Pastoral planning process enters strategic phase

By Renée St. Martin Wizeman
The diocesan pastoral planning process has moved into the strategic planning phase, under the direction of the Presbyteral Council.
In the first phase of the process, over 1,400 people of the Diocese of Helena offered their input – their hopes and dreams for the future of the diocese – through individual parish listening sessions and eight regional listening sessions. The Diocesan Pastoral Council, which was commissioned by Bishop George L. Thomas on Sept. 23, 2005, used the information gathered from the listening sessions to create the diocesan pastoral plan “Come to the Light.”
On Monday, April 16, seventy priests and pastoral administrators gathered in Helena to offer their input on how eight of the nine major themes of the pastoral plan might be addressed. Participants were provided with an advance copy of “Come to the Light,” the pastoral planning document, and read the sections that correlated to the theme areas before discussion.
The insights offered by the group will be shared with the nine ad hoc committees formed by the Presbyteral Council. Each committee includes both a member of the Presbyteral Council and a member of the DPC, along with chancery staff members.
In his opening remarks, Bishop Thomas offered his insights about implementing a pastoral plan. He stressed the importance of a broad understanding of the plan, as well as ownership by pastors and key lay leaders in the diocese.
Plans for the equitable distribution of priests to provide quality pastoral ministry for the parishes of the diocese was the first theme area to be addressed. All participants broke into small groups to discuss possible ways to approach the urgent reality of an aging presbyterate.
“We’ve been in cut-and-paste mode, but what is needed is to take a comprehensive look at the diocese,” Bishop Thomas said. He noted the recent amalgamation of Holy Family Parish and Pope John XXIII Parish in Missoula as a good model of parish consolidation – a model that employed a grassroots approach with lots of local involvement and prayerful discernment. “The Missoula process has given insights about how to engage local communities in this dialogue,” he said.
Two more breakout sessions were held, with participants offering insights on two of the other theme areas, including Catholic faith formation, the “new evangelization,” communications, promotion of vocations to the priesthood, religious life, permanent diaconate and lay minister formation, the Guatemalan mission, stewardship of resources and the pastoral needs of rural and Native American parishes.
The theme area pertaining to Catholic Social Services and the Montana Catholic Conference was not discussed as these are shared ministries with the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, which is currently in an interregnum period awaiting the appointment of a new bishop.
The pastoral planning document “Come to the Light” was promulgated by Bishop Thomas on Feb. 2. It is in the final printing stage and each registered Catholic will receive a publication that contains the major points of the document in brochure form. The full document will be available on the diocesan Web site at www.diocesehelena.org.

Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 23, No. 4, April 20, 2007.