FAQs

Into the Deep is a multi-year, comprehensive strategic planning process in the Diocese of Madison. Its purpose is to realign our resources – physical, financial, human, priestly, etc. – so that we might move our parishes and other Catholic institutions from “maintenance to mission,” in order to share the life-changing good news of Jesus Christ more effectively in our increasingly secular culture. Our hope is that by coming together and collaborating in new ways we will more effectively and fruitfully: 1) follow Jesus; 2) reclaim Sunday; 3) evangelize others; 4) engage youth; 5) equip leaders; and 6) serve neighbors both now and well into the future.

“As disciples and priests of Jesus Christ, we know that nothing happens outside of God’s providence and foreknowledge. Every event – no matter how challenging or confusing it may be when it happens, or how unrelated it may appear to be to other events – is in fact willed by God for our good, if not directly then at least permissively. This is the teaching of our faith. ‘We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).

God’s action of creation, redemption, and sanctification, which He marvelously fulfilled and revealed in the Paschal Mystery is the ultimate truth and meaning of human existence. It underlies all other realities, including our current reality in the Diocese of Madison. It is important that we remember this as we courageously follow the Lord Jesus’ call to put out into the deep. Equally important, however, is that we honestly and truthfully face our current reality. For as the Lord Jesus says, ‘you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32). For us this means that we acknowledge and accept the difficult truths of our current reality, so that together we are free to follow Him into a brighter future for our local Church, that is, the Diocese of Madison.

…It is obvious that we are facing some significant challenges. But this probably comes as no surprise. [There are many] ‘broken trends’ we encounter daily in our parishes and schools. And these issues are not new; most have been building for quite some time. Recognizing this, the diocese has made attempts at various points over the past few decades to tackle some of these and other pressing issues. Parishes have clustered or merged, priests have taken on additional responsibilities, slight modifications have been made. But, despite the best of intentions, most of these efforts have been inadequate, incomplete, and/or directed towards symptoms rather than root causes. With some notable exceptions, most dioceses in the country have tried to ‘tweak’ or ‘band-aid’ these growing problems rather than ask, ‘What if God is inviting us to re-imagine what a parish can and needs to be in an increasingly post-Christian culture?’

Once again, we face significant challenges. And this necessitates a significant and bold response. Now is the time for us to look reality square in the face, see the truth, and with boundless hope and trust in Jesus Christ courageously put out into the deep to re-imagine what a parish can and needs to be if we are going to fulfill our mandate to go make disciples. We must be willing to let go of the past – or any other attachments that may hinder us – to follow Him into a new and brighter future, that is, into a healthier and holier reality. In the words of St. Peter, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and took nothing. But at your word [we] will let down the nets’ (Luke 5:5). May God guide us, and may He grant us the grace, courage, generosity, and faith of St. Peter to follow Him into the deep and into a new reality!"

-Bishop Donald J. Hying

The primary goals of Into the Deep are:

• The realignment of diocesan, parish, and school resources for the sake of our essential mission to “go make disciples.”
• Increased and better formational opportunities for families and people of all ages.
• A more comprehensive plan for Hispanic ministry across the diocese.
• To reclaim the Sabbath and Eucharist as the center of parish life.
• More than 50% of our liturgies at greater than 50% capacity, so that our young people and visitors experience fuller Masses that are alive and life-giving, rather than liturgies that seem – at least on the surface – like they are unimportant or that nobody could be bothered to attend.
• To address facility needs, deferred maintenance, and facility usage rates.
• Financial stability and sustainability for our parishes, schools, and the diocese.
• To see an increased participation in the Sacraments, so that God’s divine life is at work and flowing through more people.
• Better coordination between parishes of Mass times, Confession times, and apostolates/ministry opportunities.
• Regional opportunities and a plan for the Traditional Latin Mass, so that those who voluntarily wish to attend the Traditional Latin Mass may do so, but that we as a diocese are also following recent directives from the Vatican.
• Greater administrative standardization and use of economies of scale to operate our parishes and schools more effectively and efficiently.
• Schedules, assignments, and responsibilities that allow our priests to live happy, healthy, and holy lives, and work in collaboration.
• No more than 3 weekend Masses per priest, so that they can really pray the Mass and lead people in prayer at Mass.
• The ability to hire, retain, and pay qualified and faithful staff.
• And, finally, a more effective and unified approach to Catholic schools and discipleship/faith formation across the diocese, so that we might better form our young people into becoming the missionary disciples of tomorrow.

