Last February, the Diocese of Sioux City announced they would be implementing the Ministry 2025 plan, that would restructure the number of parishes and create worship sites where the parish is technically closed but the building is still open for Sunday Mass and the sacraments as well as oratory sites where the parish is suppressed and the site no longer has Sunday Mass. The goal was optimal utilization of limited priestly resources while also sustaining and creating vibrant parishes. The Diocese has also cited a shift and decrease to the Catholic population, with a 7.5 percent drop in the number of households from 2008 to 2015. Since that announcement, the Diocese has been working with the feedback received to create a final plan, which alters the original by decreasing from 67 to 61 parishes, but increasing to 20 worship sites. Father Brent Lingle, director of pastoral planning, says the most significant changes in the plan are seen in Carroll County. Currently, Carroll County has 14 parishes and the new plan will have eight churches designated worship sites and six that will be moved to oratory status. Parishes in Glidden and Dedham were originally planned to be oratory, but will now remain open as worship sites, while Auburn and Coon Rapids parishes, which were originally going to remain open, will now be moved to oratory status. The majority of the proposed cluster changes are scheduled to take place this summer, but Father Lingle says that five of the six proposed clusters will be phased in over the next few years based on retirements and personnel moves. Some parts of the plan may not happen until 2021, according to Lingle. The next step is for parish clusters to work on their three-year pastoral plan. “Change,” said Father Lingle, “especially losing parishes is not easy. But to do nothing was not an option. Rather than pouring our energy into maintaining buildings, the vision of Ministry 2025 is to use resources wisely to create vibrant parishes and ease the workload of priests.” A map of the Ministry 2025 plans for the area can be found by following the link included with this story on our website.
