Since 2023, we as a diocese have been working together to reorganize and re-energize our parishes through the Set Ablaze pastoral planning initiative. It’s been challenging and has brought sadness to some who may not have Mass at their parish any longer, but God is pouring his love into the hearts of our people as we strive to build lifelong Catholic missionary disciples.
Our work and Set Ablaze are not over! Before we talk about what’s next, let’s recap where we’ve been.
We are in an apostolic age. The result of this is a downward trend in the practice of the Catholic faith, particularly in Mass attendance, reception of the sacraments and priestly ordinations.
Through Set Ablaze, God calls us at this time to not be complacent, to be invested in our relationship with him, and to be involved in our local faith community. In short, the Holy Spirit is ready to set us ablaze with the fire of his love. Thus, the name of our pastoral planning took shape: “Set Ablaze: Unleash the Fire of the Holy Spirit,” which is captured in Acts 1:8, “[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes.”
As Set Ablaze has been implemented and pastorates were formed to organize our parishes into groups, four purposes, or aims, were developed to help pastors and their teams plan for success and spiritual growth each year. Those aims are: Build a culture of Lifelong Catholic Missionary Discipleship Through God’s Love, maximize the complementarity of priestly gifts, scale resources so each pastorate is appropriately staffed and equipped for success, and promote the proper co-responsibility of the laity.
With these purposes in mind, pastors were asked to get insights from parish leaders and parishioners and develop a pastoral plan based on the four aims of Set Ablaze, taking into consideration these four pillars of parish life: worship, discipleship and evangelization, community, and service. All of these uniquely and successfully contributed at the pastorate level to the purposes and success of Set Ablaze.
In addition, pastorates created new positions within their staff or volunteers that directly impacted the ability of priests to employ their gifts and the success of building up one or more of the pillars. These new positions uniquely highlighted the co-responsibility of the laity in the life of the pastorate.
Today, we are in the midst of this process, and I want to reaffirm our commitment to a prosperous future for our diocese to the degree we all turn to the Lord to embrace the call of missionary discipleship and active engagement in the pastoral plans of your parishes. Thanks to the hard work of clergy, consecrated and laity who have stepped into new roles and found new ways to live as Catholic missionary disciples, we are beginning to see the first fruits of Set Ablaze. I’ve heard stories from pastorates throughout the diocese highlighting successful efforts to build up one or more of the pillars.
Despite these stories, the process and some decisions have been hard on parishioners, staff and clergy. For example, some pastorates have chosen to adjust Mass times while others no longer have Sunday Mass at their home parish. While this is difficult, I hope and pray it provides an opportunity for us to lift up our fellow brothers and sisters and welcome them into a new community with open arms. It is indeed our call as part of God’s family to welcome them and love them with the love of God.
Many have asked: What does this process look like going forward? I’ve included a timeline that will help illustrate where we are in the Set Ablaze process. Change can be difficult and it should be navigated carefully. Therefore, pastorates will be submitting yearly proposals to highlight their vision for the future and what they’ve found fruitful so far. You’ll see more about the continued efforts of Set Ablaze in both The Bishop’s Bulletin and the Against the Current email newsletter in the coming months.