We believe that these goals are attainable across the Diocese of Madison if together we are willing to reimagine our parish structures and embrace a new model for parish life; and if we are willing to follow Jesus with continued courage and generosity, let go of all attachments that keep us from doing His Holy Will, work together in new ways, and commit to renewing the culture and priorities of our institutions through our Go Make Disciples evangelization initiative.

To learn more about Go Make Disciples, please click here!

Go Make Disciples is our ongoing effort to renew and build a culture of evangelization, discipleship, and mission within every parish, school, and other Catholic institution in the Diocese of Madison in fidelity to the Lord Jesus’ mandate to “go make disciples of all nations.” Go Make Disciples is not another program, then, but it is the very mission of the Church, our diocese, and our parishes. It is WHAT we do (or should be doing) as baptized Catholics. Into the Deep, on the other hand, is about realigning our structures and resources for the sake of this perennial mission. It is concerned with HOW – how we can better position our structures and other resources to serve this mission of evangelization and discipleship.

To learn more about Go Make Disciples, please click here!

Guided by the Spirit was a planning initiative that began in 2005, and which attempted to deal with diminishing resources (in particular, the number of priests). It led to some parish linkages and mergers throughout the diocese.

At the time, the question that drove the process was not primarily a mission-oriented one like today with Into the Deep (i.e., “How do we re-imagine our parishes and realign our resources to better serve the mission of the Church in an increasingly post-Christian culture?”). Rather, it was a maintenance-oriented one (i.e., “How do we adjust our parishes to keep as much of our current parish structure as possible but with fewer priests?”). Over the past 15-20 years since Guided by the Spirit, although the priest shortage issue in our diocese has stabilized (thanks be to God!), we’re now encountering other profoundly fundamental challenges, both in the culture and in the diminishing life of faith and practice among the faithful. Fewer people are attending Mass, celebrating the Sacraments, sending their children to faith formation, and living the Catholic faith. In other words, the status quo that Guided by the Spirit sought to preserve was already in decline and was not as sustainable as thought, and this is certainly clear today with the advantage of hindsight. The shortage of priests addressed by Guided by the Spirit was actually a leading indicator of the greater and wider decrease in the practice of the faith already begun and only now coming into a more evident display. Into the Deep (in conjunction with Go Make Disciples), then, is our attempt to tackle the fundamental and systemic challenges that face the Church today more thoroughly, boldly, and at the root, recognizing that we are living in an increasingly secularized and irreligious age. This requires that we reimagine and renew our parishes and realign our resources on a broader scale than anything we’ve previously done.

Ultimately, God. For as the Psalmist says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). We believe in firm faith that God has providentially foreseen this unique moment in the history of the Diocese of Madison (and our parishes and other Catholic institutions), and that He has a loving plan for our spiritual good and growth. In response, we must prayerfully and prudently discern where it is that He is leading us, and then together follow Him there with generosity and courage. In doing this, we entrust both the Into the Deep strategic planning process and ourselves to God, through the intercession of St. Raphael, patron saint of our diocese, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

That being said, Bishop Hying, as our local spiritual shepherd and as a successor of the apostles, is leading this effort along with a Strategic Planning Committee and various subcommittees as well as the help of the Catholic consulting firm, PartnersEdge, LLC.

Yes. There are lay people on the Strategic Planning Committee, on the various subcommittees, and PartnersEdge, LLC is run by and staffed by faithful, dedicated Catholic lay men and women.

