Set Ablaze continues to renew and deepen the life of faith in our diocese

By Dr. Chris Burgwald

Three years ago this month, our diocese was officially restructured as part of the Set Ablaze planning initiative: our 117 parishes were grouped into 25 pastorates, each led by a pastor and (in most cases) at least one parochial vicar. As with any effort with this magnitude of change, it’s worth taking a step back and reminding ourselves about the “why” and the “what” behind Set Ablaze and this restructuring, as well as asking, “What now?”

With regard to the “why,” Bishop DeGrood explicitly addressed this question in his 2022 pastoral letter, “Set Ablaze: Unleash the Fire of the Holy Spirit.” In that letter—which is worth re-reading—Bishop DeGrood noted that “registered households of Catholics in our diocese have decreased six percent since 2010, while the general population in eastern South Dakota grew 12 percent. In that same period, total Sunday Mass attendance has decreased 26.1 percent.” In other words, the actual number of Catholics in eastern South Dakota declined, while the total population saw significant growth; and among those fewer Catholics, fewer of them are regularly participating in the central ritual of our faith: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Because of this, Bishop DeGrood went on to write, “As Catholics, we need a reawakening—a renewal and intensification of living our faith in the Church and the world. It is time to rise from our slumber, from any complacency, fear, distractions, ungodly cultural values or indifference so the grace of God in us can be unleashed.”

Primary aim

There are several aims or goals for Set Ablaze, but that quote goes to the heart of it: To awaken and intensify our faith and how we live it out in our daily lives. More specifically, the primary aim of Set Ablaze is to advance the diocesan vision: a focused, sustained and intentional effort to build a culture of Lifelong Catholic Missionary Discipleship Through God’s Love in our diocese. That is the paramount purpose for the restructuring that took place three years ago and everything that has followed in its wake.

To be sure, there can be many reasons a diocese would undergo such a restructuring, and many dioceses across our country are doing so for just such a variety of reasons. And some of those reasons do apply here in eastern South Dakota as well. But we must never lose sight of the fact that the advancement of the diocesan vision is at the heart of this entire process.

Set Ablaze, in other words, is about deepening our purpose and mission as Catholics: To grow closer to Jesus ourselves (discipleship), to do our part to help others do the same (missionary), and to do so no matter our age or state of life (lifelong), according to the fullness of the riches God has bestowed upon us in our Church (Catholic), so that all of us might come to know the depth and breadth of God’s love for each of us in an ever deeper way (through God’s love).

Other aims

With that in mind, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the other aims of Set Ablaze:

1. To maximize the complementarity of priestly gifts:
   By moving from our previous structure to this one, the hope is that we are better able to assign priests so they are each able to bring their unique gifts to bear on their respective ministries.

2. To scale resources so each pastorate is appropriately staffed and equipped for maximum fruitfulness:
   By moving to a pastorate model, we are more easily able to hire highly skilled laity to use their own proper gifts for the work of the pastorate; specifically, our pastorates now have individuals taking on the responsibility of facilities management, discipleship and evangelization, business management and communications.
   In the prior model, most of our parishes could not afford to support these kinds of positions.Father Andrew Dickinson, vicar general for Set Ablaze and pastor of the parishes in the St. Francis of Assisi Pastorate, said, “Having empowered lay staff, like our pastorate facilities manager, is a great blessing. As a priest and pastor, I only have so much attention, which I want to direct towards emerging pastoral situations of our families and the sacraments. My facilities manager does the ‘leg work’ of keeping up the facility and providing me concise updates and bringing me in for key decisions. Our parishes are happy, too, that these can keep going.”

3. Finally, to promote the proper co-responsibility of the laity:
   Every one of the baptized has a responsibility for the life and mission of the Church to make disciples of all nations, whether that be by taking a staff position in one of our pastorates or simply by living out the diocesan vision amongst family and friends. Regardless, Bishop DeGrood’s desire is that each of us recognize Jesus’ call to participate in the life of our parish, our pastorate and our diocese, according to the gifts we’ve received from the Lord himself.

Not the end

“I am looking forward to a fruitful relationship among my parish councils and my pastorate council,” said Father Dickinson. “This relationship will empower our laity to both maintain the good things we have going while finding new ways to increase our connection with the lost and wandering members of Christ’s flock and even those who do not yet know his voice.”

These aims are the answer to the question, “Why Set Ablaze?”, and it’s important to bear them in mind, because they reveal a crucial point: Set Ablaze was not “done” or completed in July of 2023; that restructuring was in many ways only the beginning.

