The following includes 32 lessons Strategic Task Force co-chair Father John Bauer shared with other pastors regarding parish mergers and reconfigurations. In dioceses across the country the phenomena of merging, twinning, clustering and closing parishes has been occurring for several years. The indications are that this will continue at least for the immediate future. Given [...]
Archive for Category: "Archdiocese Planning Process"
Archdiocese hires new director of development and stewardship
Michael F. Halloran, executive director of The Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Sacramento, has been chosen by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis following an extensive search to serve as its director of development and stewardship beginning Nov. 1. Halloran will be in charge of all fundraising, including the annual Catholic Services Appeal, [...]
A stronger, more robust community of faith
I trust that everyone who reads this column has had an opportunity to take some vacation time this summer. As Catholics, our stewardship for our families and for others also extends to the care that we show to our own physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological health. As human beings, we need rest and relaxation in [...]
Sharing resources helps rural tri-parish cluster serve community
For three rural parishes south of the Twin Cities, being part of a parish cluster means sharing — sharing a bulletin, sharing fundraising efforts and sharing a pastor. But it also means that all three parishes can remain open and viable, which is what the communities want, said Carol Stoffel, a parishioner at St. John [...]
Gain outweighs loss for St. Paul parish after 2006 tri-parish merger
When Marcia Kremer, 62, heard in 2000 that her parish in St. Paul, St. Gregory, would merge with nearby St. Leo and St. Therese to form a single parish, her first reaction was disbelief, she said. “This parish has been here, and we really like the way we’re doing things, and all of a sudden [...]
'Local church' isn't your parish — it's the archdiocese
The musical styles ranged broadly from Twila Paris’ contemporary “How Beautiful” to the traditional Latin “Ave Verum,” but the six choirs that performed at a concert at St. Timothy in Blaine last April joined their voices for the first and final songs. The evening was not only a sharing of music, but a sharing of [...]
Archdiocese finishes gathering information, date for plan's announcement set
The information and opinion gathering phase of the strategic planning process has been completed, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis announced today. This 15-month process intended to ensure the archdiocese’s continued vitality for the future amid changing demographic and economic realities. The 13-member strategic planning task force appointed by Archbishop John Nienstedt in February [...]
A baseball lesson we all should remember
My fifth-grade son recently found himself in a spot every kid who loves baseball dreams about: He came up to bat in the last inning of a city league game with two outs, runners on second and third, and his team trailing by a single run.
Parish planning process, implementation require respect
When Highland Catholic Community in St. Paul was transitioning from three parishes — St. Gregory, St. Therese and St. Leo — into one, its pastor, Father John Bauer, outlined eight “rules of behavior” for the parishioners to follow. The rules, he told them, were inspired by those that his sister, a teacher, established in her [...]
Parishes adjust ministries to best use resources
This is the sixth story in a series on the seven planning principles guiding the parish and school planning process, which were first outlined by Archbishop John Nienstedt in March 2009. A task force has been gathering information from area parishes and schools, and it will present its recommendations to Archbishop Nienstedt in July. The [...]
Planning will affect every parish, task force member says
This interview is the fifth story in a series on the seven planning principles guiding the parish and school planning process, which were first outlined by Archbishop John Nienstedt in March 2009. The fifth principle states that every parish will be involved in the planning process. A task force has been gathering information from area [...]
Concern for Catholic schools helps guide planning process
When students begin classes this fall at Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery, they’ll be trying something new. Instead of being taught as a single grade, grade levels will be paired — first-graders with second-graders, for example — in multi-age classrooms. The transition is motivated by declining enrollment in the pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade school, said the [...]
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