Furthermore, every person in the Diocese of Madison was asked to participate in this process by providing constructive feedback back in November and December (of 2022) and January (2023) and is asked to continue to participate by praying for and embracing this initiative.

PartnersEdge, LLC is a Catholic consulting company and wholly owned subsidiarity of Catholic Finance Corporation. They have helped many other (arch)dioceses (and religious communities) like us assess and realign their resources for the sake of mission. For more information, please visit their website www.partnersedge.org

Yes, many other archdioceses and dioceses have done or are doing something similar to Into the Deep, as they too recognize the need to realign their resources for the sake of evangelization, discipleship formation, and mission in our increasingly secular culture. Some of the other (arch)dioceses that have worked with or are working with PartnersEdge, LLC include: the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Archdiocese of Hartford, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis, the Diocese of Cheyenne, the Diocese of Corpus Christi, the Diocese of Lafayette, the Diocese of San Jose, the Diocese of Sioux City, the Diocese of Sioux Falls, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, and the Archdiocese of Seattle. Furthermore, the following (arch)dioceses have also embarked upon strategic planning initiatives over the past few years (but without working with PartnersEdge, LLC): the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Detroit, the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Diocese of Buffalo, and others.

The Into the Deep Strategic Planning Committee has tried to (and continues to) learn from these other (arch)dioceses as much as possible, including what has worked well, what hasn’t worked well, what they would do differently, etc. And already other dioceses are beginning to contact us to learn about what we are doing as they begin their own strategic planning initiatives. Efforts like Into the Deep are only going to become more common in the years ahead as every diocese works to proclaim the Gospel more effectively in our rapidly changing culture.

The “Current Reality Report” is a document that spells out with great clarity and insight our current reality in the Diocese of Madison as of 2022. Over the course of about 4 to 5 months, PartnersEdge, LLC and the Into the Deep Strategic Planning Committee worked hard to gather and analyze various data sets, including demographic data, parish and school data, financial and giving data, sacramental and priest data, historical data, etc. This professional, comprehensive, and thorough effort led to the creation of the “Current Reality Report.”

To read the full “Current Reality Report” please click here.

There are 8 key takeaways from the “Current Reality Report.” They are:

1. The total population across the Diocese is growing.
2. We are losing Catholic people, especially our younger people; and we are aging.
3. Fewer and fewer people are attending Mass.
4. Significantly fewer people are receiving Sacraments.
5. Faith Formation enrollment is in a free fall, while School enrollment is holding relatively steady.
6. We have significantly fewer priests than in the past, but - praise God! - we project to be relatively stable into the future.
7. People who give donate about 2% of their income; with fewer older people giving more these days.
8. At present, we are facing financial challenges impacting our mission and our employees.

To learn more about the 8 key takeaways, please click here.

Some of the current challenges that we are facing in our parish communities and across the diocese include the following:

