Sowing Seeds for the Future of the Catholic Church in the Northeast Deanery

On February 11, 2005, Archbishop Raymond Burke proposed the following goal for our Deanery as a part of the pastoral letter that provided for the reorganization of our parishes and schools:

 “Every sacrifice should be made, therefore, to prepare our children, through a sound Catholic education, to be strong members of the Church and good citizens.” (12)  The “best means by which she (the Church) can assist parents in the Catholic upbringing of their children is the Catholic school” which should “be available to all the families of the deanery.” (13-14)

 At the same time the Archbishop also established:

 “… a Deanery Pastoral Council ... to provide for the ongoing study of the pastoral care of the Northeast County Deanery” … and … “to assist the local dean in carrying out his pastoral responsibility for the deanery” … “so that a consultative body on the deanery level will help me consistently in addressing the pastoral care and direction of all the faithful in the deanery.” (26)

 Thus, the Northeast County Deanery became the only deanery in the Archdiocese with a Deanery Pastoral Council, providing the laity a voice in the affairs of the Church.

Formation of the Deanery Pastoral Council

After months of planning, the Northeast Deanery Lay Pastoral Council (DPC) held its first meeting under the leadership of our Dean, Fr. Jack Schuler, in March of 2007.  The DPC quickly identified four areas of focus, including Senior Ministry, Youth Ministry, Education and Evangelization.  Holly Stahle of South Grand Senior Ministries was hired to coordinate services for our seniors across the deanery.  In addition, Fr. Mitulski of St. Norbert presented a proposal for deanery wide youth activities.  Finally, a subcommittee for education was formed to explore ways for coordinate and collaborate on Catholic education, and specifically with regard to our nine elementary schools.  The Education Subcommittee began meeting in September of 2007.

Pastors and Principals Begin Joint Discussions About Schools

At the same time, the Pastors and Principals began meeting to discuss the mission, financing, and strategies for marketing and enrollment for the Catholic schools in our deanery. Those discussions took into account the current status of the schools and the anticipated near term trends and led to recognition of the need to look at alternative models and develop a vision for the future. Over the course of the summer 2007, the parishes, in cooperation with the Archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Planning, developed a model to forecast the future enrollment and financial performance of the schools in the deanery.  That work underscored the need to begin work on the development of a vision for the future.

Formation of Ad Hoc Committee on Education

The DPC Education Subcommittee on the one hand and the Pastors and Principals on the other met separately through the end of 2007.  In early 2008, it became clear that the two groups needed to communicate and collaborate more closely with each other.  On April 14, 2008, the Pastors accepted the DPC’s recommendation to form a ten member Ad Hoc Committee on Education to facilitate close collaboration and communication among the laity, pastors and principals in the development of an Excellence in Education Plan under the leadership of the Education Subcommittee of the DPC. Three Pastors, three Principals and four lay representatives were appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee and Chuck James, a member of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish, was appointed to serve as Chairperson.

 The first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee was held on June 4, 2008.  The first few meetings focused on the development of a mission statement and discussions regarding how best to engage the laity in an effort to develop a shared vision for the future of Catholic education.  The Ad Hoc Committee talked about conducting surveys or focus groups, but by the end of June had not reached final decision about how to proceed.

 At about the same time, three members of the DPC Education Subcommittee made plans to attend the annual SPICE (Special Programs In Catholic Education) Conference co-sponsored by the NCEA and the School of Education at Boston College from June 26-28.  The three DPC Education Subcommittee members returned from Boston with a recommendation that the Ad Hoc Committee give consideration to employing an Appreciative Inquiry Summit to engage a broad cross-section of people across the deanery in conversations about the future of Catholic education.

Decision Made to Hold the Summit

The Ad Hoc Committee met with Dr. Bea Holland (who presented on this topic at the SPICE Conference) and her colleague, Dr. Mary Jo Greil for an all day meeting to discuss the idea on September 6, 2008.  Immediately after the meeting the Ad Hoc Committee agreed to recommend to the Pastors that they engage the services of Drs. Holland and Greil to facilitate an Appreciative Inquiry Summit in the deanery in early 2009.  Subsequent meetings were held with Bishop Hermann, Monsignor Vernon Gardin, Superintendent George Henry and others at the Archdiocesan offices to discuss our plans for a Summit.  Bishop Hermann granted permission for the Ad Hoc Committee to proceed with its plans and planning for the Summit to be held on February 6^th and 7^th, 2009 began in earnest.

 Since space considerations at Trinity Catholic High School limit the number of participants at the Summit to 250 people, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to open up the process to others across the deanery by conducting Discovery Interviews in all of the parishes.  The interviews began in December, 2008 and concluded January 21, 2009. Over 500 people were interviewed during this time. The results of the interviews will be summarized and provided to the Summit participants for use in connection with their work at the Summit.

 It is anticipated that the Summit will produce a collection of ideas that taken together, will form the basis of our shared vision for the future of Catholic elementary education in our deanery.  In addition, the Summit will produce teams of people ready and willing to go to work to turn the ideas into a set of proposed recommendations to be submitted to the Bishop in October of 2009.