Holy Trinity, St. Edmond's identify challenges of future

By KARA KOCZUR, Globe staff reporter
May 1, 2008

FORT DODGE - Around 300 people gathered in St. Edmond's School auditorium April 25 to cast their votes about what they believe to be the challenges facing the school and Holy Trinity Parish.

With arms raised, 177 people voted that maintaining the economic and financial viability of the school and parish to be the number one challenge facing the Catholic community.

"What we have done here today is extraordinary in the life of the church," said Bernard DuMond, facilitator of the convocation. "It's a unique opportunity because many parishioners don't have the opportunity to have a voice."

The day - long convocation was the culmination of months of planning and meetings for the school and parish's long - range collaborative plan. DuMond's firm, the Institute for School and Parish Development, based out of Louisiana, was involved every step of the way. DuMond was also in Fort Dodge in 1999 to help conduct long - range planning process for the school. About three years ago he helped Sioux City Catholic Schools with their own long - range planning.

Looking to the future

Committee members discussed what they believed to be the number one challenge facing their planning area, as well as what they thought was the best solution to it.

At 2 p.m. everyone filed into the auditorium to hear the reports from the chairperson of each committee. One by one, DuMond then read through all 43 challenges for the multi - vote. People were allowed to vote 22 times to establish the priority of the challenges.

"It's vital that we do collaborate and that we pray for the process," said DuMond upon the completion of the vote. "Your top challenges need to be addressed."

Facilities challenges

One of those top challenges will be in the area of facilities. In fact, the second biggest challenge indentified in the vote was how to provide their Catholic community with efficient buildings that will meet their needs now and in the future. In the case of the school, Sister Hannon said she has some facility needs in the 50 - year - old building, such as the heating system, that she must move ahead on.

"There's just enough things that are percolating that need to be addressed, but we just needed something to move us forward and say, 'Let's face it,'" Sister Hannon said.

Because the parish had just come out of a long - range planning process about a year ago, Father Ed Girres, one of Holy Trinity's team pastors, said he originally didn't see the need to do it again. However, with 23 buildings to upkeep, decisions need to be made, he said. The collaborative plan pushes that to happen.

"The necessity comes especially in the area of facilities because [the school] has some immediate needs, [and the parish] has immediate needs, and we do have to do that together," he said.

Father Lynn Bruch, another team pastor, agreed.

"We have to move forward in terms of being able to run a parish and with less buildings than we have today," he said. "We have to make buildings efficient."

And it doesn't just come down to money, Father Girres said. It also depends on people and priests.

Church sites

Besides the school, currently there are eight church sites for Holy Trinity Parish, which has more than 2,700 families: St. Joseph Church, Barnum; St. Matthew Church, Clare; Christ the King Church, Dayton; St. Joseph Church, Duncombe; Sacred Heart Church, Fort Dodge; Holy Rosary Church, Fort Dodge; Corpus Christi Church, Fort Dodge; and Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Moorland.

So many people showed interest in the area of facilities, that three groups needed to be made. Marilyn Moeding, 70, was in one of those groups.

"We do have a problem with the eight sites," said Moeding, a parishioner at Holy Trinity. "It was one of the things we discussed in our group and we very easily came to a decision."

One of the solutions given during committee reports was to review the current facilities and close some while modernizing others. Another solution was to create a study of school and church buildings to determine which ones to close, which ones to maintain and whether to construct new ones. The last one was to create a single - site parish by building a new church or adding on to an existing site.

While Moeding admitted that facilities can be a sensitive area, she said there was a lot of compatibility within her group.

"There was no negative interaction at all," Moeding said. "From the things we discussed there could have been some very disgruntled feelings, but people handled it well."

Collaborative spirit

It's a given that people don't like change, Sister Hannon said. However, she said she was happy with the number of people who turned out, as well amount of positive energy they had during the day. Both priests agreed.

"It's always good to have a lot of people involved and assuming this kind of ownership to whatever plan they come up with," Father Girres said. "The idea is that the school and parish collaborate more and I think there's a real spirit of that."

One of the things Father Bruch said he liked about the convocation was that the parish and the school, which are usually separate, were talking together.

"They're learning and listening, and that will do nothing but help to bring things forward," he said.

Father Bruch acknowledged that peoples' feelings may get hurt, but that they should remember the opportunities the collaboration presents.

"There are greater opportunities by being combined with others than in our small communities alone," Father Bruch said. "That doesn't mean we don't lose things."

New opportunities from combining some parish activities have already been seen, he added. The collaboration, he said, will bring new opportunities for religious education classes, retreats and other ways for parishioners to grow in their faith.

"The hard thing to do is to get people to buy into that," Father Bruch said. "The only we can really do that is through our stewardship efforts. What I really mean by that is to get people involved."

Following the convocation, the community will receive a formal report this June, Sister Hannon said. The next step is to begin the process of implementation, which is the hard work, she added.

Father Girres agreed that there is a lot of work coming in the future.

"The hardest thing is keeping people on board to implement," he added. "I'm sure some of the solutions that people suggest will have to be tweaked in reality."

And although there is much hard work ahead, Father Girres is putting his faith in the Holy Spirit.

"I'm just really grateful that so many people take interest," he said. "I really do just trust the Holy Spirit will use everyone's best intentions and that good things are going to come out of it."