• The resources (clergy, human, financial, structural, etc.) of our diocese and parishes are no longer well aligned for the sake of our essential mission to “go make disciples.”
• Demographics have greatly shifted in many places throughout the diocese.
  • This is certainly true over the past few decades, but even more so since the founding of many of our parishes 75, 100, or 125+ years ago.
• As our society has become more secular, religious belief and practice have substantially declined; and this trend will most likely continue for the next generation or two as those who grow up in our secular culture come of age.
  • In fact, a 2022 Pew Research Center study suggested that by 2070 Christianity will become a minority religion in the U.S. if current trends continue without being disrupted.
• Families today face increasing challenges and pressures, and we are inadequately helping them at present to live as “the domestic church,” as communities of Christian disciples.
• We are underserving certain communities across the diocese, such as the Hispanic community, whose deep faith and devotion could help to renew our institutions.
• We have many underutilized and/or aging facilities that are not always conducive to the needs of today, and/or that require an excessive amount of time, money, and upkeep.
• The current financial models in most of our parishes, schools, and diocese are not sustainable.
  • About 60% of our parishes are currently operating with a net operating deficit (as of 2022), and the second largest giving cohort today is the Silent Generation whose average age is 84.
• The steep decline in people celebrating the sacraments and regularly attending Mass are signs of a deep spiritual crisis.
  • We have significantly more funerals than baptisms across the diocese.
  • COVID has accelerated this crisis.
• We struggle to attract and retain qualified and faithful lay employees because of burnout, insurmountable challenges, and compensation (among other things).
• While priest numbers should remain relatively stable into the future, even at present there are not enough priests to maintain the status quo.
  • In recent years, priests have been delaying retirement or even coming out of retirement just to keep things going.
  • In addition, priests are asked to become pastors within 1-2 years of ordination (whereas in previous eras priests would have had 10-15 years of mentoring before they would become pastors).
  • Also, current existing structures often prevent the diocese from being able to assign priests to parishes/ministries according to their gifts and talents.
  • And, finally, many of our priests have insufficient time for spiritual work and pastoral ministry – the very things that led them to want to become priests in the first place – because of administration needs, fundraising work, etc.

None of our parishes are as strong or healthy as they need to be. Every single one is struggling in one way or another. Some have financial concerns, while others have aging congregations with few young people in the pews or in the community, still others struggle to find, attract, and retain qualified and faithful employees, and many others have not produced for some time a vocation to the priesthood or religious life – which are signs of spiritual vitality. Furthermore, too often right now, a parish is competing against its neighboring parish for Mass attendees, donations, students for their school, employees, etc. – so even though a parish may seem fine, it is only so at the expense of its neighbor. We would do well, then, to remember the teaching of St. Paul that all of us are members of the Body of Christ and when one part suffers we all suffer or are weaker. But, when we all work together and support one another, we are all healthier and stronger. Thus, in order to strengthen the local Body of Christ, which is the Diocese of Madison, so that Jesus Christ might be proclaimed, made known, loved, and worshiped by more and more people in our eleven counties, it is necessary that we all work together.

The “Guiding Change Document” is a document that helps us move from “what is” to “what ought to be.” In particular, it does the following:

• It describes the “Why” or the conditions of the Current Reality in 2022 that drive the call for change and renewal;
• It describes the “What” or the results of the modeling and restructuring that is sought;
• It describe the “How”/“Not How” or the acceptable/unacceptable means of pursuing and achieving the results;
• It serves as the parameters for both the modeling and the assignment of pastors and priests.

To view the “Guiding Change Document” please click here.

To see the final approved model, please click here.

A “pastorate” is a grouping of parishes under the leadership of a single Administrator/Pastor, with other priests serving alongside him as Parochial Vicars (and/or with a “Priest in Residence” if a priest is retired from full-time ministry or serving in another ministry but is willing to assist). As such, nearly every pastorate will have a small “team of priests” plus a unified and larger group of dedicated lay employees (and any deacons) working together to serve the needs of their parishioners more effectively. Parishes within a pastorate will begin to work together more closely and collaborate in new ways beginning on July 1, 2023, with the goal that they will merge into becoming a single canonical parish by the summer of 2024.

This number is driven by our data (Mass attendance, capacity/facility utilization rates, number of pastors, etc.) and projects for a stable/sustainable model into the future. We don’t want to have to do this again in 10 years because we weren’t bold enough with our response today, and we want to achieve the goals already mentioned elsewhere. This number gives us a realistic chance of accomplishing this (with God’s help and your continued support).

The hope is that this bold new model will help to:

• Increase efficiency (e.g., rather than 3 smaller parishes all having to produce their own separate bulletins, they could now produce 1 bulletin and redirect some of the saved work hours towards other mission driven initiatives like calling those “on the books” who haven’t been to Mass in some time to invite them back, etc.);
• Provide greater stability (it is easier to have a continuity in vision and leadership when multiple priests are serving together, plus this model will allow for priests to stay at assignments longer);
• Increase collaboration (as people work together on various initiatives we will be able to do things with greater excellence by sharing ideas/best practices/skills/etc.);
• Renew energy (as clergy, lay staff, and other volunteers work together they will feel more supported and reenergized);
• Provide a more sustainable financial model for the long-term;
• Disrupt the broken trends of our current reality and enable us to fulfill more effectively the mission of the Church, which is to go make disciples.

