Today we find ourselves on the threshold of the month of June, which has been traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart being celebrated on June 12th.  The image of Christ’s Sacred Heart is probably one familiar to most of us – His heart is depicted as pierced with the crown of thorns and on fire.  It is an image which uses the physical representation of His Heart to remind us of God’s love and mercy.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart has been a popular devotion in the Church since a series of revelations were given to St. Margaret Mary.  During those revelations, Christ asked that His Sacred Heart be a constant reminder to His disciples of the suffering He endured, as well as the love that He has for all of us, especially those who are trapped in their own sinfulness.  St. Margaret Mary also spoke of what has become known as the First Friday Devotion.  This devotion is centered on the Mass and its celebration on the First Friday of every month.  If one goes to Mass on nine consecutive First Fridays and receives the Eucharist, God promises certain grace would arise in the lives and hearts of the faithful.

For those parishioners of St. Mary’s who have been here long enough to remember, it was often the case that the promises Christ gave to St. Margaret Mary would be printed in our parish bulletin, especially during the month of June, which is particularly set aside in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Here are those promises as they appeared in our parish bulletin for many years:

PROMISES OF OUR LORD TO BLESSED MARGARET MARY

In favor of those devoted to His Sacred Heart

1. I will give them all graces necessary for their state in life.
2. I will establish peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their difficulties.
4. I will be their secure refuge during life and more especially at the hour of death.
5. I will shower down abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart a Source and boundless Ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless the houses in which the picture of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give the priest the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, and they shall never be effaced therefrom.
12. I will grant the grace of final repentance to all those who shall communicate on first Friday, nine months consecutively.  They shall not die in mortal sin, nor without having received the last Sacraments, for My Divine Heart will become their secure refuge at the last moment.

Last week, we took a look at the Archdiocesan Planning Process and its resulting 2020 Plan which lays out a new structure of parishes working together as “clusters” of parishes under the guidance of a single pastor.  As I pointed out, the vast majority of the parishes in the Archdiocese will be working under this new arrangement.  Parishes which are “clustered” together will not be merged into a single parish, but will instead maintain their separate parish identity while being served by the same priest and, ideally, working together in their communities for the advancement of the Gospel.

This week I’d like to take a look at what the 2020 Plan means for St. Mary’s Visitation Parish.  In the 2020 Plan, St. Mary’s will be clustered with St. Joseph’s Parish in Wauwatosa.  The plan, furthermore, calls for one priest to be shared between the two parishes.  This will be a significant change for St. Mary’s, as up until 2009, St. Mary’s was ministered to by two full-time priests.  Within the next two – five years, in all likelihood, St. Mary’s will be ministered to by one half-time priest, the other part of his ministry being shared with St. Joseph’s.  This will obviously result in some changes and shifting of priestly ministry here at St. Mary’s which I will explore briefly in next weekend’s article, but suffice it to say this is a change that will happen and needs to be prepared for and, hopefully, accepted with grace, openness, courage and trust.

I want to reiterate again, that this sharing of one priest between St. Mary’s Visitation and St. Joseph’s does NOT mean that the parishes will merge to become one parish – they will continue to be two parishes.  However, it does mean that the doors will be opened for a mutual sharing in the mission of the Church, working together for a shared goal.  The main change that will face us initially is simply the shared nature of having one priest ministering at both parishes, what else may unfold after that will be guided by the Holy Spirit, the Archdiocese and our respective parish staffs, trustees and Pastoral Councils. 

This may be a good time to speak about the Pastoral Council since their role in the unfolding of the 2020 Plan and the Archdiocesan Synod implementation will be key.  You may recall that for a number of years each parish had what was known as a Parish Council.  A couple of years ago, the Archbishop asked that parishes transition Parish Councils into Pastoral Councils.  The resulting change means that a Pastoral Council is charged with helping the pastor / administrator of the parish to identify goals and to vision for the future of the parish.  The Pastoral Council serves as an advisory group to the pastor / administrator and, obviously, the 2020 Plan will call for the advice and wisdom of the Pastoral Council as we move through this time of transition.  The current Pastoral Council is headed by Mr. Howard Pryor, Chair, and also includes Mr. Jim Carrig, Mr. Jim Olson, Mrs. Ann Rauh, Mrs. Jean Kelly, Mr. David Urbanski, Mr. Joe Puchner, and Mrs. Liz Pesci.  The ex officio members are myself and our two parish trustees, Mr. Ignatius Smetek and Mr. Gordon Giampietro.  Minutes from the Pastoral Council are available at the Rectory for anyone who would be interested.  This is also a good time to thank them for their continued service, wisdom and dedication.  They will be a key component of the unfolding of the 2020 Plan for St. Mary’s. 

While moving into a new model of parish collaboration, it is good to keep in mind that while, up to this point, St. Mary’s Visitation and St. Joseph’s have been neighbors, the new 2020 Plan calls for us to be even more than neighbors or even friends, but to truly be siblings, sharing a common bond which is not based on blood, but on something far more important and enduring, the bond of our mutual Catholic Faith.      

In my last article, I took some time to discuss the Archdiocesan Planning Process and the demographic changes which are underlying this process.  This weekend I want to discuss the first fruits of that planning process, the Archdiocesan 2020 Plan. 

