In Matthew 16, we hear Simon, son of Jonah, declare that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Because of this profession of faith, Jesus gives Simon a new name — Peter, the rock of faith on which Christ would build his Church.
It took some time before Simon the Fisherman could come to make this profound expression of faith in Jesus, but when he did, he received a new identity from the Lord propelling him to become the Prince of the Apostles and to eventually give his life as a martyr for the Lord in Rome.
This new name signified a new identity. Just as St. Peter received a new name, our pastorates have also received new names, which Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison is pleased to announce in this edition of the Catholic Herald.
Looking at the process
But like St. Peter, it might be good to reflect on where we have come from in the Into the Deep process before diving into our new names.
An important milestone in our Into the Deep process came on December 14 of last year, when Bishop Hying met with the Diocesan Presbyteral Council to discuss each pastorate individually.
In the meeting, insights given by the parochial administrators, parochial vicars, and a focus group of various lay leaders from each pastorate were presented to the bishop and the members of the Presbyteral Council.
While the challenges of our Into the Deep plan were discussed, the priest members of the council recommended that the majority of the proposed pastorates be accepted as presented in the maps published in March of last year.
There were at least three areas that the priests recommended to Bishop Hying for further consultation and discussion.
The first area discussed was a proposed modification of the parish boundaries of our new cathedral, St. Bernard in Madison (Pastorate 30), so that the parishes making up Pastorate 23 (St. Dennis and St. Peter in Madison) would connect geographically.
The second area that was discussed involved St. Mary, Help of Christians Parish in Sullivan.
A number of the members of the Presbyteral Council asked whether it would be more appropriate to move the parish from Pastorate 16 to Pastorate 14, due to historical connections with other parishes and geographical considerations where the people tend to gravitate more towards Pastorate 14.
A final area of discussion centered on how Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison (Pastorate 27) fit in with other neighboring parishes.
Based on these concerns, some additional meetings were held with priests and focus groups in January and February.
The Presbyteral Council met again with Bishop Hying on March 5 to give final recommendations.
The biggest changes coming from that meeting were that the parish boundaries of St. Bernard would be modified and that St. Mary, Help of Christians, would be transferred to Pastorate 14, effective on July 1.
Given the departure of the Dominicans from Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, it was also suggested to Bishop Hying that Pastorates 21 (Queen of Peace and St. Thomas Aquinas in Madison) and 27 (Blessed Sacrament) wait on any merger discussions so that more planning can be done.
New names and identities
Just as we need to know Simon’s call on the Sea of Galilee and his following Jesus before we can appreciate his new name and identity as Peter, we can now appreciate the new names given to the pastorates following the Into the Deep process conducted up to this point.
As you will recall, the pastorates all held some sort of process to gather names to present to the Bishop for his decision.
The parochial administrators of pastorates that are slated to eventually merge submitted a list of the top three names to the bishop along with a description of the process used to select the names and the rationale for choosing the names.
The bishop wanted to look at all of the names together so that he could ensure that there were no duplicates and that the names were fitting to the local character of each pastorate.
The bishop tried to choose the top choice of the names submitted; however, he sometimes had to choose others on the list or even other options not in the top three names due to duplications and the naming criteria he provided.
The new name replaces the pastorate number used to designate each grouping of individual parishes.
While the name is only provisional until such time as a canonical decree of merger is issued, it can be used in a number of ways, such as on websites, bulletins, social media, etc.
More permanent or official names would not be changed until the merger decrees are issued.
It is also important to note that the churches do not change their dedication name — the new name applies only to the pastorate grouping.
Like St. Peter, may the new pastorate names help us to rejoice in our new identity and spur us on to cast Into the Deep to become fishers of men and women, bringing them to know and love the Lord Jesus!