We continue our series on the coming changes to Catholic parishes in Carroll County, with the new Director of Pastoral Planning from the Sioux City Diocese, Mark Prosser. He began in February of last year, several years after the introduction of what was titled Ministry 2025. The reasoning for that plan was cited as a decline in priests and in mass attendance. Prosser says that has not changed since the rollout in 2016 and the implementation started in 2017.
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The reality, he says, is Ministry 2025 is obsolete and as they continue to work on pastoral planning, they are moving into a different process. Things continue to change so quickly they are having to adapt to losses in active ministry and to continued demographic shifts in the diocese.
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The personnel committee for the diocese signaled prior to this summer that Carroll County is going from five priests in active ministry to three. That coupled with shrinking sacraments and attendance at mass resulted in the idea of consolidating the parishes. Prosser says this will allow them to work smarter and more efficiently, freeing priests and leadership to do more on the evangelization and mission sides of parish work.
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There will then be just the two parishes in Carroll County. Prosser says there is another important reason they are looking at consolidation.
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The changes in the number of local clergy anticipated this summer coincides with the statements from parish member, Sue Riesselman, that their last mass in Willey could be as early as late June or the first of July. Prosser says there is some confusion and those churches will not technically be closed.
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The hope is to have these individual parishes come together as a family through this restructuring. When it comes to parishioners concerns that these changes could fracture membership, Prosser emphasizes the fact this work is not done.
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Prosser stresses what they do know is that the Catholic church cannot do business and maintain structures like it has done for the last 50 to 75 years. They have to quit looking over their shoulder at how they used to do it and look forward to say this is how we need to adapt and evolve to be viable, vibrant and strong 25 years from now. Prosser is aware that some parishes are working with a canon lawyer, but there is an appeal process through the diocese that allows the planning to appealed all the way to Rome. He is also aware of the peaceful rally planned for next Tuesday, but does not know of any plans to address those in attendance. Carroll Broadcasting has reached out to the communications office at the diocese for more details on that question and they report they will have a statement ready for those in attendance. Prosser was able to provide much more information than can be presented in this format, so the full interview has been posted below.
Full interview with Mark Prosser, Sioux City Diocese Director of Pastoral Planning:
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