Parishes Involved: Holy Family, Our Lady of Victory, Sa-cred Heart Cathedral, St. Ann in Long Grove and St. Paul the Apostle

Describe model of structure for continuing collaboration: Independent parishes collaborating

Describe pastoral arrangements:

1. Number of priests = 6. The group determined that the five parishes would each have a resident pastor and that the sixth priest, most likely a parochial vicar, would in the near term be primarily assigned to St. Paul the Apostle because of the number of masses needed, but that he could assist other par-ishes in the group as possible.


2. Where will the priests live? They would most likely live in the present rectories of the five parishes.


3. Number of weekend Masses to be celebrated = All will be moving towards three Masses on the weekend except St. Paul’s which does not have enough room in the present church for three Masses to be possible.


4. Describe the distribution of weekend Masses: A lot of time was spent trying to devise a system where there was no duplica-tion of Mass times in the group, but it became quickly obvious that doing so made great problems for all the parishes. It was determined that as the parishes changed their schedules and as some who now have more than three Masses will go to three, they will try not to schedule their Mass times the same time of their near neighbors.


5. List other staff that will be needed: There is beginning dis-cussion of the five parishes hiring a full time person to respond to counseling needs in the five parishes - See Part B of the Pre-liminary Plan.


6. List each priority issue for the proposed Preliminary Plan:
   • All but St. Ann Parish have significant space and building replacement needs and either are in the midst of building or making plans to do so.
   • We have established a number of actions plans to express our desire to work together - See Part B.
   • The three schools in Davenport are all in this group - There is a Davenport Catholic
     Education advisory group, but there will need to be further dialogue in that group about how to encourage and strengthen.

1. To establish a Central Coordinating Council in the five parishes. This group might look
   something like our present five parish group, but would clearly also relate to the five parish
   councils.
   • No financial cost to the parishes beyond present operating budgets.
   • Have an initial meeting after approval is given to determine structure and organization.
   
   
2. To stress Evangelization and to use the RCIA approach as a way of strengthening present
   faith formation programs and reaching out to those who have left the Church or are unchurched.
   • Cost to be determined programmatically in each parish.
   • Bring together the 5 RCIA teams and the 5 parish faith formations staff to develop a
     Coordinated plan.
   • Where possible, the RCIA teams would share resources and activities; for example, all
     RCIA candidates could gather once at the Cathedral to understand the role of the
     Bishop and Diocese.
   
   
3. Have a stronger commitment to and understanding of being a Stewardship Parish.
   • Hopefully present in the five operating budgets for stewardship commissions.
   • St. Paul the Apostle will host a gathering to explain the program they have implemented.
   
   
4. To create a position of a “Counselor” who would work in the 5 parishes to meet parishioner counseling needs such as bereavement, marital and family counseling, conflict resolution, annulment guidance, etc. This person would be serving the needs of over 3,000 families. He/She might be moving parishioners toward other public and private service providers. We are just beginning this discussion about this role but all agree it could help to meet real needs in each parish for such services.
   • Cost to be determined. But a person with the necessary experience and credentials
     would command a salary and benefits package of at least $50,000. This could
     also be a contracted person which would charge the overall costs.
     Further discussions by our present group or the emerging Coordinating Council would
     be needed.
   
   
5. To create a multi-media sharing among the 5 parishes (and include the other Davenport and Clinton Deanery parishes.
   • Work within current parish operating budgets.
   • The MORE group will come back to the 5 parishes with a plan of action.

There will be a parish-wide town hall meeting on Sunday, July 10th at 2:00PM in Denning Hall to receive your comments and concerns regarding this plan. Please be in attendance to help us work toward a strong future.