As I mentioned in the last article, it is projected that by the year 2020 the Archdiocese will have 134 diocesan priests in active ministry and will have nearly 200 parishes, as well as other ministries that are staffed by priests (most especially St. Francis de Sales Seminary).  As you can see from the numbers it will be, literally, impossible for that number of priests to minister to that number of parishes on a 1-1 ratio.  Because of this, the Archdiocese has assessed the locations and sizes and needs of the parishes and developed a model of parish ministry and priest assignment that will help ensure that priestly ministry is present and active at each of our parishes.  The way to do this is with a plan that clusters the parishes of the Archdiocese into clusters of from two to six parishes.  There are some parishes which, due to their size, geographical location, specific population or because they are served by religious order priests that will remain as “stand alone” parishes.  These “stand alone” parishes will not be actively clustered with other parishes and will continue to be served on the model which we have known over these past years of one or two priests being assigned to that parish and that parish alone.  There will be approximately 30 of the parishes which will be considered “stand alone.”

Of the 170 parishes that remain, they will be “clustered” together with nearby parish(es) and have one pastor assigned to both of them.  It is important to realize that this does not mean that parishes are being merged – each parish will maintain its individual identity, while working together and having the same priest assigned to them.  This will be a significant change for most of the parishes in the Archdiocese, they will still have their “own” priest, but he will be shared with another local parish. Depending on the sizes of the clusters and the availability of priests it may be possible for those clusters to also have an Associate Pastor assigned, so while two clustered parishes may have two priests ministering in them, they will share the same pastor and associate pastor.  Furthermore, there will be a reliance on the continued ministry of our senior priests, those who have retired from full-time ministry, but continue to assist with the sacraments.  It is their generosity of continuing to serve forty, fifty, even sixty years after their ordination that will help to mitigate some of the challenges and changes which will flow from this plan.

Along with the 2020 Plan, the Archdiocese is beginning to work on the unfolding of the plans which resulted from the Archdiocesan Synod which was held over Pentecost in 2014.  These various areas of focus will result in the Archdiocese and parishes working to take the goals and vision laid out at the Synod and put those goals into action. 

In next week’s article, I will take a look at what this 2020 Plan means for our parish looking forward.    

I wanted to take some time over the next few bulletins to bring you up to speed on the Archdiocesan Planning Process which has been underway for the past few years and which will continue, even more intensely, over the next few years.  A number of years ago the Archdiocese began to look at the state of the Archdiocese and what it would need looking forward to the year 2020.  This look included an examination of the current make-up of the Archdiocese, as well as looking at the number of priests who would be available to minister in the Archdiocese.  This examination brought about what is known as the 2020 Plan.  The 2020 Plan lays out a vision of how the parishes of the Archdiocese will be structured around the year 2020 and how priest personnel would be assigned based on the configurations and needs of those parishes.  In the next article I will explain more about what this plan looks like and what it means for the parishes in the Archdiocese, but I wanted to begin by speaking of the two most significant factors that have gone into this plan.

The first significant factor that is being taken into account is the number of priests that we will have actively ministering in the Archdiocese by the year 2020.   Fr. Steve Avella, a priest of the Archdiocese, recently published the second volume in his history of the diocese.  This second volume covered the span of the years 1958 – 1977, the days that Archbishop Cousins served as our Archbishop.  In the book he points out that the peak numbers of priests in the Archdiocese happened during this era, specifically in 1966.  In 1966 the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had 698 diocesan priests.  By 2020, the number of diocesan priests in active ministry in the Archdiocese will be down to 134.  An 80% decline in a little over 50 years.  As you can see, this has been a significant change.  To put the change in even further perspective, when I was ordained ten years ago in 2005, we had three members of our ordination class.  Fifty years prior to that, in 1955, the Archdiocese ordained thirty new priests (in one year!).  In the decade from 1950 – 1959, the Archdiocese ordained 196 new priests.  In the decade of 2000 – 2009, the Archdiocese ordained a total of 30 men, only 15% of the total it had ordained fifty years earlier.  This decrease in the number of priests and its impact on the Archdiocese and on parishes cannot be underestimated.  For the near future, this trend will continue with only an estimated 134 priests in active ministry by the year 2020, with nearly 200 parishes to serve and not including the countless other ministries which priests have been involved with in the past. 

The second significant factor that is driving the planning process is based on the shifting demographics of the Archdiocese.  Over the course of the next few decades the Catholic population in Southeastern Wisconsin will continue to grow, however, it is estimated that there will be a sharp decrease in the numbers of those Catholics who are registered and active members of their parishes.  Right now, on parish registration lists there are about 450,000 Catholics, it is projected by the year 2040 that there will be only 200,000 on our parish registration lists while the numbers of Catholics whose tie to the Church is tenuous will grow to 700,000.  This, along with some shifting in the geographical locations of Catholics, means that we have to be pro-active in in discerning where our resources need to be placed.

As you can tell, these numbers show the prudence of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in embarking on a planning process for the near future.  They are numbers that cannot be ignored and must be taken into account.  At the same time, we have to avoid the temptation to become discouraged or fatalistic, we have a role to play in helping to reverse the trend that we see unfolding.  We too are called to invite and pray for those (particularly of our own families and friends) who have ceased practicing their faith and, secondly, we are called to pray for and promote vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.  We are called to seek to draw closer to Christ through the sacraments and prayer so that our hearts may be continually converted – if we are close to Christ, other people will see that and want it and will be drawn to joining us and our prayers for the Church and for the Archdiocese will be more effective the holier our lives are and the closer we are to the Lord Himself.  Finally, we must beg the Lord in prayer to reverse these trends and to give us strength and hope.

In the next article, I am going to examine more closely the Archdiocesan 2020 Plan and what it will entail.