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Year One Implementation of Together In Faith Plan
West Wayne Vicariate
Updated July 2007
 The West Wayne Vicariate's Together In Faith (TIF) Plan approved by Cardinal Maida included several goals, objectives or strategies to be met by certain deadlines. Below is the Progress Reported by the Vicariate Pastoral Council in each area, and the Tracking Committee's Response and Recommendations.
1. By June 2006 St. Martha and St. Joseph parishes will submit their plans for merging.
Progress Reported: The parishes are beginning to talk about not charging out of parish tuition rates. Looking at all 5 parishes in the area having a joint picnic and working towards group activities. Fr. Day from St. Sebastian wants to list activities of all 5 parishes in his bulletins. Group meetings are moving along well and there is a concerted effort to coordinate all activities.
Tracking Committee Response: The Tracking Committee is encouraged to know that St. Martha and St. Joseph are continuing to work toward their merger.
2. By October 2006 St. Mel and St. Sabina parishes will submit their plan for clustering upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors. These parishes should also submit a plan for collaboration with St. Dunstan and St. Linus.
Progress Reported: St. Linus/St. Mel – Parish Councils discussed and approved a cluster. St. Sabina had an informal meeting with St. Robert Bellarmine (in another vicariate). A portion of St. Sabina is in Redford. The meeting was friendly and informative. They will meet again in January. They will attend each others PC meetings. They have submitted a letter stating this to Regional Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss. St. Dunstan is working with St. Raphael, "provisional upon the other parishes being cared for. With the understanding that if the priests were not available for each parish, the VPC approved cluster of the 2 – St. Mel and St. Linus providing that plans for St. Dunstan and St. Sabina are approved".
Tracking Committee Response: The Tracking Committee commends the work that has been done to prepare a plan for the clustering of St. Mel and St. Linus parishes, upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors. It is noted that this plan has been approved by the respective Parish Pastoral Councils and the VPC. The parishes of St. Sabina and St. Robert Bellarmine need to continue to work together to prepare and submit a plan for a cluster or merger, upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors. The parishes of St. Dunstan and St. Raphael need to continue to work together to prepare and submit a plan for a cluster or merger, upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors.
3. By October 2006 St. Alphonsus, St. Barbara, St. Clement and St. Cunegunda will create and submit cluster or merger plans, with the assistance of the Regional Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss, to be implemented upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors.
Progress Reported: As of January 2006 these parishes came up with two plans. 1) Cluster 4 parishes with 1 pastor. 2) Make two clusters – St. Clement/St. Alphonsus and St. Barbara/St. Cunegunda (already clustered). "Collaborative meetings have been held. Coordination of programs are spreading. Meetings with Regional Auxiliary Bishop Reiss not scheduled yet to finalize plans.
Tracking Committee Response: The Tracking Committee encourages the parishes of St. Alphonsus, St. Barbara, St. Clement and St. Cunegunda to continue to collaborate in preparing a plan for a possible cluster or merger of all four parishes, upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors. To date, no plans have been received by the Regional Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss.
4. By October 2006 St. Albert the Great and St. John the Baptist will create and submit cluster or merger plans, to be implemented upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors.
Progress Reported: Spring and Summer meetings were held; the parishes need to cluster to start, and then eventually merge.
Tracking Committee Response: The parishes of St. Albert the Great and St. John the Baptist are encouraged to continue work on preparing a plan for clustering or merger, upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the present pastors.
5. By October 2006 Divine Child, Sacred Heart, and St. Anselm are to develop and submit plans for collaboration.
Progress Reported: Collaboration between 3 parishes is going well with most outreach at Sacred Heart, including the area St. Vincent de Paul. Three secretaries discuss office needs. Business managers are sharing and dealing with their specific issues. Maintenance is sharing equipment. St. Anselm does not have as much participation. Divine Child, Sacred Heart and St. Anselm are developing but not as strong. St. Anselm secretaries and Religious Education are sharing programs.
Tracking Committee Response: The parishes of Divine Child, Sacred Heart, and St. Anselm are encouraged to participate more in developing a plan to be submitted for increased collaboration and sharing.
6. By October 2006 St. Richard and SS. Simon and Jude will submit a plan for clustering to be implemented upon the retirement, reassignment or illness of one of the pastors. In addition, these two parishes will develop and submit a plan for collaboration with Holy Family and St. Mary parishes.
Progress Reported: St. Richard, SS. Simon and Jude, and St. Mary finalized what they have in mind, submitted it to the Vicar and the Together In Faith Committee. They have broken their concerns into categories, liturgical, education and social service. Making progress, are very compatible and getting along well.
Tracking Committee Response: The parishes of St. Richard and SS. Simon and Jude are encouraged to prepare and submit a plan for clustering or merger, upon the reassignment, retirement or illness of one of the pastors. In addition, it seems favorable for the parishes of St. Richard and SS. Simon and Jude to collaborate more with St. Mary, Wayne and Holy Family parishes. The parishes of St. Mary and SS. Simon and Jude need to address their respective commitments to the Archdiocesan Loan Deposit Program.
7. By December 2006 the four planning quadrants of the vicariate will submit a comprehensive and detailed plan for collaboration on the focus areas of adult faith formation, senior citizens, family catechesis, Hispanic Ministry and coordinating worship schedules.
Progress Reported: Although the parishes had addressed these issues of joint activities concerning worship, education, seniors and Hispanic Ministry in the Spring of 2006, there is a need to follow up on those.
Tracking Committee Response: The four planning quadrants of the vicariate are to be commended for increased collaboration with each other in matters of adult faith formation, senior citizens, family catechesis, Hispanic Ministry and coordinating worship schedules. They are also to be commended for recent efforts to promote evangelization.
8. By December 2006 the vicariate Catholic Schools will submit comprehensive and detailed plans for providing staff development and consistent educational criteria, sharing of fundraising dates, public relations efforts and marketing.
Progress Reported: Concerning Catholic Schools, while this has basically been dealt with in local parish group meetings, the "schools survey" has been filled in by the VPC, the pastors, and the parish councils of the vicariate – the DRE's and principals have been invited to also contribute their responses. The various results should be available at the February VPC meeting.
Tracking Committee Response: The Tracking Committee recommends that the vicariate Catholic schools develop a model similar to the SERF Vicariate planning model with measurable criteria to evaluate the schools annually. St. Linus School is seeking a school with which to collaborate and should be included in planning discussions. The rest of the schools have selected collaboration partners. The Tracking Committee encourages the principals to continue collaboration efforts in their monthly meetings.
Has your vicariate made any significant changes, amendments or additions to your TIF Plan since it was approved? Please describe below, including rationale for change, timeline and projected outcomes. Attach any detailed reports.
Progress Reported: As the vicariate parishes begin to cluster, particularly St. Mel, St. Linus, and St. Sabina and St. Robert, there may be changes to the plan. There has been input from St. Sabina or St. Robert since the November meeting of the pastors involved.
Tracking Committee Response: Although significant progress has been made, preparation and submission of plans for collaboration, clustering and merging to the Regional Auxiliary Bishop are behind schedule according to the Together in Faith report that was approved by Cardinal Maida. New target dates and identifying a person or persons responsible to move the good intentions along are needed. The need of funding for the above is to be reflected in preparing your parish and school budgets for the fiscal year 2007-08. There is a need for more involvement with parish pastoral councils, parish leadership and transparency with parishioners across the board.
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