
Worthwhile. Reasonable. Achievable.
Those are the words used by Bishop Koenig to describe the path put forward by mostly lay leadership teams in the seven regions, or deaneries, in the Diocese of Wilmington.
Bishop Koenig last year introduced “United in Christ” a pastoral planning process powered by everyday Catholics throughout the diocese of more than 220,000 members. The bishop in May authored a follow-up – “Guided by the Spirit” – highlighting the ongoing efforts of the pastoral planning initiative.
It began more than two years ago with small-group meetings on synodality. Listening sessions, as Pope Francis described them, aimed at getting input from all levels of Catholics. In 67 meetings across the diocesan landscape of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, more than 1,400 Catholics had the chance to speak up.
And people were listening. Bishop Koenig said he was not looking for top-down direction, rather active participation by all.
“The fruits of this work go well beyond our United in Christ Pastoral Plan as it has given us a process for continued and future discernment and collaboration as a diocese,” the bishop wrote.
Pastoral planning includes lay leadership
Two of the lay leaders – Ellen Barrosse, a parishioner at Cathedral of St. Peter who attends Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption in Hockessin, and Patricia Kelly, a parishioner at Ss. Peter and Paul in Easton, Md., who worships at its mission church, St. Michael’s – shared their feedback on the process and the ideas coming from it. They are members of the diocesan core leadership team.

“The primary goal for the whole project is to introduce all of our people to the idea of … Bishop’s goal of subsidiarity,” said Barrosse. “Decisions should be made at the lowest possible level. For us, the lowest level where a faith-informed decision can be made is the deanery. Pope Francis wrote a letter that he wanted lay people involved in decisions about parishes. He was talking about closing parishes. That is not what our diocese is dealing with.
“What we have is a lot of parishes with dwindling numbers. Our goal is ‘How can churches within a deanery share resources so that the people are well-served, so parishes can thrive and people can thrive?’”
Kelly believes it’s important for people to know that the future of the church belongs to everyone – “we’re all going to be a part of it.”
“When we see something not working well, we get a little bit anxious, and that’s inspiring,” Kelly said. “A lot of people have not found Catholicism to be as comfortable as we may have been 25 years ago or pre-COVID. So, what’s missing?”
“Pastoral planning is recognizing that Catholicism is a non-static event,” she said. “It’s meant to be an ongoing, developmental event. Something that helps to form you if you recognize it.
And invite other people.”
Goals determined by each deanery
The core leadership and deanery leadership teams have identified the 2-3 most important goals for each region and are working on ways to help implement them. Clergy and lay people are involved at every level, Barrosse and Kelly said.
Barrosse said members of the core team act as consultants to the deans and deanery leadership teams.
“First thing we did was do some kind of assessment of issues facing the deanery,” Barrosse said. The volunteers used a survey to help identify the top items to be addressed. Three major themes were identified:
- Notable absence of youth and young adults.
- Significant decline in church participation.
- Value for the faith and teachings of the Catholic church.
“These are the things that the people in our deanery said we needed to work on,” Barrosse said. “We actually have hundreds of comments and we all read all the comments.”

Kelly said the group has kept its focus on what the church is going to need and to integrate those needs with the Gospel message.
“We’re in a community, and what is life-giving for a community is what we’re looking for,” Kelly said.
“We have to have that kind of openness to what changes need to happen for the good of all,” she said. “Our only choice is to welcome them. We’re meant to be evolving. If we’re worried about closures, we’re walking down the wrong street. Same if we’re holding on to nothing changing. Our relationships should deepen. Pastoral planning helps creates environments and resources that help that.”
Resources enlisted by diocese
In his letter to Catholics in the diocese, Bishop Koenig said the process has included professional resources.

