| Action Plan B |
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Supporting Action Plan B Structure and Functions of the Pastoral Center In June 1997, Bishop Clark appointed a team chaired by José Coronas to study the organization and functions of the Pastoral Center and make recommendations to him on the ways in which Pastoral Center could be more effective in its mission of supporting the more than 200 parishes and faith communities of the 12 county Diocese. This study was part of a planning process initiated in 1997 and described in detail in Pastoral Planning for the New Millennium.The complete text of the final report follows. Within each recommendation, there are two implementation paragraphs: the original text of the team's recommendation and the current status of implementation. The team indicated in its presentation to Bishop Clark that it had called for immediate implementation of all recommendations and that the newly appointed Moderator of the Pastoral Center would need to develop a more carefully calibrated and staged implementation plan. Index In June 1997, Bishop Clark appointed a team chaired by José Coronas to study the organization and functions of the Pastoral Center and make recommendations to him on the ways in which Pastoral Center could be more effective in its mission of supporting the more than 200 parishes and faith communities of the 12 county Diocese. This study is part of a planning process initiated in 1997 and described in detail in Pastoral Planning for the New Millennium. Guided by the Diocesan Mission Statement, Diocesan Values, and the Bishop’s Vision Statement, the team gathered information from pastors, parish staff, parish leadership, and Pastoral Center staff. The team identified the major issues confronting parishes, faith communities and the Pastoral Center. Through a series of broad based reactions to various drafts, the team has recommended the following to Bishop Clark:
Each recommendation includes a description and an implementation note. The report concludes with observations about three issues judged very important to the Diocese but not within the scope of the team’s task. In June 1997, Bishop Clark appointed a team chaired by José Coronas to study the organization and functions of the Pastoral Center and make recommendations to him on the ways in which Pastoral Center could be more effective in its mission of supporting the more than 200 parishes and faith communities of the 12 county Diocese. This study is part of a planning process initiated in 1997 and described in detail in Pastoral Planning for the New Millennium. The appendix includes a list of the members of this study team and a summary of the process which it used. The pastoral planning process of which this study is a part flows from the work of the Diocesan Synod. Three statements have provided direction and emphasis for the work of the team: the Diocesan Mission Statement, Diocesan Values Statement, and the Bishop’s Vision Statement.
In pursuit of this mission, our work will be guided by these values, which have emerged from our Synod process:
"The Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ Himself ... to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served." (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes: The Church in the Modern World, Par. 3)
Bishop Clark charged the team with a specific task: make recommendations to him which will position the Diocese to structure and operate the Pastoral Center in a manner that provides leadership and maximum responsiveness to the needs of parishes, regions, planning groups and other Catholic faith communities as they implement the Diocesan Mission and conduct day-to-day operations and in a manner which seeks input from all of these entities as services are designed and as quality of service delivery is continuously evaluated. Focus and Methodology of the Project The Bishop asked the team to focus on an organizational issue. He did not ask us to make recommendations with regard to content and nature of pastoral and other ministerial programs but rather to focus on how such programs could be best delivered to 200 widely dispersed and highly diverse parishes and faith communities. Our conclusions necessarily focused on the ways in which the human organization of our diocese could best respond to the interplay between the enduring spiritual issues and the signs of our times. As part of the process, the team identified major assumptions which represent the major challenges and opportunities which the Diocese of Rochester will face in the future:
The team used focus groups to identify the major issues facing both parishes and the Pastoral Center. Based on these results, a survey was designed and sent out to all parishes and faith communities. Another survey was administered to employees of the Pastoral Center. Based on the results both the focus groups and the surveys as well as the personal and professional experience of team members, the team identified the major issues facing parishes and faith communities and the major issues facing the employees of the Pastoral Center. Parish Issues
Pastoral Center Issues
