St. Ambrose students to attend march

MADISON -- For the third year in a row, some of the many faces in the crowd at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., will be students from St. Ambrose Academy in Madison.

The students will be busing to Washington, D.C., as one of the three groups attending with Pro-Life Wisconsin, to take part in the 35th annual march, held on Tuesday, Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.

To raise funds, students sponsored an All Saints Day/Halloween, freewill-donation event, inviting local homeschool groups and ConQuest and Dead Theologians Society families.

Among other activities, St. Ambrose students dressed up as saints and distributed candy on a "Saints Trail" to all the children who participated in a Saints Costume Party. They raised more than $1,600 at the event to help cover the expenses of the trip.   Full story ...

Diocesan Criteria and Parish Accountability

In our last article we talked about two components of the Trusting in the Spirit implementation project, that is, the assumptions and the goals.

	Good-faith criteria The following criteria help the Implementation Commission to somewhat objectively guide their interpretation of the work that is being done by each cluster and parish. 1 Parish Clusters will demonstrate good faith efforts in developing plans to implement Bishop Morlino's Cluster Directives according to appropriate timelines and guidance from Diocesan offices. 2 Parish Clusters will describe their plans to implement the General Directives of the Bishop according to appropriate timelines and guidance from Diocesan offices. 3 Plans will show evidence of due diligence with the level of detail called for on the Annual Cluster Implementation Plan forms. 4 The Annual Cluster Implementation Report, which shows the accomplishments of Trusting in the Spirit, will confirm what has been done and the difference the implementation of the Directives is making in each cluster. 5 The Annual Cluster Implementation Plans will show evidence of cooperative on-going planning for implementation by representatives of all members of the cluster. 6 Where obstacles and/or struggles have prevented the implementation plan from moving forward, the cluster will have sought the assistance of the Diocesan offices.
	Training schedule: • Breaking News (front page) -- Jan. 17 Trusting in the Spirit sessions rescheduled • Trusting in the Spirit training (schedule)

When working on a big project, it is important to clearly state what the assumptions are that you are working under. These assumptions, along with your plan and hard work, set you up to achieve your goals, which, in the end, is really the whole point of the project. Clearly knowing and stating your assumptions and goals goes a long way toward ensuring success in any project, whether the project is personal or community based.

One could, and probably will ask, "What defines success?" In this age of relativism, it is extremely important that we define success and, for the sake of Christian justice, ensure that everybody is operating under the same set of guidelines. The Diocesan Criteria is what the Implementation Commission will use, along with the Bishop's Goals, to assess each cluster's progress in following the Bishop's Directives.

The process of communicating the cluster's progress falls under Parish Accountability and, along with the Diocesan Criteria, acts as additional assumptions that everyone is working under.

However, a difference is that the assumptions and criteria are somewhat static; that is, they are not expected to change over the next five to 10 years. They are the best thinking of the Implementation Commission at this time and are set to allow for the Diocese to grow and mature. As for the process of Parish Accountability, like all good processes, they are adapted over time to accommodate those situations and issues that arise in a spirit of continuous improvement.

Judging success

So what are the criteria or benchmarks that the Implementation Commission will use to judge success and thus help clusters achieve their goals in line with the Bishop's Directives?

Full story ...