. Francis Xavier Church, Vincennes
Joe Ream, St. John the Baptist Church, Newburgh
Mike Reffett, St. Joseph Church, Vanderburgh County
Kent Scheller, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Haubstadt
Karen Schenk, St. Philip Church, Posey County
Benedictine Sister Karlene Sensmeier, St. Benedict Cathedral, Evansville
Deacon Dave Seibert, St. Theresa Church, Evansville

Diocesan staff members serving the committee are Daryl Ha-gan, superintendent of Catholic Schools, and Tim McGuire, chief operating officer.

The membership includes representation from all of the deaneries — Evansville East and West, Jasper, Newburgh, Princeton, Vincennes and Washington. Committee members include large and small parish affiliation, members of parishes with schools and with no schools, parish and school lea-dership, ordained and vowed religious.