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Strategic plan sets stage for the future

Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published March 31, 2006

Detroit – Some parishes will merge, some will close, and some will join with others in parish clusters over the next few years, under the terms of the strategic plan for the Archdiocese of Detroit announced this week.

But while reductions in the number of parishes in response to the declining number of priests has received the most public attention, the strategic plan also underscores three goals related to future growth of the Church in southeastern Michigan — evangelization, leadership development and stewardship.

News briefing particpants. From left: Cardinal Adam Maida; Don Ancypa, principal, St. Joan of Arc Elementary School; Rakhi Roy, Director, Genesis Ministries for Young Adults; Fr. Ted Parker, Vicar, Trinity Vicariate, Pastor, St. Cecilia and St. Luke Parishes; Sr. Maureen Fay, O.P., Ph. D., Member, Coordinating Committee; Chip Miller, Chairman, Coordinating Committee.
And Cardinal Adam Maida writes in his pastoral letter, "The Journey Before Us," included as a supplement in this issue of The Michigan Catholic, "Youth and young adult ministry will be our highest priority."

The cardinal was to lead a Wednesday press conference at Sacred Heart Major Seminary to make the next phase of the Together in Faith planning process public.

Implementation of changes already decided will begin in June, with some others not scheduled to take place until 2007, according to details of the plan made available to The Michigan Catholic before its Tuesday press time.

Adam Cardinal Maida
But the future of some other parishes will not be decided until after plans for their eventual merger, clustering or closure are submitted, as late as December.

Catholic schools are also covered in the strategic plan, though the already announced closures of St. Anthony Academy in Belleville, St. Bede Elementary in Southfield and Taylor Catholic in Taylor at the end of the current school year in June are expected to be the only ones this year.

Parish changes

Parish changes coming this June include:

St. Genevieve and St. Maurice, both in Livonia, will cluster (the two parishes will share a pastor).
Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Anthony, both on Detroit's east side, will merge (two parishes join to form one parish with a new name).
Guardian Angels and St. Brendan parishes, both in northeast Detroit, will close.
Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Gerard parishes, both in northwest Detroit, will merge to form one parish.
Martyrs of Uganda Parish, on Detroit's near west side, will close.

Changes in 2007 will include at least the following:

St. Claude and St. Thecla parishes, both in Clinton Township, will merge.
St. Louis and St. Valerie parishes, both in Clinton Township, will merge.
St. Beatrice, St. Bede, St. Ives and St. Michael parishes, all in Southfield, will merge.
St. John Cantius in Detroit's Delray district will merge with another parish or close.

Other future parish changes are generally contingent on the retirement, reassignment or prolonged illness of their current pastor. By this December, all parishes in the Renaissance Vicariate (Detroit's downtown and east side, plus Harper Woods and the Grosse Pointes) and Trinity Vicariate (northwest and north central Detroit, plus Dearborn Heights, Highland Park and Redford Township) must evaluate their current clusters and submit plans for clustering, merging or closing parishes as they lose their current pastors.

Such plans must also be developed for a majority of the parishes in the Downriver, Genesis, Northwest Wayne, SERF (St. Clair Shores, Eastpointe, Roseville, Fraser) and West Wayne vicariates.

In several instances, the changes to be triggered by future loss of the pastor have already been decided:

St Alan, Troy, and St. Columban, Birmingham, will cluster.
St. Bernardine of Siena, Westland, will merge or close.
St. John Bosco, Redford Township, will merge or close.
Our Lady Queen of Peace and St. Peter the Apostle, both in Harper Woods, will cluster.
St. Andrew, Detroit, will merge or close.
St. Anthony (Lithuanian), Detroit, will merge or close.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Detroit, will merge or close.

Future growth

But, at the same time, the strategic plan calls for continued study of the need for new church buildings in the Lakes Vicariate (most of western Oakland County) and the North Macomb Vicariate.

Just as the strategic plan remains incomplete with regard to some parishes, so too there will be continued scrutiny of the viability of Catholic schools in the archdiocese, as well as continued consideration of where there might be a need to establish new schools.

To help interested Catholics fully understand the strategic plan and why it was necessary, the Archdiocese of Detroit has published a 16-page report titled "Mileposts on the Journey." Copies are available from local parish offices.

The publication contains considerable detail regarding the process and reports some of the data that entered into the decision-making. Some of that data is reproduced in the charts and graphs accompanying this story.

Among some of the key considerations:

Demographic studies show the Catholic population has been moving out of Detroit and some older suburbs, and into outlying areas.
From 414 priests in parish ministry in 2000, the number had declined to 317 in 2005, and is anticipated to fall to 286 in 2010, with a further drop to 243 by 2015.
From 313 parishes and missions in 2000, the number had fallen to 306 by 2005. It is expected to be further reduced to 290 or lower by 2010.
Anticipated ordinations over the next few years are less than adequate to meet the needs of the archdiocese – only three are heading for ordination this year, only one is anticipated in 2007, eight in 2008, and six in 2009.
Most currently serving priests are aged 50-69, with more in the 70-79 age group than those aged 30-39.

The process

The Together in Faith process, from which the strategic plan emerged, was launched in the fall of 2004 after archdiocesan priests called for a more orderly response to the problem of their shrinking numbers.

At their 2003 Priests Convocation at Boyne, they voiced concerns to Cardinal Maida that dealing with parish vacancies as they occur was resulting in some priests being overburdened, leading to "burnout" and ill health.

In response, the archdiocese developed Together in Faith, an unprecedented program of consultation and deliberation that involved people at the parish and vicariate level in the preparation of draft plans that were then submitted for consideration by Cardinal Maida and the regional auxiliary bishops.

All final decisions in the plan are made by the cardinal.

To begin the process, all parishes were asked to fill out comprehensive evaluation inventories that spelled out their current memberships and membership trends, current and potential future ministries, and how they would propose to fit into a strategic plan for the archdiocese.

They were encouraged to consider how they might cooperate with neighboring parishes to engage in ministries to their members or the wider community.

The parish evaluation inventories were submitted to the vicariate pastoral council. The archdiocese is divided into 18 vicariates grouped into four regions.

These parish plans were assembled, after clarifications, into a vicariate plan, then reviewed by the Together in Faith Coordinating Committee, and then sent on – after clarifications – to the bishops.

Now that the strategic plan has been announced, its implementation will be monitored by a new group, the TIF Tracking Committee.

In his introduction to "Mileposts on the Journey," Cardinal Maida says the Together in Faith process has involved "literally thousands of people who have given of their time and insight to help shape the future of our Church and to inform this special report."