The process of formulating the final approved pastorates was driven by data, geography, and consultation among clergy and laypeople throughout the diocese. Mass attendance numbers, sacramental data, financial data, natural affinities between communities (e.g., school districts), drive times, etc., were all factors in making these decisions. The goal was to create pastorates that are stable and sustainable for the long-term. As you can imagine, this wasn’t always easy, and it isn’t an exact science. We weren’t working with a blank canvas, but rather with the buildings, parishes, distances between parishes, etc., that we have across the diocese. As such, there were some instances where a parish could have been placed in a few different pastorates. In such cases, after various consultations, including seeking your feedback back in November and December of 2022 and January 2023 (when over 1,300 comments were received and reviewed), and after making dozens of changes to the evolving model through the various consultations, prudential and prayerful decisions were made by Bishop Hying and the Strategic Planning Committee.

To see the various pastorates and the parishes in each, please click here.

Four parishes each have their own pastorate: St. Bernard in Madison, Blessed Sacrament in Madison, St. Paul’s Catholic Student Center in Madison, and St. Augustine University Parish in Platteville. The reason for this is because each of these four has unique circumstances. Following public feedback that was received in January of 2023, Bishop Hying intends to petition the Vatican to designate St. Bernard as the new cathedral for the Diocese of Madison. St. Paul’s and St. Augustine’s are both located on college campuses and serve university students. As such, they both have unique needs and opportunities, and they are very different from “regular” parishes. Finally, Blessed Sacrament is currently run by the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Albert the Great, and because of this it doesn’t make sense to combine it with other parishes that are staffed/served by diocesan priests.

For a timeline of Into the Deep, please click here.

No (but most will eventually merge by the summer of 2024, with the exceptions of St. Bernard Parish in Madison, Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, St. Paul’s Catholic Student Center in Madison, and St. Augustine University Parish in Platteville, each for the particular reasons mentioned in FAQ #22).

It is important to remember what a parish is (in distinction to a church). A parish is “a community of Christian faithful stably constituted in a...church or churches...whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor [and other priests working alongside him] under the authority of the diocesan bishop. Most people think [that] the parish is the church where they worship. A parish, however, is [typically] a territorial division of the diocese – a geographical area. The people within the parish are cared for by the pastor [and other priests working alongside him] assigned to this community by the bishop.... Because it is about geography, people of all parishes are made up of Catholics and non-Catholics. Within a parish, there is a [church or churches] where the spiritual needs of the people in that area are cared for,” sacraments are celebrated, etc. (Archdiocese of Chicago, glossary).

Under the final approved model our current 102 parishes (with their 135 churches plus various school buildings, rectories, and other buildings) will be reorganized/reconfigured into 30 larger “pastorates” or groupings of parishes. Each of these 30 pastorates will be led by a single Administrator/Pastor, with other priests working alongside him as Parochial Vicars (and/or with a “priest in residence” if a priest is retired from full-time ministry or serving in another ministry but is willing to assist). As such, nearly every pastorate will have a small “team of priests” plus a unified and larger group of dedicated lay employees (and any deacons) working together to serve the needs of their parishioners more effectively.

In July of 2023, parishes will officially start working together as pastorates and priest assignments to cover the pastoral needs of the new pastorate will begin as usual for the parishes within the pastorate. Between July of 2023 and the summer of 2024, the parishes within each of the pastorates will then merge and become a single canonical parish. A merger is like a marriage, where previously separate entities become one with a shared or common life together. Thus, by the summer of 2024 and through the merger process there will be 30 parishes in the Diocese of Madison (with their 135 churches plus various school buildings, rectories, and other buildings).