The team recognized that many people--ordained and lay--are working to address these issues and that important progress has been made. However, it is unlikely that these issues will be resolved during the next 10 to 15 years. Rather than problems to be solved, they represent important landmarks in the terrain of our world for the near term future. Some of these landmarks are beautiful vistas opening out into an exciting future of new possibilities; others are strange, uncharted, and potentially dangerous places where our faith will be tested. Confronting the reality we face and will face enlivened the team and kindled the fire of hope and reliance of the promise of Jesus to be with us always until the end of time. It is in that radical spirit of faith and hope that the team makes the following recommendations. 1. Facilitate increased interaction between Bishop and parishes/faith communities As the Church of Rochester becomes more decentralized and diverseand as parishes and faith communities become more involved in collaborative groupings, the Bishop’s active presence as teacher and listener will become an increasingly important source of unity and communication. Therefore, we recommend that the Bishop visit with the leadership of each parish and faith community every two to three years. The parish and faith communities and their leaders will have prepared for this pastoral visit by reflecting prayerfully on their efforts to live out the Diocesan mission and Bishop’s vision. They will share with the Bishop their successes and failures, the lessons they have learned about themselves and their parishes, the ways in which the mission and vision work for them and the ways in which either should be adjusted to take into account the realities of parish and faith community life. There will be a special emphasis on the ways in which parishes and faith communities have been collaborating to address common concerns and issues. The Bishop will both listen and respond. In his role as teacher, he will communicate his vision for the Church and the ways in which it has special relevancy for each faith community. He will bring not only his diocesan-wide perspective but his relationship with the universal Church. He will dialogue with the people about the ways in which their experience can be effectively integrated into the diocesan mission . This will be the opportunity for the Bishop to communicate his vision and its relevance to specific situations. Prayer will be an essential part of the visit. Since the almost 200 parishes and faith communities of the Diocese have been organized into 35 planning groups, it seems reasonable to organize these pastoral visits by these groups. Thus every two to three years the Bishop will meet with the leadership of the parishes and faith communities within each planning group. This leadership group would typically include the pastor/pastoral administrator/chaplain, key pastoral and administrative staff, and lay leadership. While the kind of dialogue recommended demands a reasonably small group, such a pastoral visit is also an opportunity for the Bishop to teach the members of the parishes and faith communities. We encourage the implementation team to test ways of accomplishing both the interaction with leadership and teaching the entire community. While the logistics of these visits will be assigned to the Bishop’s Priest Secretary, one of the Vicars General should lead the planning for this recommendation. We recommend that a team of parish/faith community representatives and Pastoral Center staff who regularly interact with parishes devise an plan for three pilot visits to be completed by November 1998. Based on the evaluation of that experience, a full implementation plan be developed to begin in January 1999. The fall 1998 pilot visits should test different designs for these pastoral visits. These visits will likely occur over a four-year period rather than the two or three years mentioned in the recommendation. For the near term, the Bishop is meeting with parish and faith community leadership as each planning group completes the pastoral planning process. These visits are providing us with experience in different models of visitation. Meetings of the kind envisioned in the recommendation will likely begin after the pastoral planning process is substantially completed in 2000. A team will be appointed in early 1999 to evaluate the current visits and develop a specific process for the visitations called for in the recommendations. Work has already begun on adjusting the Bishop's work agenda to provide the time required by this recommendation. Responsibility for implementation will be assigned to Fr. Tim Brown, the Bishop's Secretary. Implementation has focused on the Bishop's continuing meetings with the leadership and parishioners of planning groups as they complete their five-year pastoral plans. Twenty planning groups have completed plans that the Bishop has affirmed. Of these 20, the Bishop has met with 14; a vicar general met with one; five meetings with the Bishop are or soon will be scheduled. In addition, during 2000, the Bishop will be present in each of the eleven regions of the Diocese to celebrate the millennium in an evening prayer liturgy. Implementation: Current (November 1999) Implementation continues as above. Bishop has met with 15 planning groups and has another four scheduled through March 2000. The following is the schedule for the Millennium visits and evening prayer.
