Stewards for Tomorrow - Pastoral Planning Update

The first round of pastoral planning meetings among priests in the seventeen deaneries of the Archdiocese is complete. The outcomes from these meetings are draft recommendations for restructuring each deanery through a comprehensive design of our parishes and schools. Priests also took time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their recommendations in preparation for sharing their results with select members of their respective congregations. Pastors have been asked to choose 4-6 people in their parish(es) to provide input and consultation in this phase as we move forward. Those chosen may meet at a parish level with their pastors and at some point, in a large-group session with other parish representatives from the deanery to review the draft recommendations and then determine what they feel are the strengths & benefits of the initial plan, as well as the weaknesses & concerns that they see. All of this information from the priests and parishioners will then be synthesized and developed into a FIRST DRAFT MODEL for Parishes and Schools of the Archdiocese, for review by the Office for Pastoral Planning. Subsequently, priests and parishioners will continue to consult, meet, review and refine restructuring recommendations throughout the remainder of 2016. Please be assured that whatever rumors you might have heard, NO DECISIONS REGARDING PARISH AND SCHOOL COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN (OPENINGS, CLOSINGS, MERGINGS OR NEW CONSTRUCTION) HAVE BEEN MADE, NOR WILL BE MADE, UNTIL AFTER MANY ROUNDS AND LEVELS OF CONSULTATION AND INDEED NOT BEFORE THE 1^ST QUARTER OF 2017 AT THE VERY EARLIEST. Please consult the Office of Pastoral Planning page on our Archdiocesan website: http://archdioceseofhartford.org/office-of-pastoral-planning/, for on-going “Stewards for Tomorrow” pastoral planning progress.