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NEXT STEPS
Recently, a team of nearly 50 volunteers, including religios orders, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary faculty and staff, associate pastors, permanent deacons, and lay people synthesized all the information the Archdiocese of St. Louis has received regarding its 178 parishes during the All Things New pastoral planning initiative. Information gathered included feedback from key parish leaders, parish listening sessions, online surveys, individual letters and emails. The summaries will be another important piece of information as Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski makes a final decision on the future of the parishes.
The volunteers were asked to follow four guidelines: offer a fair representation of what people said; include the real contradictions and tensions reflected in the feedback; offer the good ideas and key insights shared; and ensure they are concise. Volunteers were not allowed to synthesize any information for parishes in their own planning area.
The initial draft of the parish feedback summaries have been shared with pastors, who were asked to share the summaries with their Key Parish Leaders and provide feedback. Every parish feedback summary is now public at https://allthingsnew.archstl.org/planning-process/planning-areas. (St. Stephen Protomartyr is in Planning Area #3.) You should contact your parish office for more information if you do not have access to the internet. All of this is geared toward the Archbishop making a well-informed, discerned decision for the spiritual wellbeing of the Archdiocese, looking at the feedback of the people and the needs of the Archdiocese.
The All Things New planning committee is expected to refine the draft models to one model per planning area. Armed with the feedback summaries, parish workbooks, and financial data, the team will analyze each model to ensure each one has the resources to sustain the new structure. Another round of draft model options will be shared with the priests in early February, with a period of feedback. Other factors will come under consideration, including redrawing maps of the archdiocese and priest reassignments.
It is expected that by the end of April, Archbishop Rozanski will have met with Consultors to review final draft models, and then he will have a month to pray and discern before announcing a final decision on May 28, the feast of Pentecost. Implementation of these plans will take effect beginning in fall 2023 through 2026.
Please continue to pray for the gift of true discernment so that we may continue to do the will of God in all things. -
RESULTS OF LATEST SCHOOL SURVEY
As part of “All Things New,” the Archdiocese of St. Louis is examining our parishes, schools, ministries and agencies, evaluating our effectiveness in proclaiming the Gospel. Our goal is to “make all things new” by Gospel renewal and to enhance our evangelization to secure a vibrant future for our current students, as well as their children and grandchildren, by creating an educational model that is accessible, affordable, strong in Catholic identity, and more equitable towards our teachers.
As part of this prayerful discernment, Archbishop Rozanski recently sought additional input and feedback from current parish school teachers, staff, and school families about their Catholic school experiences. Nearly 1,900 teachers responded to their survey, and more 10,000 parents and guardians responded to their survey by answering both multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
You can see an overview of all the responses from across the Archdiocese and results of each parish school at allthingsnew.archstl.org. The survey results from our specific school have been sent to our pastor and principal, and parts have been shared with our teachers, staff, and school parents. They have provided excellent and important feedback to the Archbishop regarding your values and desires as they relate to the future of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Thanks to all who participated.
For any questions pertaining to “All Things New,” contact [email protected]. -
After the Listening SessionS ...
If you attended one of the listening sessions on Nov. 1 or 3, you should have received an email on Nov. 16 that included a link to the materials that were presented at the Planning Area 3 sessions. To access the material that was shared at our parish listening session, including the presentation, videos, and model option maps, click below.
Our Listening Session Presentation Materials
Also included in the email was a link to the follow-up online survey. Please note this is not the same as the DMI survey from this past summer. This particular survey is to gather your feedback about the models presented at the listening sessions as well as any other comments you would like to share. Once you start the survey online, you must complete it in a single session. You cannot pause and come back later to finish. Below, in addition to a link to the survey itself, there is also a link to all of the survey questions so you can review them and gather your thoughts before you go online to complete the survey.Review the Survey Questions
Take the Survey Online
The survey must be completed and submitted by Dec. 31, 2022. You have time to review the presentation materials as many times as you need in order to make informed, prayerful decisions regarding your answers.
If you are unable to take the survey online or know someone who does not have access to a computer, please contact Mary Regan. -
Change to Timeline for K-8 Schools
In response to the feedback received from school families, pastors, principals, teachers, and staff, along with the recommendation of the school planning committee, Archbishop Rozanski announced that, as part of its All Things New initiative, the Archdiocese of St. Louis is adjusting its implementation timeline for its 87 parish based K-8 schools from the 2023-2024 school year to the 2024-2025 school year.
It is believed that changes to schools will occur, organically at the parish level, allowing the parish communities themselves to come up with some creative solutions. Once the new parish landscape is known in May of 2023, the Office of Catholic Education and Formation along with the All Things New implementation team will work with parish and school communities on what changes could be made for the 2024-2025 school year.
The All Things New pastoral planning process will continue to work towards a reimagined parish landscape for Pentecost of 2023. Only after the Archdiocese has discerned what the parish landscape should look like will it discern what parish schools should look like, since they rely heavily on parish support.
We are grateful to all the administrators, teachers, and staff who have chosen to share their gifts to help raise our children in our Catholic faith. We are grateful to the parents for their commitment to Catholic education.
The goal of the Archdiocese is to create an educational model that is strong in Catholic identity, accessible, affordable, and more equitable towards our teachers. Many parishes that operate grade schools have struggled to find the balance between accessibility, affordability, and just teacher wages while also dealing with shifting demographics, all while being good stewards of the parish’s overall resources.
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Education Survey Results
The Education Survey included questions for a variety of audiences including: school parents, alumni/volunteers/donors, school faculty and staff, PSR parents, and PSR catechists.
It was completed anonymously and did not require specification of any individual school or parish; therefore results are not specific to any school or religious education program. The results are overarching themes across the Archdiocese identified by survey respondents.
In total, the Education Survey received 18,653 responses throughout fifteen regions of the St. Louis Archdiocese. -
Disciple Maker Index Survey REsults
This past Lenten season, our parish took part in a 75-question survey administered by the Catholic Leadership Institute, as part of the All Things New strategic plan for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The Disciple Maker Index (DMI) survey is designed to capture information regarding attitudes, beliefs, relationships, satisfaction, participation, and demographics, using a quantitative tool that can be used for benchmarking and trending information.
At St. Stephen Protomartyr, 384 people participated in the survey. Thank you for letting your voices be heard! A summary of key strengths and opportunities is provided in the graphics below. Based on the average October Sunday Mass count from 2015-2021, about 60% of Mass-going Catholics participated in the DMI survey in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. This is above the national average for other dioceses who have taken the DMI.
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Our representatives
Father Ron Hopmeir, Pastor
Mary Regan, Pastoral Associate and Point of Contact
Christy Biundo, Key Parish Leader
Brooks Goedeker, Key Parish Leader
Leigh Manalang, Key Parish Leader
Andrew Rettig, Key Parish Leader
Gary Stoff, Key Parish Leader