The Diocese has many training and development programs in ministry areas and St. Bernard’s Institute provides excellent graduate and continuing education programs. However, as parishes and faith communities come to rely on larger staffs of both paid and volunteer workers, as they increasingly share programs and staff, and as the pastoral and ministerial issues become more complex, there is an increasing need to develop the capacity of all staff--priests, deacons, women religious, lay professional, and volunteers--to work together effectively in a team environment. We recommend that there be two initial emphases for training to develop this capacity. Employees at the Pastoral Center and in the parishes and faith communities need a timely and comprehensive orientation to the Diocese of Rochester. This is especially important for the employees of the Pastoral Center because of their role in relating to parishes and faith communities. Our review of focus groups and survey results indicated a lack of clarity about the mission of the Pastoral Center, especially among Pastoral Center employees. The clarification of the mission statement for the Pastoral Center and the creation of an orientation program initially for all employees and subsequently for new employees should receive immediate priority. This new mission statement should be developed in a way which involves Pastoral Center staff effectively, which includes input from parish staff, and which models best practices of teamwork. The orientation should be broadly rather than narrowly focused. In addition to the normal introduction to administrative processes, it should stress the Diocesan Mission, Diocesan Values, Bishop’s Vision Statement, Pastoral Center Mission Statement, expectations for responsiveness, the nature of authority and service in the Church, the challenge of subsidiarity, Diocesan and Pastoral Center structure and organization, and the leadership role of each person. The Diocesan Director of Human Resources should be given the staff responsibility for developing this orientation process in conjunction with a planning team composed of appropriately skilled diocesan and parish staff. Planning should begin immediately so that a pilot program can be completed by December 1998. Full implementation should begin in January 1999. In order to address the geographic diversity of the Diocese, orientation sessions for both Pastoral Center and parish staff should be held at locations throughout the Diocese. The first step in planning for this orientation is the development of a mission statement for the Pastoral Center. This step should be led by the newly appointed Moderator of the Pastoral Center with staff support from Human Resources and/or outside experts. It is expected that the Director of Human Resources and the Moderator will use appropriately sized and constituted teams to develop these plans. Fr. Joe Hart, Moderator of the Pastoral Center and Bill Olsen, Diocesan Director of Human Resources, are taking responsibility for the implementation of the recommendation regarding a new orientation process for all employees. This will include a re-examination of the mission of the Pastoral Center. George White, a consultant, is working with them on this project. A revised mission statement will be completed in early 1999 with a new orientation process to be implemented in the summer of 1999. A team is completing a new orientation program that will be presented in late August 1999. This orientation will also be available on the diocesan web site. The major elements of the orientation are history of the Diocese, recent major initiatives, message from Bishop Clark, structure, staff, and functions of the Pastoral Center. Implementation: Current (November 1999) Orientation team completed its work and presented the newly designed program in August. Work continues on some sections. The orientation program is on the web site. Click here to view it. As the Diocese continues to move toward a greater reliance on collaborative and team ministry, it needs to focus attention on the understandings, abilities, and skills required both by leaders and team members. In an era in which most pastors and ministers were "solo performers," there was an appropriate emphasis on the content area of various ministries. As ministry is increasingly done by teams including volunteers, we need to give appropriate emphasis to the content and process of managing and leading teams. While this is true of all ministry, it is especially true for those in the Pastoral Center whose work involves interaction with parishes and faith communities. These relationships have become increasingly complex. To the extent that organizational authority is not the primary ground of this relationship, we must rely on effective leadership at all levels. We recommend that the Diocese address this leadership issue in a way similar to the way it has addressed the content issue in ministry. We suggest a five step process. First, the Diocese will define its notion of leadership including the understandings, abilities, and skills necessary to exercise this leadership effectively. It is important that this notion of leadership be one which is consistent with the mission and values of the Diocese and with the Bishop’s Vision Statement. The following are some of the skills and abilities which might be included: collaborative leadership, team building, effective communication, discernment of gifts, time management, staff evaluation, project planning and evaluation, assessment of program effectiveness, empowerment, trust building, systems theory, networking and decision making, leadership styles. Second, the Diocese will develop a method of and a process for assessing the level of these understandings, abilities, and skills; the effectiveness of those entrusted with leadership positions; and