Archdiocesan strategic planning process now under way
Holly McKiernan, senior vice president and chief counsel for Lumina Foundation and a member of the Catholic Community Foundation board of trustees, left, leads the facilitation process for the archdiocese’s strategic planning meeting held on Feb. 14 at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis. Connie Zittnan, director of Mother Theodore Catholic Academies, listens to her presentation. (Photo by Mike Krokos)
By Mike Krokos
The leadership.
Our mindset, approach and values.
Our parishes. Our schools and colleges. Our history and institutions.
This list encompasses many of the blessings that Catholics see in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
And as Church officials begin developing a new leadership plan for the archdiocese from now through 2011, those gifts and many others, along with various challenges, will be discussed in the coming weeks and months.
“Our work today is for the common good of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis,” Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein noted at an archdiocesan strategic planning meeting held on Feb. 14 at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis.
“It is the work of the Holy Spirit manifested in a variety of ways for the good of the local Church.”
Archbishop Buechlein launched the first strategic plan for the archdiocese shortly after he was installed as archbishop in 1992, and the plan has been updated regularly since then.
Archdiocesan officials have spent the last several months gathering information to be used in this strategic planning process. Groups consulted include priests and parish life coordinators, Archdiocesan Finance Council, Catholic Community Foundation, Management Council, Archdiocesan Education Commission, Catholic Charities Advocacy Council, Council of Priests, and parishioners at large through The Criterion and archdiocesan Web site.
The Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Leadership Team includes 25 people, most of whom are members of various advisory bodies and consultative groups that work with the archdiocese. A few team members were chosen for their particular skills in ministry, noted Suzanne Yakimchick, chancellor, who staffed the effort on behalf of Archbishop Buechlein.
Holly McKiernan, senior vice president and chief counsel for Lumina Foundation and a member of the Catholic Community Foundation board of trustees, is leading the facilitation process.
At the Feb. 14 meeting, McKiernan told committee members that thinking about the archdiocese’s blessings is a good way to start the planning process.
She added that Archbishop Buechlein is encouraging “new thinking” where planning for the future is concerned.
Five top issues were identified from the responses received from groups consulted about the newest strategic planning process. They included faith and spiritual formation, ministry staffing, stewardship and governance, care of the poor, and Catholic schools.
Strategic planning committee members were broken into the five issue groups and spent the better part of the day developing goals, objectives and action steps for each issue.
“Try and set some long-term goals,” said McKiernan, a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis. “Where do we need to focus our time and energy the next three years?”
Intense brainstorming followed with each group reporting at the end of the day various ideas on how their respective issue could be addressed in the new strategic draft plan.
The worksheets that the groups completed, McKiernan said, will be refined then further developed and tested with consultative groups.
The group will reconvene in late April to discuss the draft plan and make any other necessary revisions, she added. †