Nothing has been decided about particular churches or other buildings yet, and when decisions about these are made they must be made at the local level, per Vatican directives.

Following the implementation of pastorates in July of 2023, parishes within each pastorate will work together so that by the summer of 2024 they are merged into a single new canonical parish. After these mergers and the formation of these new canonical parishes, each parish will then have to prayerfully and prudently discern at the local level which of their church buildings and/or other facilities are needed and/or helpful in their proclaiming and living out the Gospel and the mission of the Church. And they will also have to work together to unify their various programs, activities, leadership groups, etc., with the goal of building a stronger Catholic community together than if they were to have remained apart.

If it is determined by a particular parish (that is, by the Pastor/Administrator in consultation with parish leadership groups), after considering other available options that one or more of their buildings would be a grave burden and should no longer be used (without causing harm to the good of souls), then they will seek the Bishop’s permission (after due consultation) and receive guidance about how to properly close/repurpose/sell the respective building(s). Following church law, any money that is received from the sale of a building will remain locally with the parish to be used at their discretion for overall parish needs, such as in the service of evangelization, discipleship, and mission. Despite what people often think, the diocese does not receive this money.

We are profoundly grateful for the sacrificial gifts and generous financial support that you and/or your family have provided to your parish over the years. This generosity mirrors the generosity of God the Father and is a mark of true Christian faith and discipleship.

Starting in July of 2023, parishes within each pastorate will start to work together and make plans to merge into a new single canonical parish by the summer of 2024. Once these mergers are complete, all assets and liabilities from the individual parishes will merge and belong to the new canonical parish that is formed (as directed by canon law). Funds legitimately restricted by donor intent will remain restricted for that donor’s purpose. The new parish will then have one budget and one Finance Council to serve the entire community. Also note, church law prohibits the diocese or anyone else from taking any of these assets. Instead, they are to remain with the new parish to be used at their discretion and for the good of their local community.

Most likely, yes.

Because of the following goals it seems likely that at least some Mass times will change:

• Goal: no more than 3 weekend Masses per priest, so that they can really pray the Mass and lead people in prayer at Mass (please see The Code of Canon Law; can. 905 §§ 1-2).
• Goal: better coordination between parishes of Mass times, Confession times, and apostolates/ministry opportunities.
• Goal: schedules that allow our priests to live happy, healthy, and holy lives, and work in collaboration.
• Goal: more than 50% of our liturgies will be at greater than 50% capacity, so that our young people and visitors experience fuller Masses that are alive and life-giving, rather than liturgies that seem – at least on the surface – like they are unimportant or that nobody could be bothered to attend.

When will Mass time changes take place? Some will probably occur more immediately (in July of 2023, when implementation begins), while others may not be discerned as necessary until later on in the process

In addition to creating more reasonable Mass schedules for our priests (and fulfilling the requirements of The Code of Canon Law; see can. 905 §§ 1-2), having fewer Masses can help to build a stronger sense of Catholic community (when pews are fuller it is easier to sense one’s connection to others in the Mystical Body of Christ who are also praying at Mass), unite parishes, and provide greater opportunities to offer the highest quality worship experiences (i.e., by concentrating the best musicians, readers, etc. in just a few Masses instead of spreading them out over many, or having Masses where there are no volunteers at all for these roles).

Furthermore, soon the Millennial and Gen Z age cohorts will represent nearly 50% of the population in our diocese. Studies have shown that people from these age cohorts gravitate towards experiences and events where their peers are present. Thus, fuller Masses – where they are more likely to see a more diverse congregation and more people of their own age – will help to engage these essential age cohorts in the life of the parish, something that is necessary for the future of our parishes and diocese.

In regards to the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in the Diocese of Madison, Bishop Hying seeks to implement the directives from the Holy See, outlined in Traditionis Custodes, while also being pastorally sensitive to the spiritual needs of our people who regularly worship at what is commonly called “the Traditional Latin Mass.”