the potential for leadership among both employees and volunteers. Just as a person’s professional competence in specific ministry areas is assessed, individual staff and their team leaders need to be able to make realistic and pragmatic assessments of current leadership and to identify individuals with outstanding potential for future leadership. Third, the Diocese will develop a training program to introduce all staff and perhaps volunteers to this leadership process. The current training on sexual harassment could be used as a model. Once all employees go through this training, it would be provided for all new employees and perhaps volunteers during their first year of service. Fourth, the Diocese will identify both internal and external training opportunities related to leadership development. A long term commitment to develop the leadership capacity of those who work for the Church requires both an ongoing assessment and the availability of training and development experiences to assist people in taking the next logical developmental steps. The Diocese will identify existing training opportunities which are consistent with the leadership development process. These opportunities may be currently available both within and outside the Diocesan structure, both within and outside the geographic area of the Diocese, and in a variety of formats: in person, Internet, distance education, correspondence, individual mentoring, etc. The Diocese will work with outside providers including SBI to encourage them to develop training and development programs to address components of the leadership process. The Diocese may find it necessary to develop needed training directly in order to provide opportunities that meet its needs and circumstances. All of these resources will be put together into a coherent training process along with a method for staff members and their team leaders to keep track of progress. Fifth, in consultation with their team leaders and supported by the Department of Human Resources, all employees will create individual leadership development plans based on assessments of leadership effectiveness and potential. This will be part of an annual evaluation for both team leaders and team members. The annual evaluations of leadership effectiveness and of improvement activities will be take into account in appointing people to formal leadership roles in the Diocese. Costs for the training sessions would need to be subsidized by the Diocese so that they are accessible/available to all parish and school leadership in the Diocese. The common skills and competencies will pervade all planning and committee work as well as individual work. As a result, Diocesan and parish staffs will be working more effectively toward a common vision. Over time those who exhibit effective collaborative leadership will be the ones called to parish and Diocesan leadership. We think it is important that there be an entity--office, division, institute, etc.--which provides an umbrella function for this leadership training process. A disaggregated approach may leave us no better off than we are today. This is an important issue to be addressed in the implementation planning. The Moderator of the Pastoral Center will appoint a team and a team leader composed of Pastoral Center and parish staff knowledgeable about leadership, evaluation, training design, and the nature of work in the Diocese. This team may be supported by consultants who specialize in leadership development. This team will complete the planning for the five steps outlined above with an initial implementation date of July 1999. Fr. Hart will appoint a team to design the leadership development process called for in this recommendation. The team will be appointed in October and will make a progress report to Fr. Hart by January 1999. It is anticipated that the early phases of a leadership development process will be in place by July 1999. The Leadership Development Process Team has completed its early work and has issued an interim report on critical leadership competencies and associated behaviors. The team will conduct a broad consultation on this report as it begins its work to describe an assessment process and a development process. Regular progress reports and updates are available on the diocesan web site: http://www.dor.org/leadersh.htm. Implementation: Current (November 1999) The team has reviewed the results of the diocesan-wide consultation and is working a revision of the competencies and behaviors document. Work is also underway on the process for assessment and development. The revised material will be posted on the diocesan web site: http://www.dor.org/leadersh.htm Based on focus groups and parish surveys, we identified effective communications as an important improvement opportunity. We recommend that the Diocese move away from seeing communications only as an exchange of information to regarding communications as a strategy of leadership. This will be a continuation of the work already begun under the auspices of the Stewardship Council. There are three steps to this recommendation. A. Identify Key Messages We need to identify the key messages we want to communicate and the key audiences for this communication. The key messages are those which will create both within the Pastoral Center and in the parishes and faith communities a strong and effective culture supporting the Diocesan Mission Statement, Diocesan Values, and the Bishop’s Vision Statement. While much of this work has already been done, the nature of the Church makes it very difficult to identify a few, key priorities which can then be operationalized in a communications plans. Pastoral leaders, professional staff, lay leaders along with communications professionals must be involved in the process of identifying and/or creating these key messages. Ultimately