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TIF plans near final review phase
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 20, 2006
Detroit – The work of the Together in Faith Coordinating Committee will likely be completed soon, as the process of planning the future of the Archdiocese of Detroit nears its next phase.
"We will probably wrap up our work as a committee within about two to three weeks. It's up to the cardinal what happens from there," Chip Miller, who chairs the Coordinating Committee, said Jan. 10.
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Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss (left) confers with Chip Miller and Sr. Maureen Fay, OP, of the TIF Coordinating Committee at the Jan. 10 Archdiocesan Pastoral Council/Council of Vicars meeting. | Miller said all parish and vicariate plans – proposals for how they would fit into the future shape of the archdiocese – will be forwarded for consideration by Cardinal Adam Maida, the regional bishops, the Council of Vicars and the archdiocesan College of Consultors. (The consultors advise the cardinal on administrative and financial issues, such as archdiocesan properties and loans to parishes and schools.)
While it has always been acknowledged that the TIF process could result in the closure of some parishes, as well as the merger of some and clustering of some others, final decisions on such actions can only be made by Cardinal Maida. No fixed date has been set for announcing such decisions, and they might not all be announced at once.
Miller and fellow Coordinating Committee member Sr. Maureen Fay, OP, updated a Jan. 10 joint meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council and the Council of Vicars on the status of the TIF process, and also answered questions the following day.
The original goal of the TIF process was to develop a five-year strategic plan for the Archdiocese of Detroit in order to better allocate its limited financial resources and dwindling clergy resources to best serve the faithful. The concept has changed somewhat, from the idea of a settled plan that was to have been unveiled on the first Sunday of Advent 2005, to the current concept of an ongoing process – but with the same overall purpose.
That purpose, as Sr. Fay stated it, is to determine the archdiocese's "present and future role of seeing that the name of Jesus Christ is known and loved."
Parishes and vicariates (the 18 multi-parish districts into which the archdiocese is organized) had to develop their own plans. The role of the Coordinating Committee has been to review the plans developed at the vicariate level, and ask questions if any aspects seemed unclear or inadequate.
TIF Tracking Committee
The members of the TIF Tracking Committee, which will be take part in the implementation of the plans and monitor their implementation, are:
- Chip Miller, chair
- Sr. Maureen Fay, OP
- Frs. William Tindall and Sean Sylvester, and Deacon Donald Sandstrom, all of whom were involved in the development of the Total Pastoral Plan for Priests.
- Council of Vicars members Frs. Jerome Brzezinski, William Sinatra and Edward Zaorski.
- APC moderator Robert McBrayer and member Berneice Edwards.
- Julia Gusman, of the archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry.
- Terrence Keating, of the archdiocesan Advisory Board of Catholic Education.
| But replies to all those questions have been received, and the Coordinating Committee was to begin reviewing them in an all-day session on Jan. 12, with another session slated for Thursday, Jan. 19, Miller explained.
Clarification of some further issues might be sought from the vicariates, he acknowledged, but he could not say whether the Coordinating Committee would in all cases wait for a response before forwarding its report. It might just note that certain questions remained unanswered.
Preliminary information about the vicariate plans, as they stand to date, is available on the archdiocesan Internet site (Together in Faith).
In a few cases, the self-analysis required by the TIF process has already borne fruit, as some parishes opted to close or merge during 2005, rather than wait for completion of the process. Likewise, decisions were reached for 17 schools in the archdiocese to close at the end of the 2004-2005 school year last June.
After Cardinal Maida makes his decisions, the Tracking Committee will participate in and monitor the work of implementing the plans, as well as implementation of the Total Pastoral Plan for Priests.
The plan for priests, which seeks to establish certain safeguards to avoid overwork and "burnout" as fewer priests are available for parish assignments, also grew out of the issues raised by priests at their biennial convocation in 2003.
At the end of two years, the Tracking Committee will be expected to have come up with a tool for continuing evaluation of what is hoped will be an ongoing planning process for the archdiocese.
Sr. Fay said another fruit of the Coordinating Committee's work had been the identification of various concerns that seemed to surface throughout the archdiocese, with the result that each committee member had undertaken to develop a report on how these issues might be addressed.
She spoke of the report she was working on – on leadership development – and said the others would deal with the archdiocesan Assignment Board, which recommends the assignment of priests to Cardinal Maida; improving parish administration and management; improving the archdiocesan loan-deposit program; stimulating the sharing of resources within vicariates and regions; and improving communications within the archdiocese.
Sr. Fay, who was president of Mercy College from 1983 to 1990, and of the University of Detroit Mercy from 1990 to 2004, said she was happy to have been asked to be on the Coordinating Committee and now the new Tracking Committee.
At the APC/Vicars meeting, participants discussed the TIF process, and stressed the need for good communications as the final decisions are announced.
Msgr. John Zenz, moderator of the archdiocesan Curia, said recommendations included conducting a press briefing, holding "town hall" meetings, and perhaps producing a video presentation by Cardinal Maida as the final plans are announced.
Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn said some meeting participant thought it very important that pastors and parish staff have some warning of decisions affecting their parishes. And addressing the overall need for good communications, he added, "It is important that it is very clear to people how these decisions were arrived at."
Cardinal Maida, looking to the next phase in the TIF process, said, "I can see we're going to need the wisdom of a Solomon to put all these things together, and the courage of a David to implement it, and maybe there will be a little suffering along the way.
"But I believe that, as we move 'together in faith,' we will accomplish something – to build up the local Church. In faith, we walk together, knowing that the Lord will bless us," he added.
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