Given that the Holy See’s directives call for the designation of locations for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass within a diocese, but not at the principal church of any parish, our current Into the Deep planning process providentially enables implementation of the Holy See’s directives in conjunction with the diocese’s current parochial restructuring plan, and therefore with greater foresight for the future of the diocese.

Following a period of public feedback in January of 2023, Bishop Hying has decided that the following four sites in our diocese, subject to Holy See approval and effective July 1, 2023, will serve as the churches that will allow the lay faithful to participate in the Extraordinary Form of Mass, located in reasonably geographically-diverse locations, and celebrated in a manner consistent with Traditionis Custodes and its related directives:

• St. Mary Church, Fennimore
• St. Patrick Church, Janesville
• St. Mary Church, Pine Bluff
• St. Cecilia Church, Wisconsin Dells

The Extraordinary Form of the Mass will continue in the churches where it is currently celebrated through June 30, 2023.

Not really. After witnessing a substantial decline in priests between 1960 and 2000, over the past 20 years our priest numbers have stabilized, and they project to remain relatively stable into the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, even at present there are not enough priests to maintain the status quo. In recent years, priests have been delaying retirement or even coming out of retirement just to keep things going. In addition, priests are asked to become pastors within 1-2 years of ordination (whereas in previous eras priests would have had 10-15 years of mentoring before they would become pastors). Also, current existing structures often prevent the diocese from being able to assign priests to parishes/ministries according to their gifts and talents. And, finally, many of our priests have insufficient time for spiritual work and pastoral ministry – the very things that led them to want to become priests in the first place – because of administration needs, fundraising work, etc.

Having said this, priest numbers are not the primary driver behind Into the Deep. Rather, the primary drivers are other broken or declining trends in the Diocese of Madison, including: Catholic Demographic trends, Mass Attendance trends, Sacramental trends, Youth Formation trends, Giving trends, and Financial trends.

Hopefully for the better! We know that when our priests are doing well our parishes are stronger and we all benefit.

Through Into the Deep, then, we hope that our priests:

• Will be able to retire at the set retirement age (if they would like to do so);
• Will be able to be mentored as Parochial Vicars for a longer period of time following ordination before becoming Pastors;
• Will be able to be assigned to parishes and/or other ministries according to their gifts and talents;
• Will be able to work together and collaborate with brother priests in new ways, so as to find mutual support;
• Will know greater stability in their assignments;
• Will collectively have more time for spiritual work and pastoral ministry (although pastors will initially have more administrative work); and
• Will be able to live happy, healthy, and holy lives.

Nevertheless, despite these benefits, this new model will be an adjustment for our priests. It will require them to step into a new way of life and ministry. And just as change can be difficult for all of us, even when we know that it’s necessary, so too for our priests. As such, please say a prayer for them as they too follow Jesus into the deep!

To see a complete list of priest assignments, please click here.

All new priest assignments will begin on July 1, 2023.

How Into the Deep will affect our Catholic schools is still to be determined. Presently, the focus of initial modeling has been on developing the 30 pastorates. When school-related questions come into play appropriate stakeholders will be consulted. At present, it is envisioned that most things regarding Catholic schools will remain relatively unchanged for the 2023-24 school year as the immediate focus will be on our parishes.

Bishop Hying has repeatedly said that he is committed to Catholic education in the Diocese of Madison. As such and given the unique opportunity that Catholic schools present for evangelization and the discipleship formation of our young people, be assured that we are committed to strengthening Catholic education throughout the diocese; but in order to do so, we must first strengthen our parishes through the development and implementation of this new model and the pastorates.

Like many other decisions, this will be determined at the local level. When parishes come together as a pastorate in July of 2023 (and following this, merge together by the summer of 2024), under the leadership of a single Administrator/Pastor, they will have to determine how best to utilize their larger staff to serve the mission of the Church. It is likely that some roles of staff members will change to eliminate redundancy, increase efficiency, and hopefully to free up time and energy to offer new ways of supporting parishioners and proclaiming the Gospel.