the selection of those messages which will shape our communications strategy will be made by the Bishop. B. Assess Current Communications Resources and Activities All Diocesan communications resources, activities, and programs should be evaluated for the extent to which they achieve the strategic objective described above. This analysis should include at least the following: all activities of the Diocesan Communications Office, The Catholic Courier, communications efforts of individual Pastoral Center offices including Catholic Schools, Catholic Charities, and Vocations. C. Design and Implement a Coordinated Strategy Based on the two previous steps, a comprehensive communications strategy should be developed. This strategy will not only include options for communicating to people but for listening to them as well. In its essence, strategic communication is two-way communication, a conversation organized around key issues and priorities. Such a comprehensive strategy will undoubtedly require more resources than are currently expended by the Diocesan Communications Office. All Diocesan expenditures for communications--current, reallocated, or new--should be coordinated to achieve maximum effectiveness. The Moderator of the Pastoral Center should empower the appropriate staff and volunteer leadership to undertake these recommendations with a deadline of January 1999 for the initial implementation of the newly designed strategic communications program as part of a longer three year plan. The Director of Communications will work with the Communications Committee of the Bishop's Stewardship Council to implement this recommendation. January 1999 is the deadline for the initial implementation of the newly designed strategic communication program as part of a longer three-year plan. Implementation is on hold until a Director of Communications is hired. Implementation: Current (November 1999) Search is underway for a Director of Communications. Interviews have taken place with final candidates. It is important that the structure and operations of the Pastoral Center change to reflect the needs and expectations of parishes and faith communities and to reflect the priorities and issues arising from Supporting Action Plan A. We believe that the Pastoral Center staff should operate as closely as possible to the parishes and faith communities of the Diocese so that the structure of the Pastoral Center reflects the highest priority needs of parishes and so that the human and financial resources of the Pastoral Center are continuously being reallocated to reflect those highest priority needs. We identified the need for more effective linkages between the Pastoral Center and the parishes and faith communities of the Diocese. Information would flow back and forth through these links between the Pastoral Center and the parishes. Based on this freely flowing information, human and financial resources would flow toward the highest priority needs and issues. We believe that Supporting Action Plan A provides the format and structure for these communication and resource links. The almost 200 parishes and faith communities of the Diocese have been organized into 35 planning groups. Over the three years of the process, each group will develop a five year plan which addresses common issues and concerns as well as any configuration issues. Based on the first year of this process, it is clear that groups are effective in identifying needs and concerns shared by members of the planning group and in devising creative responses to these needs and concerns. These final plans also reflect the diversity of the Diocese. We believe that current Pastoral Center resources both financial and human should be reallocated to support Planning Groups in the implementation of their plans. To this end, we make three recommendations. First, current staff resources should be reallocated to support planning groups as they complete five year plans and begin implementation. These persons will have the following responsibilities:
We recommend at least 1.25 full time equivalent staff and no more than three people be reassigned from current duties to support the 12 planning groups which will begin implementation of their five year plans on July 1, 1998. Based on the experience with these groups, additional staff will be reassigned to support the 14 planning groups in the 1998 planning process and the 9 groups in the 1999 process as they begin the implementation of their plans. At least for 1998-99, these staff members will report to the Moderator of the Pastoral Center. The Moderator will devise a process to insure that the information from the planning groups is effectively presented to the Pastoral Center leadership and that appropriate staff, program, and budget changes are made to support the activities of planning groups. Based on an evaluation of the first year’s experience, a different reporting structure may be more effective. However, it is essential to this recommendation that processes be in place which will result in the needs and expectations of the planning groups changing the structure and functions of the Pastoral Center. Since the planning groups are diverse and since their needs and expectations will change, the Pastoral Center must do its work in a way which increasingly focuses on multi-disciplinary teams rather than departments and bureaus and in a way which responds quickly and continuously to change. Second, through the mechanism of the planning groups, the Diocese should increase the amount of financial resources committed to parishes, faith communities, and ministries which do not have the capacity to generate sufficient resources internally. Preference should be given to those parishes, faith communities, and ministries which serve populations which are economically and socially vulnerable. The resources