The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington has formally begun a pastoral planning process with the publication of Bishop Koenig’s Pastoral Letter to the Faithful of the Diocese of Wilmington: United in Christ.
This pastoral planning process will help the diocese to align people and resources to fulfill its mission and guide parishes to build the Kingdom of God in their communities. As the Bishop
mentions in United in Christ, the two motivating factors for this pastoral planning were Pope Francis’ call to the entire Church for a Synod on Synodality (the worldwide listening of what we do well and what can we do better) and the bishop’s meetings with the priests of the Diocese when he first arrived. Those listening sessions produced a list of Ten Best Practices (focus points) for the future.
If the desire of both Pope Francis and our Bishop is for our Diocese to become more vibrant, our future pastoral planning must realistically address the present realities and challenges. In talking with my brother priests, we see this as both a challenge and an opportunity. While there are many issues that our pastoral planning will need to address, I’d like to note two at this time: The first is the reduction in clergy numbers and how our clergy minister within the parish community.
In 2007 we had 93 priests in active ministry, Diocesan and religious, as well as visiting clergy helping out. In 2015 that number was 81. In 2023 it’s 69, a 25% decrease from 2007. Right now, 10 priests could retire but are continuing to serve, two of whom are in their 80’s, and in five years 10 additional priests can retire. In five years, presuming everyone continues in their seminary
formation, we will have 5 new priests. This pastoral planning process invites us to consider creative ways to share resources and personnel so that we can become more effective with fewer resources and to support the well-being of our clergy.
Secondly, while the total population within the borders of our Diocese is growing, the number of people attending Mass has decreased 42%, from 56,600 in 2007 to 32,700 in 2022. We are also spending more on maintenance and aging buildings, which leads to less being spent on evangelization and faith formation. So, “Although we’re profoundly grateful for the diligent efforts of many faithful and dedicated people over the decades, much of what we’ve known and always
done is no longer as effective as it once was in handing on the faith. Too many of our inherited structures, institutions, and ways of doing things now regrettably inhibit rather than serve the Church’s unchanging mission and the formational needs of people today. As such, rather than “doubling down” on once effective but now inadequate models and strategies from a previous era, it is time for us, to courageously “cast into the deep” by letting go of these things – as challenging as it can be for all of us – so that with God’s help we might reimagine and realign our parishes, structures, and other resources for the sake of evangelization, discipleship, and mission in our increasingly post-Christian culture. This is especially true if we are going to fulfill more faithfully the Lord Jesus’ mandate to “go make disciples” in the present as well as build a healthier and holier reality to leave for future generations.
Hence, the Bishop’s call for a pastoral planning process, which will take place in the seven deaneries of the diocese. As the Bishop mentions in United in Christ, “Like all dioceses, the Diocese of Wilmington is organized into small regions called deaneries. A deanery is made up of contiguous parishes and is led by a pastor within the deanery who serves as the dean. A dean is appointed by the bishop and his responsibilities include overseeing the spiritual needs of priests, being attentive to pastoral issues in his deanery and coordinating regional pastoral initiatives. It is as groups of parishes within a deanery, that our Pastoral Planning will take place.”
Each of our deans has already assembled a team of parishioners and priests to facilitate this endeavor. These local Deanery Leadership Teams will begin the bulk of their work this coming fall in consultation with the Diocesan Core Leadership Team.
• Their first task will be to develop a process for a “Needs Assessment” for each parish.
• Each parish will have the opportunity to prayerfully articulate their hopes and dreams about the future of their parishes and identify the resources they require to achieve their vision.
• It is the hope of Bishop Koenig that each Deanery will have developed a plan by early 2024 and implementation will begin later in the spring.
In the Fall we will begin the needs assessment phase where we will get feedback from all of you, the parishioners, to help understand what we do well and what we need to do better. We will use the Best Practices developed through the Synod Listening Sessions as the basis of our needs assessment. While hearing all this may lead to excitement in some and nervousness in others, we greatly desire everyone’s participation in this process to best serve each and every person.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us all in this process so that we may all, renewed in Spirit, proclaim the Good News in the Iron Hill Deanery for years to come.
Here is a list of possible ways parishes within a deanery could collaborate and share resources: