Planning Commission Guidelines

NATURE
The Planning Commission for the Diocese of Madison is appointed by Bishop Morlino and is advisory to him. It is made up of at least 12 people with the possibility of expanding it to no more than 18 people. The members of the committee are respected priest and lay leaders from diverse ethnic cultural backgrounds in the diocese. All geographic areas of the diocese are represented on the Commission as well as people with experience in Catholic Schools, Catechetical programs, Liturgy and Human Concerns. Some people may represent both a geographic area as well as a ministry area.

PURPOSE
The Planning Commission fulfills the following purposes by giving general advice to Bishop Morlino on the planning process and making recommendations to the Bishop in the following areas:

Models (e.g. merger, linkage, partnership, etc.) for staffing parishes given the diminishing number of priests
Planning Assumptions and Criteria for applying the Models
Final Recommendations on application of the Models after the parishes have submitted their suggestions and had an opportunity to respond to the Planning Commission’s Preliminary Recommendations
Recommendations for an Implementation Process

FUNCTION
Bishop Morlino selected Fr. Jay Poster to be the chair of the Planning Commission. The Commission will select a vice chair and secretary. It will be staffed by the Diocesan Project Coordinator with the assistance of The Reid Group. The Commission will meet monthly on an as needed basis and schedule a two to three day planning retreat in the late winter or early spring to review all the Parish Cluster Suggestions and make recommendations back to the parish clusters for a response. Once the responses are submitted the Commission will make Recommendations to the Bishop about the structure of the parishes in the future.