Consider an automobile factory as an example. The sheer fact of building a factory to make cars, trucks and SUVs is a monumental undertaking. And yet, building the factory is not its own aim or purpose: The purpose of the factory is not merely to exist, but is to produce automobiles. And even within the factory, local managers and machinists might find ways to improve the art of production.

Similarly, the work of restructuring our diocese into 25 pastorates and everything that went along with that restructuring was not the goal; it was akin to the building of the factory. The four aims listed above are the Set Ablaze version of making cars—they are the actual purpose of Set Ablaze.

When we recognize that, we understand that the restructuring that took place three years ago was not the conclusion of Set Ablaze but was the conclusion of the first phase of Set Ablaze, just like the conclusion of the building of a car factory.

Seeking renewal

These aims, then, are the “why” of Set Ablaze. But what about the “what”? In other words, what is the focus for the renewal Set Ablaze seeks to accomplish? The answer here is what are called the “pillars” of Set Ablaze, that is, the pillars of the life of a Catholic community: worship, discipleship and evangelization, community, service and—for those pastorates that have one—Catholic schools. In order for a Catholic community of any size, from an individual person to a parish, pastorate or diocese, to flourish, it must be attentive to these “pillars” of Catholic life.

1. Worship
   The primary purpose of the Christian life is to give worship to God who alone is worthy as creator and savior of the world. Padre Pio said, “It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass.” Our life of worship in the Church’s liturgy matters to the wellbeing of the world and the success of our mission.

2. Discipleship and evangelization 
   Among the final words of our Lord was the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” These words are especially appropriate to our own age where we see not only declining Church participation but an increase of dissatisfaction with life or a loss of meaning.

   “Last year our pastorate [St. Martin of Tours] decided that one of our goals for discipleship and evangelization would be to bring in a nationally known speaker,” Father Tom Anderson, pastor of the parishes in the St. Martin of Tours Pastorate, said. “So, working with Mount Marty University and even the parishes in Nebraska, our parishioners worked for months to invite and host Chris Stefanik. When the evening came, it was such a blessing to see the people, young and old, from all over our pastorate (and a 70-mile radius) coming together to rejoice in Christ and be inspired. Although Chris Stefanik was amazing, I think the biggest blessing we received was the sense of being part of a bigger Church.”

3. Community
   It is not new to say that our contemporary world is more connected than ever through technology, but that we report greater loneliness than ever. Bishop DeGrood desires that our parishes and people become places of intentional community where people are known, loved and, when absent, missed! How many people in our state live an existence where they wonder, “Would anyone know if I was gone?”Authentic Christian community is fulfilling but also open to more life, as modeled by the family.

4. Service
   From the earliest days of the faith, it has been said of Christians: “See how they love one another!” (Tertullian, “Apologia”) In this increasingly lonely world, our parishes must be places where love of God spills out into love of neighbor. Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan reminds us that our neighbor is defined not by those whom we like or are near to us or share some common feature, rather our neighbor is whomever is in need.

5. Catholic schools
   Throughout history, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of forming the future. In our diocese, the vision for our Catholic schools is that they might provide authentically Catholic education as an evangelizing mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News and be a place to encounter the living God, who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.

   The pillars of Set Ablaze, then, help us to understand better the “what” behind this planning process. And that leads us to our final question, “What now?”

Looking ahead

As was indicated earlier, the restructuring of our diocese three years ago was like the completion of the building of a car factory, and the work we’ve been undertaking since then has been akin to turning the factory on. As the assembly line starts to roll, it’s to be expected that there will be “bumps and bruises” along the way, processes that need to be adjusted, fine-tuning that needs to happen, and so on.

Similarly, we’ve been learning a lot as we’ve started to live within this new structure; like a car factory, we’re learning what needs to be adjusted and fine-tuned. And our metaphor helps to answer the question, “What now?” Just as an automobile factory has to be built and fine-tuned, and only then is ready to move into full production, so, too, Set Ablaze. Once the fine-tuning is done, “full-speed fruit-bearing” is ready to occur.

In other words, we are nearing the point at which this new structure is ready to accomplish the purpose for which it was designed: For Set Ablaze and its aims, pillars and structures to renew and deepen the life of faith in our diocese.

What, then, ought we to do? First, continue to pray for the Set Ablaze process and for the renewal for which we are undertaking it; second, pray to grow closer in your own relationship with God the Father, through Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit; and third, pray to know what part you are called to take to help unleash the fire of the Holy Spirit in eastern South Dakota, that we might all be set ablaze by the fire of God’s love.