Terry Analyzes the "Analyzers"

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee appears ready to launch another "planning process." But it may, indeed, be a case of Same Stuff, Different Day.

Terry opines and raises a few points:

Brian T. Olszewski reported last month in our Catholic Herald on Archbishop Dolan's appointment of Father James Connell as vicar of planning. Fr. Connell wrote and is circulating a paper of "starter questions" called "Energizing Our Vibrancy". Based in part on responses to it, he will make recommendations to Archbishop Dolan. Preliminary conclusions are expected to be known by Thanksgiving, and he hopes new planning ideas will be in place for the spring budget planning for the fiscal year starting next July.

So far, so good.

In July, he published and distributed to about 500 people a document titled “Energizing Our Vibrancy” in which he posed what he termed “starter questions” about the present and future of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. (Quote from the Catholic Herald)

Terry comments:

The term "starter questions" looked like an acknowledgement that there's been an enormous amount of time and effort wasted in what was called planning. This goes back well more than five years. What we need is failure analysis, including looking at the assumptions on which the current planning approach is based. Instead we're getting a variation on the same approach. If he'll be trying to extract themes from huge numbers of responses, he repeats the mistake of the current process. It's too unsystematic, and based too much on opinion, and opinion of what the facts are, rather than on facts.

...if you want to know why people don't come to Sunday Mass, shouldn't you survey those people, not ask insiders and the self-selected their opinions?

To find 'those who have left,' merely stop at Elmbrook Church. THEY have opinions--and the fact is that Stu Briscoe has done very well with ex-Catholics.