The Presbyteral Council and the priests of the Diocese of Gaylord asked Bishop Walsh to take a hard look at pastoral planning. In recent years, the Diocese of Gaylord has had a low number of priests and seminarians. The last priestly ordination was in 2021. God-willing the next priestly ordination will be in 2027 (one priest). The diocese also has a high number of aging priests who are nearing retirement and 20 pastors who today are shepherding 2-5 parish communities each. With this reality, it was critical pastoral planning begin to help the diocese better prepare for the future.
Bishop Walsh and the Presbyteral Council began collecting and reviewing data on each parish and the community. The first step involved collecting relevant, self-reported data from every parish. Simultaneously, Bishop Walsh reviewed the detailed, 2009 final report of long-term recommendations that were presented to Bishop Cooney by the “Parish and Personnel Task Force.” This task force held more than 60 meetings over two years to create meticulous recommendations on how to best minister to the needs of people in our diocese with the resources available at that time, and the foreseeable future.
The PowerPoints below are a summary of these initial steps in this year’s process. This information was shared with the regional pastoral council and finance council members during six pastoral planning meetings, held in each vicariate, from May until July.
The councils in each vicariate are now discussing the information and will reconvene with the bishop in fall/winter of 2025. Six more vicariate meetings are planned from September until November. Each meeting will begin with a holy hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by discussion of recommendations proposed by Bishop Walsh based on the spring/summer meetings, and prayerful discernment.
The bishop will discuss the plans going forward at a mandatory meeting of priests in January 2026. Bishop Walsh plans to share final plans shortly afterwards, with implementation of changes planned for summer 2026.
