All 8 sites to remain open in Webster CountyWebster County Parishes finalize recommendation

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
August 11, 2005

WEBSTER COUNTY - The official recommendation for the parishes of Webster County has been submitted to the Diocese of Sioux City and is now awaiting a new bishop for approval.

According to Father Ed Girres, a member of the pastoral team who ministers to these parishes, the recommendation centers on the formation of one parish, but all eight worship sites would remain open for now.

The eight churches that makeup the Webster County Team Parishes are St. Joseph, Barnum; St. Matthew, Clare; Christ the King, Dayton; St. Joseph, Duncombe; Corpus Christi, Fort Dodge; Holy Rosary, Fort Dodge; Sacred Heart, Fort Dodge and Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorland.

"When we first published our recommendations in January, that was not the official document that went to the bishop but was what the task force was planning to recommend. With the amount of feedback, especially about a new building, we realized that we needed to do a lot more studying and talk about that issue," said Father Girres.

The original recommendation proposed to close all eight church buildings after a single church was built. There was great opposition to the church closings.

Based on all of the feedback, they continued to have visioning sessions and work on a recommendation.

"We are going with the recommendation to become one parish, corporately and in name but at this point we would maintain all of the worship sites," said Father Girres.

While there would be one name for the unified parish, each of the eight sites would keep their names with the change from parish or church to something like worship site or center. The language to be used remains to be determined.

If the current recommendation is approved and they become one parish, there will be a single governance structure for all of the Catholic people in the county. There will be just one parish council, one finance council and other subcommittees to address parish needs.

He pointed out that when there are eight different parish councils and various groups at all of the parishes, it is difficult to keep up with what's happening not to mention the workload of meeting schedules alone.

"As leaders, we are pulled in more than eight different directions - tons of directions," said Father Girres. If the recommendation goes through, the goal isn't to stilt diversity, but "we will follow a common purpose and common vision that will keep us moving in a positive direction."

Presently, thoughts are to have about seven subcommittees but this may change as they get into the actual work.

"I think we will involve as many, if not more people from the various parishes," he stressed. "We will be working on things that we need to be doing in many areas of pastoral ministry."

Some of the subcommittees will be based on such things as faith formation, finances, buildings and liturgy. Another subcommittee will help come up with a name for the one parish and may help people transition to this concept.

He pointed out that for the parish and finance councils there would be one representative from each of the eight parishes, but based on various factors such as people's interests and backgrounds there may or may not be someone from each parish on every subcommittee. In addition, more than likely there will be subcommittees of the subcommittees that may be ongoing in some cases or temporary, based on a project or event.

"We have a basic structure in place and if we get approval, we will start out with it," said Father Girres, who added that at the same time it is somewhat of a work in progress.

They will make adaptations based on needs.

"If we can make the change it will help us to function much better and put our whole Catholic community working closer together," he said. "We've been doing a lot together already, but this will keep us moving in that direction."

While some fear that there will be less people involved because it will take away some of the work of the small communities, Father Girres believes otherwise.

"I think there will be a refocusing of where people can really become involved," he said. "I think there will be some positive potential for us to move forward pastorally and with a vision about how parishes live."

With the new proposal, not all parishes are guaranteed to remain open indefinitely. In fact, the likelihood for this is not good as the number of priests who minister to the parishes is expected to go from four to two. This will be an issue that the task force must continue to explore.

What are they looking at? Some people have suggested the option of keeping Corpus Christi and Sacred Heart open and there is still the possibility of going to a one-site church down the line.

"We are going back to the drawing board with those questions," acknowledged Father Girres. "There is some work done already but clearly from the reactions of people for them to be convinced of one thing or another, they want a lot more information. We will have to spend some more money and time delving into those questions. What do we need if we are renovating buildings? What will it cost?"

Yes, he acknowledged, more work needs to be done but the work that has been accomplished will go far to build the unity and collaboration among the people.