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Faith Alive initiatives continue in motion

GREEN BAY -- Do you have an elderly parent living far away? Do you worry that he or she doesn't get to church as often as they would like? What if they get sick and need a visit from a priest, or need a parish nurse to check in on them in their assisted living apartment?

Parish Clusters for Faith Alive's Collaboration of Ministries • Allouez and De Pere - Resurrection and St. Matthew parishes in Allouez; and Old St. Joseph (at St. Norbert College), Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Francis Xavier and St. Mary parishes in De Pere • Downtown - St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, St. John the Evangelist, St. Mary of the Angels, Sts. Peter and Paul, and St. Willebrord parishes • East Side - Prince of Peace, St. Bernard and St. Philip parishes in Green Bay; and Holy Cross Parish in Bay Settlement • West Side - Annunciation, St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Joseph, St. Jude and St. Patrick parishes in Green Bay; Nativity Parish in Ashwaubenon; and St. John the Baptist Parish in Howard

Thanks to the Faith Alive initiatives currently being developed for all 23 parishes in the Green Bay area, parish ministers are developing collaborative ways to address the spiritual care of senior members of those parishes.

Most people might think Faith Alive is about Catholic schools and religious education programs only, but the project addresses a broad range of collaborative ministries, including schools and religious education, as well as youth and young adult ministry, adult faith formation, evangelization and business administration.

Set into motion on Jan. 24, 2007, Faith Alive outlined two major initiatives - one, to help the Green Bay area parishes build upon existing collaborative services and ministries and, to develop a Catholic school system. The plan was approved by then-Bishop David A. Zubik upon the recommendation of area pastors and lay leaders.

The newly-formed Collaborative Parish Ministry Board, composed of pastors, parish representatives, and diocesan representatives, met this past December.

According to Mark Mogilka, diocesan director of Stewardship and Pastoral Services and resource person to the board, the board "will conduct city-wide listening sessions to learn what ideas parish professionals have and what challenges they are facing."

The first challenge is building a resource guide to show which parishes provide spiritual care for residents at facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

"By working together, we can ensure that all facilities have a parish providing pastoral care," says Ann Froelich, pastoral associate at St. Matthew Parish in Allouez. "This is important particularly when an out-of-town family member calls mom or dad's parish in this area and says, 'Who do I call to request Communion for my parent?' We can go to our resource guide and see which parish is caring for the residents in a given facility."

Other parish needs are surfacing:

• Parish business administrators want to pursue joint purchasing and computer training.
  
  
• Adult education leaders want to work together on scheduling workshops to promote each other's sessions and not duplicate services.
  
  
• Parish musicians are considering a music-sharing system.
  
  
• West-side parishes are looking at ways to invite youth and young adults to church.

Mogilka said that these areas are "just a quick laundry list" or the "creative thoughts and ideas that took place in our initial listening sessions. I'm looking forward to even better possibilities for inter-parish cooperation."

He added that he hoped some of the work from this aspect of Faith Alive could be shared with other diocesan parishes in the upcoming year.

The second Faith Alive initiative - the creation of a Catholic school system - is also proceeding. The first two steps will be legal incorporation and the search for a system president.

"These two steps are necessary so that the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees can convene, select the system president, and begin working with principals, staffs and parents on major endeavors such as curriculum, accreditation, policies, finances and marketing over the next four years," says Joe Bound, director of Education for the Diocese of Green Bay.

This month, members of the Faith Alive Catholic School Steering Committee are meeting with pastors, parish councils and finance councils to share with them the details of these steps. An open meetings for parents and parishioners will be held in April and May.

Little, if any change, will be apparent for the 2008-09 school year, according to Mark Salisbury, diocesan Superintendent of Schools and facilitator of the Faith Alive Catholic Schools Steering Committee.

The plan calls for having a city-wide school system, including a middle school, in place by 2012-13.

As its December meeting, Tony Abts, president of ACES (Appleton Catholic Education System), spoke with the Faith Alive Education Committee about middle school education and the benefits seen in the Appleton area from the presence of St. Joseph Middle School, which was formed in the mid-1980s.

(Pat Kasten contributed to this story.)