On July 1, 2023, Into the Deep, the Diocese of Madison’s multi-year, comprehensive, strategic planning process, began Phase One.
On that date, the 102 parishes in the diocese were joined together into 30 pastorates or groupings of parishes under the leadership of newly-formed priest teams.
Prior to the launch of Into the Deep, the diocese enlisted the services of PartnersEdge, an experienced research and consulting firm, to assess the current situation across the 11 counties that make up the Diocese of Madison.
The report revealed that declines in registered parishioners, Mass attendance, baptisms, weddings, faith formation enrollment, and giving had created significant challenges for parishes across the board.
An aging Catholic population and a decline in youth engagement raised concerns that even greater declines were on the horizon.
Faced with this reality, Bishop Hying sought feedback from priests and lay faithful and created a task force to assess the situation and create a plan to improve the health and future vitality of the Church.
The resulting Into the Deep model brought several parishes together under a single parochial administrator, a unification approach taken by several other dioceses.
This method of reorganization places the planning and decision-making at the local level so that each pastorate can develop solutions appropriate to their people, churches, schools, and communities.
January 1 marked the six-month mark of Into the Deep, allowing us the opportunity to reflect on our progress so far.
Evaluating our progress
Evaluation of the Into the Deep process and communication between the pastorates and diocese have occurred in several ways through the first six months of the initiative.
In addition to ongoing calls and meetings with individual priests, Bishop Hying met with the priest teams in each pastorate to learn how the process was going, identify needs, and offer support.
Fr. Tait Schroeder, director of Into the Deep implementation, conducted listening sessions in each pastorate to hear from lay representatives.
The Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Madison was presented with a full proposal on parish mergers in December.
Diocesan offices, especially Parish Administrative Services, Human Resources, Evangelization and Catechesis, Schools, and Communications have assisted parochial administrators and parish staff members with transitions and questions.
Changes
The beginning of Phase One on July 1 brought two primary changes to most parishes: The change of priest teams, and new Mass times.
Most parishes received a new parochial administrator, and parishes that previously had only one priest now have a priest team.
Many parishes have changed their Mass schedules to meet two guiding goals of Into the Deep: To have 50 percent of Masses at least 50 percent full and to have priests celebrate no more than three Masses per weekend.
Some pastorates have begun to combine administratively, restructuring their staff to better serve the needs of a larger parishioner base and unifying their staffing and programming resources to serve one shared mission.
Some pastorates have started blending programs such as faith formation to that same end.
Challenges
The changes to parish structures and dynamics have, as mentioned above, led to the reorganization of staff.
Some staff have retired or moved on to new positions as changes were implemented.
New positions have been created to meet parish needs, which has presented both a challenge and an opportunity to priests and parish leadership teams.
Some priests must now travel greater distances to celebrate Mass.
In some places, the faithful have had to adjust to new Mass times, or they must now travel greater distances to attend Mass.
The addition of new people into parish families also means that it is taking more time for priests and parishioners to get to know each other.
Questions have been raised about how combining parishes will affect parish giving, but with this comes the reminder that the Body of Christ includes all believers and that our generosity and giving must extend beyond our immediate circle.
Renewed hope
As challenging as these changes have been, we are already seeing many signs of renewed energy and enthusiasm within our diocese.
Sunday Mass attendance has grown by more than four percent between 2022 and 2023, and this is despite the reduced number of Masses.
Our data from October 2023 shows that more than 7,000 more people attended Sunday Mass in the diocese compared to October 2022.
We have received strong feedback on the positive impact of these fuller Masses; people feel encouraged and invigorated as they see fuller pews and hear more voices singing and making the responses.
Parishioners are excited about all the opportunities that are now available to them as parishes combine their resources and manpower.
Pastorates have hosted events such as faith formation nights, movie nights, talks, socials, and Eucharistic processions in an effort to bring their churches together, and the response to these has been overwhelmingly positive.
In the fall of 2023, the diocese held its first-ever Eucharistic Congress.
The more than 1,200 people who attended found the event transformative and have expressed a deeper desire to know Jesus in the Eucharist and to share Him with others.
Combined youth programs have led to fuller youth events with more robust content and activities, allowing teens to learn and grow in friendship with more of their peers.
Registration numbers for next month’s Frassati Fest, an annual event for high school teens, are also up compared to last year.
Priests are now serving together and in many cases living in community, allowing for more collaboration and fraternity among them. And since parish tasks are now being shared among a team of priests, they are now able to serve according to their gifts and talents.
The faithful of the Diocese of Madison have all felt the impact of the changes that Into the Deep has presented.
As you can see, these changes are producing abundant fruit, and there is much reason to rejoice and to hope!
We are laying a foundation for a stronger future in our diocese, where we are better equipped to share the Good News with ever more people and to continue building up the Body of Christ here in southwest Wisconsin for decades to come.