SEATTLE — The Archdiocese of Seattle has opened the public consultation phase of Partners in the Gospel, its strategic pastoral planning initiative. Specifically, the archdiocese is seeking input from local Catholics on the proposed parish families during a three-week comment period that ends Oct. 14.
A parish family is two or more parishes under the leadership of one pastor. Over time, the parish family will determine how it will share resources such as staff, ministries and outreach and grow into one canonical parish over a period of about three years.
The list of proposed parish families can be found here.
“Over the next three weeks, parishes will host synodal listening sessions encouraging participants to listen to the Holy Spirit in small groups and discern a path forward,” the archdiocese said in a news release. “Notetakers will capture the themes of the discussion to send them to the Archdiocese as part of the yearlong consultation process.”
Feedback can also be submitted online at archseattle.org/partners through Oct. 14.
This draft of parish families comes after nine months of consultation with the archdiocese’s Presbyteral Council, the Partners in the Gospel Oversight Committee, priests, deacons, archdiocesan staff, parish and school staffs and lay leaders. Parish families were developed based on parishes’ size, geography, cultural and ethnic makeup, financial health and school presence. Some parishes stand alone because they are run by a religious order or serve a specific cultural community.
“At this stage, we are inviting your input,” Archbishop Paul D. Etienne said in a video shared with parishes Sept. 23-24. “We sincerely want to know from you, how does this sound? What are the hopes, the anxieties, the concerns that you see? How is the Lord inviting us as a people of faith in him to rise to this moment and challenge that it presents?”
The archdiocese said all feedback will be reviewed by multiple groups, including the Oversight Committee and Presbyteral Council, to develop a recommendation for Archbishop Etienne to review before he announces the official parish families in early 2024.
The new parish families will form in July 2024 under the leadership of one pastor and will spend the next three years working together to determine how to share resources and ministries and reinvigorate parish life to advance the faith as they become one new, canonical parish.
“I hope we will see all of our people constructively engaging in this process to help us advance the faith and build the kingdom of God here in the Archdiocese of Seattle,” Archbishop Etienne said.
The Partners in the Gospel strategic pastoral planning initiative was announced in January 2023 with the goal of reinvigorating parish life and adapting to the changing needs of the archdiocese. In June, the archdiocese shared the Current Reality Report with parish data and archdiocesan trends that show declining engagement, fewer priests and parish financial struggles.
More information about Partners in the Gospel can be found at archseattle.org/partners.
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