VALPARAISO – The ballrooms at Valparaiso University were packed on Sept. 10, a Wednesday evening, with approximately 300 Catholics from Porter County concerned about the future of their parishes. The crowd was gathered for a pastoral planning general session, which was just one of the meetings held that week in each of the four deaneries that make up the Diocese of Gary.
Father Christopher Stanish, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese, led the meeting along with Father Jeffrey Burton, North Lake dean and pastor of multiple parishes and schools, and Deacon Brad Hendrickson, who serves at St. Matthias in Crown Point. The two priests and deacon make up the steering committee for the pastoral planning process.
“The Diocese of Gary, like many dioceses across the country, faces fewer priests, shifting demographics, changing patterns of participation, aging buildings and fewer financial resources,” Father Stanish explained.
“Rather than simply reacting to these challenges, Bishop (Robert) McClory is inviting parishes into a ‘grassroots’ approach to envision the future – to renew our commitment to the mission of evangelization, to strengthen parish life and to make sure that every community has what it needs to thrive.”
This strategy is in comparison to some dioceses where the bishop has announced parish closures or changes in a “top-down” approach, often leaving local Catholics feeling confused and left out of the process.
Pastoral planning is a prayerful, strategic process by which a parish or group of parishes take inventory of the current human and financial resources of a community and realign them to meet current sacramental and pastoral needs in the area. Each pastor appoints three key parish leaders (or KPLs) to participate in the process, representing the needs of their parish community, to work with the steering committee and submit a proposal to Bishop McClory for consideration.
The Diocese of Gary has partnered with the Catholic Leadership Institute (CLI), a consulting firm that has worked with dioceses and parishes across the country, to help guide the process with tools, research and best practices.
“While CLI provides expertise and facilitation, the process itself is deeply rooted in the faith, history, and people of the Diocese of Gary,” Father Stanish explained. “It’s not about an outside group making decisions for us; it’s about empowering our parishes to discern together, with pastoral guidance, how the Lord is calling us to be His Church here and now.”
Pastoral planning is not a new process to the Diocese of Gary, which has already begun implementing a plan for realigning resources for mission in Merrillville, Michigan City and part of the North Lake Deanery, including East Chicago, Hammond and Whiting. Most recently, the Merrillville parishes were united as one parish on Sept. 15 with two worship sites at Our Lady of Consolation and the former St. Andrew church under the title of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs.
Now, Bishop McClory has asked the 41 parishes who have not yet participated in pastoral planning to actively go through the process this fall. The planning areas for the parishes are broken down mostly by deanery: LaPorte/Starke County, Porter County, South Lake County and Gary/Lake Station.
At the general session at Valparaiso University, the steering committee presented the current state of the diocese using data with regards to demographics according to U.S. Census and Experian reports, Mass attendance according to the annual October Counts, sacramental data and the results of the Disciple Maker Index (DMI) survey in Porter County, which was conducted last Lent. The presentation was the same presentation given to the KPLs at their first session with the goal of making sure the faithful have the same information as the leaders who will be representing them and creating the proposed plan for Bishop McClory.
Father Burton presented the reality of the priests who serve the Diocese of Gary as the leaders of parishes, schools and ministries, as well as providing for the sacramental and pastoral needs of communities.
“The hard constraint we all face,” according to Father Burton, “is that the number of priests is decreasing rapidly and will continue to decrease rapidly,” as a significant number of priests are set to retire in the next five years. The number of diocesan priests has shrunk from 103 in 2011 to 73 in 2025. Additionally, there are several retired priests who assist with the sacraments who will no longer be available to serve in ministry due to failing health or death in the coming years.
The Diocese of Gary currently has nine seminarians, but it can take up to nine years from entering seminary to ordination, Father Burton explained. “Simply giving priests more and more assignments is not a sustainable approach to this situation.”
Deacon Hendrickson presented the faithful with data specific to their parish communities, beginning with understanding the geographic landscape. While parishes in Porter County are relatively spaced out, often taking up to 15 minutes or more to drive between parish campuses, parishes in other planning areas were built in relative proximity to one another to reflect a more pedestrian society.
Next, the deacon shared slides on each parish in the Porter County planning area, including information on the parish demographics, Mass attendance, and the number of baptisms, first communions, confirmations, weddings and funerals over a 10-year time period. He noted that it is widely accepted nationally that a parish that has more baptisms than funerals is generally considered to be a growing community.
Before he provided the data on individual parish communities, Deacon Hendrickson encouraged those present to keep an open mind and not to draw too many conclusions based on the data alone.
“You may have an emotional response to this information, and that’s just part of being human,” he told the attendees. “Stay open to the process, talk to your key parish leaders and pray to the Holy Spirit.”
Father Stanish also acknowledged that while the results of the pastoral planning process will hopefully be stronger and better-resourced communities, it is understandable for members of the faithful to feel unsure about what will come next.
“It’s completely natural to feel anxious about change, especially when it touches something as personal and sacred as one’s parish. But it’s important to remember that the Church is not first and foremost a building – it is the People of God, united in Christ through faith and mission.
“The heart of this process is not merely about closing parishes, but about strengthening our ability to live out the Gospel together. The fruit of this process should be a Church that is alive with hope, rooted in Christ, and ready to serve the needs of Northwest Indiana with joy and generosity.”
Parishioners of parishes undergoing pastoral planning are encouraged to communicate with their pastor and key parish leaders with any questions, concerns or considerations. There will be one more general session for each of the four planning areas the week of Oct. 27.
Answers to frequently asked questions regarding pastoral planning can be found on the Diocese of Gary website at dcgary.org/planning
Caption: Very Rev. Christopher Stanish, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Gary, addresses a crowd of approximately 300 members of the faithful on Sept. 10 in the ballrooms at the Harre Union at Valparaiso University for a general session as part of the pastoral planning process for the Catholic parishes in Porter County. (Cecilia Cicone photo)