should respond to the needs of these communities within the context of the planning group and its five year plan. Third, in addition to the above recommendation, a methodology should be developed to allocate diocesan resources to planning groups to augment local resources in support of collaborative programs addressing common concerns and issues and diocesan priorities. The exact details of this methodology should be worked out by the Moderator of the Pastoral Center and the staff supporting the planning groups. By July 1, the Moderator of the Pastoral Center should appoint the staff who will be supporting the 12 planning groups beginning implementation in the summer of 1998. By September 1, the Moderator and those staff should have developed a process for communicating implementation needs within the Pastoral Center. By January 1, there should be a process for allocating financial resources relative to the second and third recommendations above. By May 1, the Moderator will have completed an evaluation of the first year’s experience and will have designed an ongoing process for supporting planning group implementation. Bernard Grizard, Director of Pastoral Planning, has been assigned interim responsibility for liaison with planning groups which have completed the planning process and are in implementation. Fr. John Mulligan, Vicar General, is assisting in this liaison. Permanent liaison appointments will be made in early 1999 after an analysis of potential organizational arrangements within the Pastoral Center. A review of the recommendations regarding financial support is underway and it is anticipated that conclusions will be developed in early 1999. In July Fr. Hart appointed Karen Rinefierd and Fr. John Mulligan liaisons to the groups that have completed planning. A grant program has begun to support programs as part of the implementation process. For 1999, $75,000 is available and will be awarded through a proposal process. For more details, see the pastoral planning web site: http://www.dor.org/pasplan.htm. Implementation: Current (November 1999) Appointment of an additional liaison is in process. First round grant awards have been made. New round begins in January 2000. 5. Increase investment in computer and communications technology A. Intranet and Infrastructure for Communications We recommend that the Diocese commit itself to the implementation of a telecommunications system which links each parish, faith community, and Catholic school with the Pastoral Center and all its staff and which links all parishes, faith communities, and Catholic schools with each other. To accomplish this we recommend that the Diocese implement an intranet to which all entities would have dial up access. The intranet will provide parishes with dial up access to a shared e-mail system and to documents and other information normally distributed through regular mail service. One of the distinctive features of an intranet is that members use a web browser to interact with the system and to view and download documents. In addition, parishes and other entities will be able to submit reports and other information electronically through the use of standardized report formats. For example, the annual Notitiae report will be submitted electronically on a form available on the intranet. The Pastoral Center will be able to transmit reports directly to parishes, for example, the reports used in the pastoral planning process. An intranet would be used to distribute general information of the kind now sent through centralized mail. In effect, once the intranet is implemented, centralized mail could be eliminated. Even with an increased use of communications technology, personal communications will continue to be important. To implement an intranet, there must be investment at both the Pastoral Center and the parishes, faith communities, and Catholic schools. At the Pastoral Center, there will be an investment in hardware--intranet server--software, and training both for Information Systems staff and Pastoral Center staff who will be providing information to be accessed through the intranet. Each parish and faith community needs to have a computer capable of connecting to the Diocesan Intranet We estimate that it will require a significant one time investment as well as an ongoing investment for training, maintenance, and necessary upgrading. The diocese must develop a plan to subsidize parishes that are financially unable to afford the hardware and software required for the intranet. B. Standardization of Parish Application Software Once a minimum hardware and software threshold is reached by all parishes, it will be possible to standardize application software. This will include word-processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, communications, web browser, and accounting. This will facilitate effective communication including the sharing of information with the Pastoral Center and among parishes and planning groups. In addition, it will improve the effectiveness of software support and training from Information Systems by reducing the number of applications and operating systems. C. Internet Conferencing Once the hardware, software, and human capacity for the intranet is in place, it will be possible to use the network for additional communications. With the addition of a simple video camera and microphone to a remote computer and somewhat more sophisticated equipment at the Pastoral Center and possibly some other locations throughout the diocese, we will be able to conduct real time, interactive meetings, conferences, and classes. Capability is not enough, however. Leadership will be required to move the entire system to the use of these technologies so that meetings, conferences, and some instruction do not require both the leader and the participants to travel. As implementation