Clear Path to Discipleship
3 Reasons Your Parish Needs Small Groups
From the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis 1. Authentic Community Everyone longs for intimacy – it’s the way God made us. We have an innate desire to love and be… Read More
Pastoral Planning
The Rural Proposal
As many of you already know, the Archdiocese of Omaha is going through a rural pastoral planning process. The primary impetus for this planning is the dramatic projected decrease of… Read More
Pastoral Planning
Facing Reality, Facing Grief
This is just going to be messy. How can pastors be helpful with the pastoral planning process? Nothing beats transparent communication. Many of our parishioners heard in the most recent… Read More
Pastoral Planning
3 Things You Should Know Right Now About Rural Pastoral Planning
1. Timing Not all of these changes are happening today or even in the next 5 months. We know that in 5 years, we’ll have 24 fewer priests. That’s our… Read More
Leadership
Why Delegation is the Key to Successful Pastoral Leadership
A New Reality Crucial to pastoral planning is changing the paradigm of pastoral leadership we may have learned or inherited. With fewer priests and therefore fewer pastors available, we know… Read More
Pastoral Planning
Guides, Not Gospel: The 3 Phases of Pastoral Planning
It’s better to think of the 3 phases of pastoral planning as a good guide, rather than the Gospel truth. It’s a good overview and points out several helpful landmarks,… Read More
Pastoral Planning
PODCAST: Archbishop Lucas on Pastoral Planning
“Planning for Mission, not Maintenance” In several parts of archdiocese – both metro and rural – populations have shifted or are declining. We also know that the number of active… Read More
Pastoral Planning
Masses, Meetings, and Mail: The Problem with Clusters
With the pastoral planning proposal, essentially, at the bare minimum, all that the parishes in your circle are sharing are a pastor, maybe some clergy, and a Mass schedule. The question… Read More
Pastoral Planning
A Communication Strategy Sounds Fancier Than It Really Is
Now that some of you have made plans to get together with your neighboring priests, you might be asking what a communication strategy would look like. It’s simpler than you… Read More
Pastoral Planning
Next Steps for Pastoral Planning
It feels good to have a solid proposal for rural pastoral planning, but it doesn’t answer every question or even answer the question of, “What should we do next?”. Are… Read More