The Catholic Moment Article

Thinking back a few years, you will recall that Bishop Timothy L. Doherty engaged the Reid Group to assist him in developing a pastoral statement for the diocese. You might recall participating in the survey exercises used by the Reid Group.

On July 5, 2015, Bishop Doherty promulgated “Uniting in Heart: a Pastoral Statement for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana.” The pastoral statement contained the mission statement and a vision statement, defined our values and outlined five goals to guide the diocese as we moved forward. You can find the “Uniting in Heart” document in English and Spanish on the diocesan Web site at https://dol-in.org/bishop.

“Uniting in Heart” has, and continues to be, a foundation for the ministry of the local Church, the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana.

Upon the promulgation of the pastoral statement, the Bishop’s Office set about connecting with and better understanding life and ministry in each of the parishes of the diocese. Members of the bishop’s staff made in-person visits to every one of the parishes, asking questions and listening carefully to better understand the narrative that expressed the who, what and how of each parish. These visits were candid and insightful. The team returned from each visit and shared what they learned with the leadership and staff in the Chancery.

Something that was clear to us from the parish visits was the need to enhance the capabilities and capacity of the Chancery to better support the needs of the parishes and schools.

A grant from the Lilly Endowment has enabled the diocese to work with the Leadership Roundtable.  “Leadership Roundtable is an organization of laity, religious and clergy working together to promote best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications and human resource development of the Catholic Church in the U.S.”

Leadership Roundtable has aided the Bishop’s Office in refining our organization-al structures to be more effective in administering and supporting our parishes and schools. They have provided priests, deacons and diocesan staff with tools to assess and improve their leadership capabilities.  They have also provided ongoing seminars to our priests to better equip them with tools and techniques to enhance their administration and ministry in the parish.

There was a recognition that not only did we need to understand who we are today and where we have been in the past as a diocese, but also that we needed to have a good vision for what might lie ahead if we hoped to care for all of God’s people in the diocese. For this, we needed good data and not just our instincts.

We continue to be guided by “Uniting In Heart” and, for the past several months, we have been working with Partners Edge, LLC, an organization serving Catholic dioceses, parishes and schools in planning and measurement, assessment and modeling. Partners Edge is assisting our diocese in defining our current state using factual data about ourselves. By overlaying our data on maps of the diocese, combined with population studies, we are able to visualize the demographics of our diocese as they are today and project how our demographics might change in the coming years.

“Uniting in Heart” is, as Bishop Doherty shared in his promulgation of the pastoral statement, a “guide to effective direction and development of the Church in the diocese.” With the engagement of Partners Edge, we enter into a logical next step ensuring that we have good data upon which to rely when planning for our diocese.

The Office of Planning will continue to engage clergy and laity in conversations about the next phases of “Uniting In Heart.” In the meantime, we ask for your prayers that the Holy Spirit continue to guide our process. Stay tuned for more information in the next editions of The Catholic Moment.

Deacon Mike Mescall is director of the diocesan Office of Technology, Communications and Planning