of this use begins, leadership at the Pastoral Center will identify meetings and conferences throughout the year which will make use of this technology. D. Television It is important that we make use of the investment already made by the Pastoral Center and several parishes in satellite downlinks. With the use of a mobile uplink, we can transmit video to eight sites throughout the diocese. Interaction between the remote sites and the sending site is audio only. Since there is no investment required to use this technology, it should be pilot tested as soon as possible so its potential for the future can be realistically appraised. E. Distance Learning Telecommunications and computer processing have made possible a growing sophistication in the use of distance learning to provide information and training to staff members outside a central location. In addition to the face to face interaction which builds trust and honest communication, some organizations are finding it effective to use this technology to train field staff on new programs and processes as well as a full range of other skills and understanding. Distance earning is not necessarily real time. Students log into the distance learning server and enter whatever classes for which they have registered. They encounter a set of learning materials, assignments, and discussion questions. They proceed through the class at their own pace. The experience includes interaction with faculty and other learners through e-mail and chat rooms. We recommend that the Diocese implement such an approach, especially for training of volunteers and parish staff. This approach may require a partnership with an outside resource which will provide the software resources. This recommendation should be implemented immediately. Working with a consultant, Information Services should develop an implementation plan for all elements of the recommendation over the next five years with the initial implementation of the intranet to begin in July 1998. Joan Zaia, Director of Information Systems, has begun the implementation of the first recommendation. The Tioga County Planning Group has been selected as a test site and should begin participation in January 1999. Plans for upgrading both Pastoral Center and parish/faith community computer and communications resources are being developed and the first phase will be implemented during the 1999 fiscal year. Announcements of computing hardware and software standards will be made during the fall 1998. A Diocesan Intranet based on Lotus Notes was implemented in December 1998. As part of that process, an Intranet server was installed in the Pastoral Center along with upgraded software: Lotus Notes and Office 97. Implementation began in parishes in January 1999. By the beginning of August, 55 parishes have had upgraded hardware and required software installed. Staff training and orientation is included in this process. Beginning in early 1999, Central Mail was being distributed electronically to those parishes with access to the Intranet. Hard copy Central Mail should be eliminated by the end of 2000. Implementation: Current (November 1999) As of the beginning of November, 77 parishes and all 55 Catholic schools are up and running on the Intranet. Implementation continues with the installation of hardware and software and the training of parish staffs. All parishes should be active on the Intranet by April 2000. It has not been possible nor would it have been wise for us to have developed specific implementation plans for our recommendations. We are convinced of the directions in which the Pastoral Center and the diocese should move in order to support parishes and faith communities more effectively. As the Bishop accepts one or more of our recommendations, he may find it useful to appoint a qualified and experienced team to create the best method to implement each recommendation by a specific date. After the bishop has acted on our recommendations, the planning effort needs to focus on how, not whether to move in these directions. Although our focus was on the organization and structure of the Pastoral Center, we encountered important issues which were not within that focus. We feel it important to communicate these. First, the allocation of financial resources within the Diocese and its ministries is vitally important. While we briefly mention the need to use planning groups as a way to structure the flow of resources from the Pastoral Center to parishes, faith communities, and ministries and made particular mention of the need for greater support for parishes, faith communities, and ministries serving the poor, we feel this is a larger issue than simply an organizational and functional one. What claim do the poor have on the resources of the Diocese? Do we feel that the current levels of support are consistent with that claim? If not, what are the ways in which we will change our resource allocation processes and criteria to achieve that consistency? Based on our brief and preliminary view, our conclusion is that our current levels of support are not consistent with our ideals. We believe these are important questions which require a careful and focused analysis. Second, in our attempts to relate the Pastoral Center more closely to the needs and issues of parishes, we discovered that the governance and structure of the Diocese has grown in response to specific needs rather than in a coordinated fashion. To a landscape composed of regions, Regional Coordinators, and Regional Synod Coordinators, the Diocese has recently added Planning Groups. One of our draft proposals had called for the creation of Parish Consultants which further confused the scene. Add to all this, the preliminary discussions of something like a Diocesan Pastoral Council added to the Stewardship Council and the Priests’ Council, and the