“In addition to the development of this pastoral plan, we needed to make sure that our diocesan leaders and administrative offices have the tools and capacity they need in order to support the implementation of the pastoral plan,” the bishop wrote. “I, along with the Deans and my senior staff took part in Catholic Leadership 360, a leadership development tool which gave us insights as to our strengths and areas for growth as leaders of this initiative. I also engaged the Leadership Roundtable, our partners in ministry, to conduct an evaluation of our central administrative offices to aide us in our efforts to build capacity and efficiency.”
Barrosse gives the bishop credit for empowering the faithful.
“It’s a very smart, confident group with interesting skills,” she said. “The interesting thing about this process is that the bishop has (empowered) the deans. I think it’s extraordinary for our bishop to give that kind of freedom. It’s going to make a big difference.”
But why should people care about the group of contiguous parishes called a deanery when many people don’t know what it is or why it matters?
“Your deanery is only a structure,” Kelly said. “When we’re called to do conversion, it’s conversion, not comfort. You should be interested about our deanery because it’s one of the things that is helping us understand the Gospel. The Gospel calls us to a much larger reality. The deanery is a structure.
“We’re all people who want to seek more deeply the Gospel,” she said. “Understand more deeply the meaningfulness of our lives and what it means to be a Catholic. It’s all a move toward the meaningfulness of what it is to choose to be a Catholic. It’s about finding a strategy that people can relate to.”
The goal of getting young people to church is familiar to those who go to church and take a look at those around them, the lay leaders said.
“We have to listen to (young people) and hear what they are saying,” Kelly said.
Kelly describes it as a need to accept people who are not exactly like you. It includes facing up to mistakes made by the church while also understanding there are people who adhere to a different lifestyle, she said.
“One very clear area is young people, who are not as automatically connected to the parish as we were,” Kelly said. “What are the roadblocks? We have to listen to that, not stand in horror at everything they say.
“We grew up in the church triumphant – our neighborhoods and communities where more than 50 percent of the people were Catholic. That had to fall, which it has. What we were completely failing to do is say ‘this person, whose thoughts are completely different than mine, is still one of God’s people.’ We’re kind of having a renewal right now. Why am I Catholic?”
“Everyone has to bring faith to themselves. Every person is a child of God. That is a singular relationship,” Kelly said. “We need healthy priests with a good sense of who they are.
We have to believe that these dark times … they are wells of potential awareness, causing us to think more deeply. Stir up a different kind of place.”
Adapting to the shifting population
A reality exists in that there are too many churches and not enough people in them. Both women agree that while urban areas have seen a drop in church attendance, regions in the southern portion of the diocese and elsewhere have experienced growth.
“One of the things we want to do and have already started doing; every church can’t offer everything everyone wants,” Barrosse said. “If a church doesn’t have enough kids for religious education, perhaps kids can go to another church in the deanery.”
While there has been movement in getting things done, Barrosse and Kelly said they weren’t expecting to accomplish a lot during summer. When will we see changes? Each deanery team member will be chairing an implementation team, they said, and believe they could start with implementation after the Christmas holidays.
“Teams will begin pulling together all the data we have,” Barrosse said. “What we’re trying to be sure of is that we’re not wasting our time, trying to do things that were tried and failed. We’d like to have the highest level at a chance for success, so we’re going to be doing a lot of research. What has been tried? We value the time and effort of our people. We’re going to find out what has succeeded.”

Bishop Koenig wrote that he has approved all the goals that were submitted by the deanery leadership teams.
“I find them to be worthwhile, reasonable, and achievable,” the bishop said. “Implementation will make the goals concrete and will recommend specific steps that deaneries and parishes can take in order to bring their goals to fruition.”
Barrosse and Kelly can’t say enough about what the experience has meant. And they want people to shed the idea that bad things will come from change.
“The bishop has said over and over again that there are no parishes that we anticipate closing,” Barrosse said. “There are opportunities for sharing resources. Anything we do that increases the faith of our people and the number of people in our parishes will help us increase the number of priests.
“I just feel as though the Holy Spirit is looking out for all of us,” she said. “Our team has been very effective, contributing all kinds of things. I’m just really pleased, thrilled to be a part of it.”
Kelly believes it involves a softening of hearts.
“The safety of the Gospel is always the recognition that no matter what happens God is always with you,” she said. “It’s not about winning every race. It’s about companionship with God at all times. You’re never alone. Fear has to be cast aside. Be not afraid.”
“People are out here, and people really want to be for spirituality, move toward meaningfulness. We all need that. It’s an opportunity to listen, to come to goals that are meant to increase our understanding. It still has to be in the context of coming together to understand who we are as Catholic people.”