Bishop Louis Tylka established a Core Team consisting of:
● Msgr. Jason Gray - Pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle, Peoria Heights; Judicial Vicar; Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated Life, Executive Director of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation
● Msgr. Mark Merdian - Pastor of St. Columba, Ottawa; St. Francis of Assisi, Ottawa; St. Patrick, Ottawa; St. Mary Shrine, Naplate; and Vicar Forane of the Ottawa Vicariate
● Fr. Chase Hilgenbrinck - Diocesan Vocation Director for Recruitment
● Fr. David Richardson - Pastor of St. Philomena, Peoria and Episcopal Vicar of Junior Clergy
● Amanda Connon - Director of Information Management, Diocese of Peoria
● Matt Faley - Chief of Mission, Diocese of Peoria

The Core Team meets regularly with the bishop to help guide the conversation and discernment process.

A Diocesan Pastoral Planning Commission has been assembled with lay leaders from each vicariate and other diocesan leaders to provide additional feedback for the process.
The Catholic Leadership Institute, a lay apostolate based in Philadelphia, is facilitating the process.

The goal is to create a sustainable structure of parishes that renews discipleship and enhances relationships with Jesus Christ in every corner of the Diocese of Peoria.
The vision in the Diocese of Peoria is to:
● Inspire a discipleship in each baptized follower of Jesus
● Empowering disciples to evangelize by sharing the saving name of Jesus
● Deepen our awareness of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
● Strengthen vocations
● Continue the legacy of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Further explanation of each component of this vision can be found here.

Growing Disciples is intended to achieve this vision through the following opportunities:
● Enabling the faithful to go make disciples within a mission-driven, sustainable structure of parishes and schools.
● Enhancing the vibrancy of our parishes, schools and ministries.
● Increasing our support of the happiness, health and holiness of our priests.

The Church and its people continue to face unique opportunities and challenges as society evolves. In Illinois, and certainly in the Diocese of Peoria, the demographic landscape looks different than it did even 10 years ago, while the structural landscape has remained nearly the same.
The current challenges facing our diocese include:
● A changing regional and diocesan landscape
● National trends regarding religion
● Too few priests to staff more than 150 parishes.

While we have a strong and vibrant faith community, the current structural landscape combined with the above challenges limits our ability to fully live out our God-given mission as Catholics. We must together move toward a mission-focused network of parishes, ministries, agencies and communities, becoming stronger and more vibrant than ever so that we can effectively spread the Good News of Jesus for generations to come.

About ten years ago, Bishop Jenky launched our diocese Growing in Faith Together (GIFT) effort to address similar goals to those we are looking to address today. The GIFT effort was more limited in scope.

Based in part on what we learned from our experience with GIFT a decade ago, we are committed today to developing and implementing a comprehensive and thorough pastoral planning process to ensure successful results that will address the needs of today while positioning our diocese for a vibrant and sustainable future.

Since becoming a bishop in July 2020, Bishop Tylka has been listening to and praying with the diocesan community. He celebrated Mass in each vicariate and nearly every parish, and met with each of the priests beginning in August 2020, which led to a meeting with a cabinet of 12 priests who met monthly for one year, from February 2021-February 2022. Bishop Tylka invited each parish to gather leaders to discuss questions and followed up by convening these leaders in vicariate groups to share ideas in a synodal process from August 2021-October 2021. All of the results of this listening and dialogue will be considered in the planning process.

We have also collected financial, demographic and sacramental data from each parish and gathered feedback from various stakeholders–including our priests, lay leaders, and faithful of all ages–which will inform the remainder of the planning process. This effort will affect the entire diocese.

This is a two-year process, involving ongoing prayer, listening, and feedback from various stakeholders that will inform the options considered for a pastoral plan for parishes and schools throughout the Diocese of Peoria, which will be finalized by Pentecost (May) 2024.

