Parish Planning - An Ongoing Process

Since 1988 the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has been involved in three phases of parish planning.

Phase One

The first parish planning phase was initiated by Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B. and invited each parish to get to know its neighboring parishes and to begin collaborating with them in various forms of ministry. The process started in anticipation of the diminishing number of priests projected for the future. The parishes were given the following criteria upon which to build their plans for phase one and phase two.

Parishes alone or in collaboration with others:

1. will show evidence of quality ministries of Word, Worship, Service and Administration.
2. will show credible evidence that they can afford what they propose to do.
3. will show that their structures are congruent with civil and canon law.
4. will show evidence of responding to the projected priest shortage, the laity's call to ministry and the availability of permanent deacons.

Various models were presented as options for collaboration, and the one most often chosen was that which called for the least amount of change. Parishes at that time seemed willing to consider sharing programs and personnel. No parishes chose to merge or have a parish director.

In the 1990s, flowing from the planning that took place in the late 1980s, many parishes began to share programs and develop collaborative ministry efforts. At the same time, the pastors of the Milwaukee Central City parishes approached the Archbishop and asked for help in planning. Archbishop Weakland appointed Fr. John Schreiter as Vicar for Planning for the Central City. Fr. Schreiter worked with the archdiocesan parish consultants for Central and Northern Milwaukee County and began a three-year planning process which involved a great deal of consultation with parish leadership. The end product was the merging of nine parishes into two new parishes, All Saints and St. Martin de Porres. Other parishes merged to become one faith community during this same time. An example is St. Albert, Holy Redeemer and St. Nicholas which became Blessed Trinity Parish.

Phase Two

In 1996 Archbishop Weakland appointed an archdiocesan planning commission chaired by Bishop Richard Sklba and made up of priests and various leaders throughout the Archdiocese. The commission picked up where the 1988 plans ended. They worked diligently studying demographic shifts, along with the reality of the priest shortage. The commission developed tentative recommendations, some necessitating mergers, which they took out to the parish councils and staffs for a response. Based on the leadership responses, the commission revised its recommendations and presented them to the Archbishop. He consulted with the Priest Council and the Pastoral Council and promulgated the work of the commission as directives for the future. Over 70 parishes were involved in mergers. Some were directed to merge; others asked the Archbishop to allow them to merge.

Phase Three

In 2003 Archbishop Timothy Dolan saw the value and the need to continue parish planning. He again asked Bishop Sklba to chair a planning commission made up of clergy and lay people and gave the commission the mandate to develop a plan which would insure 1)access to the Eucharist in its totality, namely, Word, Sacrament, Service and Community for all the faithful; 2)opportunities to live Eucharistic lives through the practice of spiritual and corporal works of mercy; 3) the wise stewardship of our human and temporal resources and dialog at the parish, cluster, district and archdiocesan levels.

The commission prepared information about vibrant parishes and various demographic changes to help parishioners know the reality of the current situation. These were presented as bulletin inserts in August and September 2003. In September and October, parishes were encouraged to meet in clusters to discuss options and possibilities, and to prioritize plans for the future. Information from the parish-cluster sessions was given to the commission for study and reflection. The commission, after meeting with the deans of each district and the parish consultants, drew up tentative recommendations to be presented to the parish councils and staffs at district hearing sessions in January.

Besides individual cluster recommendations, the commission developed district recommendations, many of which were similar across districts. The commission noted in its studies that while the number of Catholics was increasing in many areas, the number attending Mass was decreasing. Members of the commission saw this as an opportunity for evangelization. The commission also noted where many parishes had more Masses than were needed on a Saturday/Sunday and asked, given the diminishing number of priests, that the Mass schedule be reduced or reconfigured in conversation with neighboring parishes. The commission made recommendations for all parishes to support Catholic high schools and elementary schools, even if the parish did not operate a school. Recommendations were made about supporting the formation of deacons and lay ministers, hiring qualified lay ministers and paying them justly. Each district was given a goal of recruiting a specific number of men for the priesthood, based on the demographics of the district.

After the district hearings, the commission will study the responses from parish leadership, make necessary revisions to the tentative recommendations and present their work to the Archbishop. He will consult with the Priest Council and Pastoral Council about the recommendations before calling for implementation of plans for the future. It is envisioned that this planning process will be ongoing. Parish and cluster plans will be reviewed annually and adjusted accordingly with the help of the Pastoral Council, Office for Parish Councils and Planning and the parish consultants.