Ohio diocese seeks lay input to improve approaches to vocations, evangelization, formation

The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, is asking its faithful to share their experience and ideas to help the Catholic Church in the area flourish.

The “pastoral planning survey” aims to ensure that every one of the diocese’s more than 250,000 Catholics is given the opportunity to shape the future of their parishes. This survey is just one part of “a larger pastoral planning process,” according to a Jul 11 report from The Catholic Times.

The outlet reports that Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus has proposed four pastoral priorities that are needed to ensure the future of the Catholic faith in his diocese: vocations, evangelization, Catholic education, and formation and social outreach.

These priorities are the four pillars of the survey, which is being conducted online. The survey asks the faithful to describe the “concrete ways” that the Diocese of Columbus fosters these priorities and to propose how the diocese’s approach to each area could be improved.

The bishop’s hope is that the survey will help the diocese to develop practical, implementable goals.

The diocese has enlisted the help of the Catholic Leadership Institute in developing its long-term pastoral plans and its approach to gathering information. In addition to the online survey, the diocese is conducting individual interviews and running focus groups.

Father Michael Hartge, who serves as the moderator of mission advancement in addition to his roles as the diocesan vicar general and moderator of the Curia, hopes that this survey, along with the broader planning process, will help the diocese to meet the pastoral needs of those in their care. The diocese knows that its efforts will incur new expenses, so it is beginning “a capital campaign to be able to support whatever comes from this pastoral planning,” Fr. Hartge told The Catholic Times.

Bishop Fernandes was the youngest diocesan bishop in the nation when he was appointed three years ago. Since then, he has made a number of changes and instituted several new initiatives. As CatholicVote previously reported, Bishop Fernandes lowered the age of confirmation to 9 or 10 this year, and last year he established a shrine to “Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of New Evangelization.”

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