Prepare (May – August 2022)
● Announce the Growing Disciples pastoral planning effort to clergy, the faithful, and general public.
● Organize a Core Planning Team and Diocesan Pastoral Planning Commission to oversee the process.

Assess (August – December 2022)
● Conduct focus groups with priests, deacons, parish and school leaders to get their ideas and opinions.
● Survey parishes and schools to get baseline planning information.
● Share what has been learned and answer questions about Growing Disciples at the October 2022 Priest Assembly Days gathering and December 2022 vicariate meetings with parish leaders.

Discern (January 2023 to April 2024)
● Develop and share initial parish configuration proposals.
● Get feedback on the initial proposals at the March 2023 Priest Assembly Day and

Spring 2023 vicariate meetings with parish leaders.
● Review feedback from the clergy and parish leaders and draft a revised set of parish configuration proposals.
● Get feedback on the revised parish proposals through focus groups with priests and parish discussions with the laity.
● Review feedback and share updated models with the Pastoral Planning Commission for
their feedback. The Core Team then makes recommendations to the Presbyteral Council, which meets and makes a recommendation to Bishop Tylka.

Decide and Implement (May 2024 to May 2026)
● Bishop Tylka announces his decision on final parish structures.
● Implementation of the new structures begins and occurs over the next several years.

We are asking every member of our faith community to join us in prayer. We invite you to reflect on your personal relationship with Jesus, how you envision the most vibrant Church in the Diocese of Peoria, and how God might be calling you to contribute to that vision by living out the mission of Jesus through the Church in your own life as a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ.

The core change needed for a renewed Church is an interior renewal, which must occur in our hearts. This interior renewal in each of us is essential in order for spiritual growth to happen in our broader community. We ask that all across the Diocese of Peoria join with us in personal reflection and prayer throughout this process.

In addition, we are providing multiple opportunities for the faithful to provide feedback during this process. Parishes have shared financial, demographic, and sacramental data so the Bishop has accurate and current information. Priests are being convened regularly to share their perspective on parish draft models. Likewise, Key Parish Leaders gathered at vicariate-level sessions to share their thoughts and ideas on parish draft models. Additionally, all parishioners were given the opportunity to provide feedback through a variety of outlets.

Five criteria or considerations have shaped the parish models:
a. Evangelization Potential, including vibrant liturgies and expanded outreach and Ministry

b. Geography & Demographics with no priest or lay person needing to travel more than 30 minutes to attend Mass

c. Natural Affinities and Past Collaboration among parishes

d. Long Term Sustainability including having the necessary scale and resources for lay leadership, evangelization and financial sustainability

e. Feedback of priests and the faithful
In addition, the size and physical conditions of parish buildings were considered.

Yes.

The criteria used was the same throughout the diocese and applied to each grouping of parishes. There was no specific rubric or numeric standard that each parish had to meet.

a. "allow more resources to be devoted to ministry" In cases where parish finances may be tight, the parish leadership is encouraged to prioritize stewardship and prudent use of available funds for ministry and long-term viability.

b. "promote vibrant liturgy" Adjust the Mass schedule to encourage liturgies that are well-attended, with active engagement of the faithful, even if that entails reducing the number of weekend Masses.

c. “coordinate with neighboring parishes” This could include the sharing of resources, like a youth minister, a religious education program, or coordinating Mass times to enable the Eucharist to be more accessible to parishioners.

We are most interested in feedback from parishioners regarding their own parish grouping. Some people have provided comments on other parish groupings.

The Diocese will be closing churches. The data and feedback from priests, lay leaders, and the faithful will help inform the Bishop as he discerns the future footprint of the Diocese of Peoria.

The recommendation to the Bishop would be to no longer use the church as a worship site. It would be a separate process to formally relegate a worship space so that it can be made available for another use or for sale.

No. Churches designated as “not in use” will no longer be used for liturgical purposes following their closings.

A church that is not in use will be maintained by the parish if it is used for purposes other than divine worship or by the group that owns it (in the case of the sale).

Canon law requires the money received from the sale of a church building goes to the parish to which the church belongs.