result is needless complexity and confusion. It is clear to us that the diocese needs to study its governance and create a simplified, coherent structure to replace the current multiple levels and positions. Third, the implementation of the five recommendations presented in this report will require a significant financial investment. While charitable giving to the diocese has grown dramatically in the last decade, such support must increase to even higher levels if we hope to implement these recommendations in a quality and substantive fashion. The case for major, special, and annual gift support must be made in a compelling, coherent way. In particular, the Thanks Giving Appeal must grow faster than the annual rate of increase -- about 3% -- it now experiences. Whatever the amount actually needed to fund these initiatives, the current practice of raising "a little more than last year" will not yield the necessary revenues. To succeed, we must forge a new and energetic development partnership among diocesan, parish and regional leadership. The team wishes to thank all those who provided input and assistance to us in this challenging assignment. For almost nine months we worked hard to understand the issues and to invent creative responses to them. At times, the answers appeared obvious and easy. This became a signal to us that we had not yet completely understood the problem or issue. We made many draft recommendations and responses. We benefited greatly from the reactions of Pastoral Center staff, parish staff, pastors, and lay leaders. We realize that it was not always easy to go through these interim reports. The honest and direct reactions we received helped us focus and refine our final recommendations. Finally we want to thank Bishop Clark who made clear in so many ways that he wanted us to use our best judgment and wisdom in crafting our recommendations. His empowering leadership is a model for all us as we enter the new millennium.
The team decided to use a scenario planning process in its work. It designed a process with nine steps. Information The team gathered and reviewed information relevant to its task. It began with a review of the Diocesan Mission Statement, Diocesan Values, and the Bishop’s Vision Statement. It reviewed summary information about the current organization and work of the Pastoral Center along with several studies of the Pastoral Center which had been completed in the recent past. It studied information from other organizations. It looked for other dioceses which had engaged in similar studies and was especially alert to those which seemed to be taking innovative approaches. It also gather information on non-church organizations. Through focus groups and written surveys, it gathered information from parish leadership and Pastoral Center employees. Three focus groups were held for Pastoral Center employees and five for leaders of parishes and faith communities. In addition to the valuable information provided by these sessions, the focus group information was used to construct written surveys with the assistance of the Center for Governmental Research. All employees of the Pastoral Center were given the opportunity to complete surveys and 50 percent did so. A total of 2000 parish/faith community surveys were distributed and resulted in a 25 percent return. Identification of Major Issues Based on the above information and the personal and professional experience of the team members, the team identified the major issues facing parishes and faith communities and the major issues facing the employees of the Pastoral Center. Bedrock Assumptions The team then identified "drivers" in our social, economic, political , technological, and ecclesial environment. Drivers are the long term forces which shape the present and near term (five to ten year) future. Drivers lie beneath the everyday crises that typically occupy our minds. They are more thematic than specific, more strategic than tactical. They grow out of the past and extend into the future. It is necessary to step back from the day-to-day reality in order to view the world at a level of generalization which would provide a glimpse of these larger forces. Once the team identified a multitude of potential drivers, it used an affinity diagram process to group and combine them. Through an iterative process of rating and discussion, the team identified four drivers which it concluded would be a part of our near term future. It called these bedrock assumptions, the forces which would be present within any possible future scenario. Scenarios Through a similar process of rating and discussion, the team then identified three scenarios based on driving factors which it felt were critically important although there was uncertainty about the degree to which they would be present in the future. Potential Responses Potential responses to parish and Pastoral Center issues were developed within each scenario in ways which reflected the effect of the drivers of each scenario. Reaction In December, the team issued Supporting Action Plan B: Scenario Planning Progress Report: Review and Reaction Draft. Members of the team conducted nine focus groups throughout the Diocese to collect reaction and comment to its work to date. These focus groups included parish leadership, Pastoral Center employees, Regional Coordinators, Stewardship Council Executive Committee, and others. Integration Based on the reactions gathered in the focus groups, the team developed an integrated set of recommendations along with an implementation timetable and resource requirements. General Reaction The draft recommendations are being made available throughout the diocese for a two week reaction period. Final Recommendations The team made its final recommendations to the Bishop on April 28, 1998
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