Update on Pastoral Plan, parish Eucharistic Revival and other initiatives in the Diocese of Salt Lake City

+ Enlarge

SALT LAKE CITY — Parish leaders and members of the diocesan staff gathered via Zoom and in person with Bishop Oscar A. Solis on Nov. 27 to hear updates on various ongoing initiatives in the diocese, including the Pastoral Plan and the Eucharistic Revival.

Bishop Solis presented the Pastoral Plan in 2018; it identified five priorities for the diocese. These priorities included faith formation, vocations and stewardship. The plan identified goals, objectives and implementation strategies for achieving each priority. However, the pandemic interrupted implementation of the Pastoral Plan, and for the past year the bishop has been working with pastors and other diocesan leaders to get it back on track.

As part of this process, diocesan leaders were asked earlier this year to reconsider the priorities identified in the Pastoral Plan. Although each of the original priorities continued to be identified as important, the consensus was that faith formation was the one that should be focused on first.

The Eucharistic Revival is a national three-year effort called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The first, diocesan, phase concluded in the Diocese of Salt Lake City with a rally and Mass that drew an estimated 10,000 Catholics from across Utah to the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy on July 9. The parish phase is now under way; each parish is asked to emphasize the Eucharist in its activities. The national effort will culminate with a Eucharistic pilgrimage from May 17 to July 16, ending with a National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis. The Diocese of Salt Lake City is organizing a group to participate in this pilgrimage; for information, visit https://www.dioslc.org/images/Salt_Lake_City_NEC_Brochure_-_FINAL_1.pdf.

At the Nov. 27 meeting, Bishop Solis thanked those attending for their “cooperation and collaboration in our mission to preach the Gospel and build a vibrant faith community in every parish and mission throughout our diocese.”

Report On the Deaneries

The first presenter at the meeting was Father Francisco Pires, pastor of St. Henry Parish in Brigham City and Santa Ana Mission in Tremonton, and president of the Presbyteral Council, who gave examples of what parishes in each deanery are doing to implement the Pastoral Plan and, in some cases, the Eucharistic Revival. Among the highlights he mentioned are that the Eastern Deanery is planning an Ignatian spirituality workshop, the Salt Lake Deanery is emphasizing getting parish Pastoral Plans on paper and implementing them, the Southwestern Deanery is preparing for a presentation on Theology of the Body, the Saint Joseph Catholic Schools in the Northern Deanery are reaching out to parishes for collaborative projects, and most of the parishes in the Wasatch Deanery are focusing on the Eucharistic Revival.

“We can see across the deaneries across the diocese collective efforts in a) spiritual engagement and Eucharistic Revival; b) pastoral planning and parish development; c) faith formation and education; d) community outreach and collaboration, utilization of resources and data; and finally, spiritual advancement and workshops all throughout the diocese,” Fr. Pires said.

A summary of a report on demographic data for each of the deaneries and parishes was given by Julie Boerio-Goates, a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council. The study, conducted by Meitler, gives information such as population trends and median income of the deaneries, as well as total Mass attendance and reception of the sacraments from 2020 to 2022; this information can help parishes implement the Pastoral Plan.

Because of the diversity of parishes within the deaneries, Boerio-Goates suggested that pastors look primarily at individual parish data rather than that of the deanery as a whole.

Bishop Solis asked that information from the report be shared with parish communities so they can begin to address concerns such as population growth “so that we can plan our mission of evangelization for the coming years.”

Parish Eucharistic Revival

Also during the meeting, Father Christopher Gray, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City, who is the diocesan point person for the Eucharistic Revival, said he continues to receive reports about what parishes are doing in this regard. “Almost everything we do in our parishes, in our churches, is part of the Eucharistic Revival,” he said. “Everything is a Eucharistic Revival event, whether it is receiving a relic or a special service project – everything we do points to the Eucharist, the source and summit of not just the liturgy but of our faith.”

The Eucharistic Revival is the response “to the people of God who are hungering, hungering for the Eucharist and the presence of Christ in their lives, and it is our sacred responsibility to pave the way and to  help people encounter Christ in their lives, especially his Real Presence in the Eucharist,” Bishop Solis said.

Utah Fits All Scholarship

An update on the Utah Fits All scholarship program was given by Mark Longe, superintendent of Utah Catholic Schools. The statewide program will provide about 5,000 scholarships worth $8,000 each to students in grades K-12 that may be used for private school tuition, such as to Utah Catholic Schools.

The Catholic Schools office has undertaken a campaign to educate parents about this program and encourage families with children already enrolled in a Catholic school to apply. Longe said that at the time of the meeting 1,669 Catholic school families have pre-applied for a scholarship, and “I’ve been told that … there are close to 20,000 pre-applications statewide.”

The schools office is working with state representatives to raise the total amount in the program from $40 million to at least $100 million, Longe said.

In addition, the schools office is reaching out to parishes whose students feed in to the various Catholic schools to educate parents there about the scholarship program, Longe said.

The 16 Utah Catholic Schools have a total of 1,800 open seats, he said.

Catholic education “is an essential component and part of the mission of our Church, and the Utah Fits All scholarship is a golden opportunity for our parishioners and families, especially those who are poor to be able to” provide a Catholic education to their children, Bishop Solis said.

Pastoral Plan

The final presenter of the evening was Dominican Father Wayne Cavalier, a consultant from the Congar Institute for Ministry Development who has worked on the Pastoral Plan since the beginning of the process. He went over some of the suggestions that have been made to implement comprehensive faith formation in the parishes, such as meeting monthly with parents about activities they can do with their children regarding the Sunday readings; programs for parents to involve them in their children’s  sacramental preparation; and ways to have adult faith formation.

In his closing remarks, Bishop Solis encouraged the priests to continue to participate in the Pastoral Plan process, engage with it with their parishioners and share the people’s hopes, aspirations, concerns and challenges “so that we might be able to pastorally address them.”  

The bishop also asked those attending the meeting to submit suggestions regarding how diocesan events such as the annual Pastoral Congress and diocesan retreats at Advent and Lent can be good instruments for adult faith formation.