Knowing that parishioners have given much to the building and maintenance of a church, careful consideration will be given as to how we can best continue to utilize some of the sacred objects in a receiving parish. The disposition of the property will be done in consultation with the parish leadership and the diocese.

The Bishop will include that in his announcement by Pentecost (May) 2024.

A secondary church is a church under the care of the parish where some pastoral care will be provided. This would include Sunday Mass and other sacraments in so far as possible, as determined by the pastor.

This will be spelled out further during the implementation phase.

The pastor will be charged with creating new parish and finance councils for the new parish after merger. The intent of these councils will be to advise the pastor in fulfilling the mission of the church and the parish to “Go and Make Disciples”.

This will be spelled out further during the implementation phase.

Yes. In several cases parish models envision combining parishes that are in separate vicariates. It is likely that vicariate boundaries will be adjusted after the Growing Disciples process.

Parishes will be free to investigate other uses for sites that are no longer used for worship.

Each parish has two trustees. When multiple parishes merge, the merged parish will only have two trustees.

Priest assignments will be announced at the same time as the parish structure announcements are made, which will be Pentecost weekend 2024.

Streaming Masses is not an optimal way to celebrate the Eucharist and does not fulfill the Sunday obligation so this option was not considered.

In order for us to be fully committed and empowered to evangelize as a Church, we must first look at the foundation from which we are formed to be disciples of Christ. We cannot be effective evangelizers if we are not effective disciples. Much of our faith
formation and empowerment to evangelize comes from our faith communities–our parishes and schools–so we must focus on first making these communities as vibrant and fruitful as possible. If we sow our seeds on good soil, we can bear fruit one hundredfold. If we model our environment, including our parish and school structures, in a way that best supports our faith formation and discipleship, we can bear the fruit of evangelization in our broader community.

The shortage of priests is one of the key factors the Bishop is considering. In the Diocese of Peoria, we have 124 active priests to serve 156 parishes. In less than 10 years, nearly one-third of our active priests will be aged 70 and older. If we were to have a priest assigned to every church, and have additional priests to serve as associate pastors or in specialized ministry, we would need approximately 45-60 additional priests. We currently have 22 seminarians who hope to be ordained over the next seven years.

While Growing Disciples will involve changing, closing and/or merging parishes and churches, the purpose of this process is much greater than physical buildings. The purpose of the Growing Disciples process is to renew discipleship and enhance relationships with Jesus Christ in every corner of the diocese. At the core of this plan is the mission of reaching every heart in our community with the invitation to a personal relationship with Jesus. While the truths of our faith remain unchanging, the manner through which we present these truths must adapt to meet the needs of our time.
In order to effectively live out our call as disciples of Jesus, empower all of our faithful to evangelize, re-encounter the Eucharist which is the source and summit of our faith, strengthen vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and continue the legacy of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, we must have the structural and environmental support in place to sustain these efforts and fulfill the spiritual needs of our community.

In some cases, parish communities may be asked to work collaboratively to make a recommendation on the future use of some church buildings.

Growing Disciples is studying parish structures. Our schools will continue to be maintained by the parishes that sponsor them.

An interparochial school (a school owned by more than one parish) will continue to be operated by those parishes, however constituted after the merger.

A diocesan school (a school owned by the diocese and supported by several assessed parishes) will also continue to be supported by the same parishes, however constituted after the merger.
If specific questions arise, decisions will be made by the diocese on a case-by-case basis.

The Diocese of Peoria has a moral and canonical obligation to care for the dead in perpetuity. Details of how parish cemeteries will be handled within Growing Disciples are still being worked out.

Several other dioceses have successfully completed and implemented pastoral plans. Catholic dioceses and archdioceses in Boston, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis, among others, have undertaken or are in the midst of similar processes over the last several years. Each diocese has had a plan and process unique to the diocese based on its own strengths and challenges.

We welcome emails to growingdisciples@cdop.org.