• The final reports with recommendations from the Citrus and Lower Pinellas Deaneries were shared with the Presbyteral Council
• The Council decided not to move forward with any decisions and recommendations from these two deaneries until the other five deaneries have completed the planning process
• The Council decided to have the remaining five deaneries go through the process at the same time – a time frame is being drafted with the intent of beginning the initiative in the five deaneries this year

Although it’s not competition or business, the Cathedral of St. Jude parishioner takes that perspective along during his visits to other parishes as part of the Deanery Planning Process. He enjoys seeing how his “neighbor” parishes work, learning about their ministries, and discovering new ways that each can become stronger.

The Deanery Planning Process is being piloted in the Citrus and Lower Pinellas Deaneries. The Process is designed to help the deaneries – geographic groups of parishes within the diocese’s five counties – develop strategies for meeting current and future challenges of the church: anticipated shortages of priests, shifting demographics, and the access and utilization of resources.

Dioceses across the eastern United States have embarked on similar planning efforts over the last decade. Eventually, every parish in the St. Petersburg Diocese will take part in this process.

Catholics already involved in Deanery Planning learned about it earlier this year when they were asked to participate in a parish survey and attend town hall meetings. The process now has moved to the parish visitation stage, where at least two representatives from each participating parish visit their neighbor parishes to learn about the ministries, operations and facilities there. Feedback and impressions from those visits will be considered as the deaneries establish a course of action.

Parish life looks different in person than on paper.  Jim Connelly serves on the Deanery Leadership Team as the lay representitive from St. Paul Parish in St. Petersburg.  He described his visits to parishes in the north St. Petersburg area as “eye opening.”

“It’s one thing to look at statistics and the numbers of parishioners,” he said. “But it’s important to get a feel of how the parish works, instead of just looking at statistics on paper.”

Before his visit, Tom Dooley of Transfiguration Parish didn’t know a lot about the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam Mission in Largo. He left surprised and impressed that members of the mission were so many and so dedicated. He said he had no idea attendance at Mass was so high.

It was much the same story in Citrus County, said Our Lady of Fatima Pastor Father James Johnson, Vicar Forane of the Citrus Deanery. Although priests get to know all the parishes, lay people involved in the Citrus Deanery visits were surprised to find nearby parishes hosted numerous, similar, and often very active, ministries.

The visits in Citrus also revealed challenges specific to the diocese’s less densely populated areas, the priest said. Catholic parishes in Citrus are fewer and farther apart than those in south Pinellas, and coming up with a plan on how to serve geographically distant parishes with fewer priests will not be easy.

“There are some challenges that come with (the planning process),” Father Johnson said.

Roberge walked away excited by the possibilities. He said the Deanery Planning Process overall has been a positive experience at the Cathedral parish, and he sees many benefits in forming ministerial and practical partnerships with other parishes.

Nothing stays the same, he said. But people can rise to the challenge and be better for it. Declining numbers of priests means the laity will need to take a bigger role and become more involved with the clergy in meeting parish goals. And faith-filled neighbors working together can only lead to a stronger local church.

“It’s like we’re all one community,” he said.

“We’re going to make mistakes, but change is good. It gives you a chance to grow.”

The diocese is divided into seven deaneries: Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, East Hillsborough, West Hillsborough, Upper Pinellas and Lower Pinellas. Deanery Planning is being piloted in the parishes of lower Pinellas and Citrus. Eventually, all deaneries will participate.

Deanery planning started when each parish underwent a self assessment. Through a survey, parishioners provided input on different aspects of parish life and ministry. A parish leadership team compiled the survey results, and then presented those results to the parish through various communication tools, including town hall meetings where parishioners were provided a platform to ask questions and discuss the information.

Using information from the meetings, parish teams then submitted recommendations to the deanery that addressed the key issues: declining number of priests, shifting demographics and accessing and utilizing resources.

Similar initiatives have been taking place in dioceses across the United States for more than two decades. While this diocese isn’t dealing with many of the circumstances of many of those older metropolitan dioceses, even here, one-third of our pastors are over the age of 65, Burns said. This makes the priest shortage a growing concern that the diocese is choosing to address now.

“We may not be in crisis mode today, but in another 5-10 years we may be in a different position,” Burns said. “We asked ourselves what can we do now to position our deaneries to better serve our faith communities?”

To get to know other parishes within their deanery, pastors and parish representatives are visiting their “neighbor” parishes. The visits will help the deanery team to come together and discuss potential strategies.

“In taking these first important steps, we hope through lay and clergy dialogue and input, recommendations will be coming forth that will help shape the vision that will guide our local church in the years ahead,” Burns said.

-Janet Shelton

In our diocese, merging is just one of several possibilities that the Pastoral Planning teams at the parish, deanery, and diocesan levels are considering as they work to plan for the future of our local Church.

Here’s a link to the essay.
http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/year-for-priests-keys-to-a-successful-parish-merger/

Here are some photos from that meeting.

We will be doing this in the form of feature articles, like you would read in a magazine or newspaper; blog posts; interviews with parishoners who are participating in their parish’s planning process and maybe some folks from the Pastoral Center offices as well.

For now, welcome to the new website, and please keep coming back as we add more new information.