Once parishes merge (by the summer of 2024), this new Catholic community, under the leadership of a single Pastor, will determine how best to design their faith formation programs (for children and adults) to more effectively and fruitfully serve the needs of the Church by forming missionary disciples. Parishes that currently have multiple faith formation programs will likely consolidate some or all of their programming so as to more effectively and efficiently utilize their human and financial resources and move from maintenance to mission.

One of the goals of Into the Deep is to develop a more comprehensive plan for Hispanic ministry across the diocese. As such, the Hispanic Advisory Council has already offered feedback about how we might do this in the context of the new model, and they will continue to offer insights about how we might better serve this important demographic community going forward.

Yes.

St. Raphael Cathedral tragically burned down in March of 2005 and was not rebuilt. Wisely, Bishop Morlino invested energy and resources into the building of the new St. Paul Church and Student Center at UW-Madison and the establishment of the Priests for our Future endowment fund for the education of our seminarians. Both of these endeavors have borne rich spiritual fruit in the ensuing years. During the interim, we have used large parish churches, such as Saint Maria Goretti Church in Madison, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Monona, and St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee for diocesan celebrations.

A diocese, however, should have a cathedral. The word “cathedral” comes from “cathedra,” Latin for “chair,” because the cathedral is the bishop’s church, housing his episcopal chair as a symbol of his authority, leadership, and service as chief shepherd of the diocese and successor of the Apostles. The cathedral is the mother church of the diocese and the appropriate place for the local Church, which is the diocese, to gather with her bishop for the Chrism Mass, ordinations, Holy Week, and other important celebrations.

Regarding the question of the cathedral, we have three options:

1. Do nothing and continue to utilize parish churches for diocesan celebrations. For the reasons mentioned directly above, this is not really a viable, long-term future practice.
2. Rebuild the cathedral on its original site in downtown Madison. This effort would require a very robust capital campaign upwards of $50 million to accomplish. Given our current efforts to utilize more strategically the church buildings we already have, this option would seem both extravagant and difficult to execute.
3. Petition the Holy See to name an existing parish church as our new cathedral. St. Raphael Church was an existing parish church in downtown Madison when our diocese was created in 1946 and it was named as the cathedral, so this option has a strong precedent.

In light of these three options and after receiving your feedback in January 2023, Bishop Hying has decided to choose option #3 and will petition the Holy See to name St. Bernard Parish in Madison as the new cathedral.

Architecturally, St. Bernard is worthy of such an identity. It lies within the boundaries of the city of Madison proper, which is required for us by Church law since we are the Diocese of Madison. It would require a relatively modest investment of resources to make it fully functional to serve as a cathedral. Bishop Hying envisions a small capital campaign to raise the needed resources to accomplish this plan, but this will still be the least expensive and best long-term solution.

On top of the continued work that is being done by the Into the Deep Strategic Planning Committee, about 10 subcommittees are thinking through various issues connected to implementation and they are developing guidelines that will be put together into a single manual that will serve as a roadmap or guidebook for implementation. In this work, we are trying to learn from other (arch)dioceses about what has worked well, what hasn’t worked well, and what they’d do differently so as to make this process and time of transition as smooth as possible for all of us in the Diocese of Madison.

• Please pray for the Into the Deep strategic planning process and for Bishop Hying.
• Please pray for a strengthening of faith, hope, and charity across the Diocese of Madison and in the hearts of all the baptized as we go through this important process.
• Please stay informed by visiting this website regularly and by signing up for Into the Deep Flocknote messages by clicking here.
• Please recommit yourself daily to following Jesus as a missionary disciple.

To stay informed about the Into the Deep please sign up to receive Into the Deep Flocknote messages by clicking here, and please visit this website regularly for updates. Also please join the social conversation at www.facebook.com/madisondiocese and Instagram @diocesemadison