Bishop To Address Faithful About Pastoral Planning
 

Bishop Joseph F. Martino has prepared a message to the faithful regarding Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Scranton, the project aimed at the spiritual and pastoral renewal of the Catholic Church in Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The message will be heard (video and/or audio) at all Masses of Obligation on the weekend of Oct. 18-19. It will also be printed in all parish bulletins that weekend, and it will then be available to view and read on the Diocesan website at www.dioceseofscranton.org.

Called to Holiness and Mission has completed five steps of an eight-step process. Parish Core and Cluster teams have made suggestions to the Diocesan Planning Commission regarding future configuration of all parishes. The Planning Commission has reviewed these suggestions and made preliminary recommendations. The Core and Cluster Teams have studied the preliminary recommendations and engaged in conversation about them with the parish communities. The Facilities Assessments are also being completed and they provide additional information.

A response from each Cluster has been submitted back to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission will gather for a retreat Oct. 21-23 to study these responses before making the final recommendations to Bishop Martino in November.

As the Planning Commission prepares for this important work, the Bishop has asked all pastors to conduct a day of prayer on Sunday, Oct. 19. The Diocese has provided pastors with sample resources for this, or pastors may design their own prayer service.

After receiving the final recommendations from the Planning Commission, Bishop Martino will discuss them with the appropriate consultative bodies, and engage in a period of prayer and reflection before announcing the final decisions in January. Implementation will begin in July.