News

Faith Alive calls for more education, ministry collaboration

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

	Faith Alive Feedback The preliminary 57-page report can be found on the diocese web site: www.gbdioc.org Click on the Faith Alive link. Feedback can be submitted on-line and will be accepted through Oct. 16.

What will the structure of Catholic education look like in the Green Bay area within three to five years?

If the recommendations of the Faith Alive Project for Catholic education - day school, religious education, youth ministry and adult faith formation - are accepted by Bp. David Zubik, there will be four clusters of parishes working together to provide collaborative ministry in these areas starting next spring.

One main concern for any Catholic parish - Catholic day schools - will be addressed within the four groupings of 23 parishes and 11 schools. The intent is to facilitate planning and collaboration and share some ministry and costs. In turn, school tuitions will be formalized (and lowered in some instances) and parish costs to fund schools will be stabilized at 30%. (Some parishes have been putting far more of their parish resources to maintaining a school.) This will free up more parish resources to fund other ministries and educational endeavors.

"We have a vision of church and parish that should be wholistic," said Mark Mogilka, diocesan director of Stewardship and Pastoral Services and overseer of diocesan parish and school planning. "We're striving for a vision of a materially complete church, a balancing of resources among ministries."

Joseph Bound, diocesan director of education, said Faith Alive addresses many different ministry needs and the limited resources to meet those needs.

"This project is a recognition," he said, "that in order to provide quality programs in an environment of limited resources, the best way to do that is through a collaborative, systematic approach, rather than relying on a parish's resources only."

Parishes in the Faith Alive Project: St. Francis Xavier Cathedral St. John the Evangelist St. Willebrord SS Peter & Paul St. Mary of the Angels St. Jude St. Joseph Annunciation St. Patrick St. Elizabeth Ann Seton St. Agnes Nativity of Our Lord St. Bernard St. Philip Prince of Peace St. John the Baptist (Howard) Holy Cross (Bay Settlement) St. Mary (De Pere) St. Francis Xavier (De Pere) Our Lady of Lourdes (De Pere) St. Norbert College Parish (De Pere) Resurrection of Our Lord (Allouez) St. Matthew (Allouez)

There have been four attempts to form an area-wide system for Catholic education in the Green Bay area. These have focused on schools. The latest was the GRACE proposal in 2005. While GRACE did not meet everyone's hopes, it recognized the need and desire for collaboration between parishes and schools. That recognition led to the Faith Alive project, initiated by Bp. Zubik in January.

After consultation and listening sessions, consultants provided a preliminary report of Faith Alive to pastors in late August; a revised report was made public on Sept. 7. That report is on the diocese web site at www.gbdioc.org under the Faith Alive link. There is also a link to provide feedback through Oct. 16.

Mogilka said feedback at this stage is important.

"It would be naïve to think that we got it all on the first shot," he said. "Our hope and prayer is that this will be a catalyst for an even stronger plan."

The report's recommendations came from listening sessions conducted by The Reid Group in February and May with 300 parish and education representatives of the 23 Metro Green Bay Area parishes in café style sessions.

The recommendations are:

• That pastors continue to build up their own parish ministries and strongly encourage ministerial collaboration in the Metro Green Bay Area.

• That four parish clusters in the Green Bay area facilitate parish planning and collaboration. The four proposed clusters are:

1) St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, St. John, St. Willebrord, Ss. Peter & Paul and St. Mary of the Angels;

2) St. Jude, St. Joseph, Annunciation, St. Patrick, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Agnes, Nativity and St. John, Howard;

3) St. Mary, De Pere, St. Francis, De Pere, Our Lady of Lourdes, De Pere, St. Norbert College, De Pere, Resurrection and St. Matthew;

4) St. Bernard, St. Philip, Holy Cross and Prince of Peace.

• The formation of Metro Green Bay Catholic Youth Ministry Programs.

• The assistance of diocesan staff from four departments (Catholic Charities, Education, Evangelization & Worship, and Stewardship & Pastoral Life) in organizing collaborative ministry for the Metro Green Bay Area.

• That Bp. Zubik establish a Collaborative Parish Ministry Board for Vicariate VI (Green Bay area) by July 2007 to assist with communication and cooperation among shared parish ministries and the governance of a Catholic Day School System.

• That Bp. Zubik establish a Catholic Day School System for the Metro Green Bay Area beginning with the 2007-2008 school year and hire a president/administrator by March 2007 or as soon as possible.

• That the pastors of all parishes in Vicariate VI decide how to provide leadership and administrative support for the Collaborative Ministry Board.

• That an equitable funding formula be established to support all essential parish ministries and implemented incrementally within the next five years. (This includes a recommendation that all parishes contribute to existing Catholic schools, with no parish giving more than 30% of its ordinary income.) The consultants also suggested that parishes use about 50% of their ordinary income to support all other parish ministries, with the remaining 20% allotted to buildings and maintenance.

• That the Diocese create and implement a cost-based tuition - need-based financial aid formula within three years to ensure that the Metro Green Bay Catholic Day School system is financially viable and welcoming to low income families.

• That the diocesan departments of Education and Stewardship & Pastoral Services enhance existing programs for special needs children.

• That, within two years, a comprehensive response be developed and implemented to the needs of immigrant population families in religious education programs and Catholic Day Schools.

• That the Catholic Day School System establish an independent, non-denominational, non-profit foundation which would help subsidize children from low income families who wish to attend Catholic Day Schools.

In the listening sessions, Mogilka said, there was widespread support of a more equitable distribution of parish budgets between all forms of education, and a consistent call for more support for youth ministry.

Bound said that there was also support for the cost-based, needs-based approach to tuition. This approach allows for a more equal distribution of resources, while still being sensitive to individual needs. Once the system determines the financial costs for each student, tuition is shared between the student's family and parish, with the resources of the system available to make up the differences.

"People need to understand that we're not pricing them out of the market," Bound said.

The same system-wide sharing of costs and resources would apply to Faith Alive's approach to all ministry - religious education, schools, youth ministry, Hispanic ministry, adult formation.

"The advantage of system-wide synergy," Bound said, "is that we can offer more services, more programs, more variety, than you can in a stand-alone parish operation."

Faith Alive's broad-based approach to faith formation and collaboration moves far beyond a system-wide approach to schools, as has been implemented in other parts of the diocese. Mogilka believes this approach would be a first for any group of U.S. parishes.

Bound agrees that Faith Alive has the potential to become "a model for the country." In fact, he added, the Green Bay Diocese already leads the country in its system approach to day schools in Appleton, Manitowoc, Oshkosh, Neenah-Menasha and Marinette.

"When I attend the NCEA (National Catholic Education Association) meetings," Bound said, "people always ask about it, and want to know more about how it works."

For now, feedback on the proposed Faith Alive project is crucial. Additional listening sessions for invited parish leaders will be conducted Oct. 11-13 by The Reid Group. Bound said the consultants hope to be able to build these sessions around the feedback they receive in the next four weeks.

Everyone hopes to come to the listening sessions, he said, "with a sense of reactions to the document, and also have an opportunity to bounce those responses off the groups."

A final report will then be compiled and delivered to Bp. Zubik by mid-November. If the plan is approved, a director for the system would be hired some time in spring.

Feedback on the report will be accepted until Oct. 16 and Mogilka encourages everyone to read the report on the diocesan web site and offer their thoughts - either at the web site or to their parish leadership.