Transformation of Parishes Committee

• Parishes in Transition Committee

• TOPS

Starting 1988 general reporting began related to the future of parishes in the Archdiocese. In October of 1988 Rev. Jack Hamilton prepared "Options Available" a report which presented the options that could be chose if circumstances forces amalgamation of parishes due to the shortage of priests. In November 1988 a sub-committee of the Priests personal committee formed to devise strategies regarding the closing or amlagamation of parishes and the redistribution of personnel. Their report titled "Models of Ministry that will shape the Church in the Archdiocese of Edmonton" was submitted for review shortly after.

In March 1989 Rev. Mike McCaffery presented the report titled "A Aging of the Diocesan Priest" which provided an overview of the Archdiocese for a 30 year period with regard to diminishing personnel. Later in April 1989 the Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC) preapted a questionnair package including dicussion questions whcih was sent to all parishes in the Archdiocese.

Two more years of reporting followed and finally in 1991 the DPC formed a sub-committee to develop guidelines for the Archdiocese which would assist parishe communities faced with the possibility of amalgamation or closure. The committee set out to evaluate the state of parishes in the Archdiocese of Edmonton and propose necessary changes to the phyiscal boundaries so that all Catholics within the Archdiocese would have access to mass in a desirable location. The committee then presented its final report to the APC in June 1992.

In 1992 a letter and questionnair was sent to all parishes. A year later, in 1993 the APC published the Parishes in Transition Survey. The Parishes in Transition Committee offered its first preliminary report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Archdiocese Pastoral Council (APC) in December of 1991 and in 1994 results of the responses to the recommendation were prepared and presented to the Ad Hoc Committee for review.

In 1995 planning began to establish another committee which would continue to address the work done by the Parishes in Transition committee. A year later, in 1996 Archbishop MacNeil under the guidance of the APC established the Transformation of Parishes Task Group (ToPs) and the task group was given two years to complete its mandate. In May of 1996 the task group released its work plan and immediately set to work.

The Task Group conducted a survey in order to gather a varity of statistics regarding the size of each parishe, its ministerial activities, its finacial activities and its location. In May 1997 an Interm report was completed and in Feb. 1998 a final report was submitted to the APC. The final report provides recommendations for the future management of each parish based on the survey results taking into account the other parishes its group.

In 1998 the report "Faithfully into the Future" was published and circulated to all the parishes in the Archdiocese. This pastoral plan provided information about the context for parish transformation, the transformation and implementation process, the considerations made by the committee, as well as a variety of restructuring recommendation.

In 1998 the Archbishop's Coordinating Committee was established to oversee the implementation of the Pastoral Plan (Faithful into the Future). The committee was responsible for advising the Archbishop on issues arrising from the Pastoral Plan, functionig as a communication and coordinating body between the various decision making organization in the Archdiocese, serving as a centre for receive reactions to the plan from parishes and pastors, and to make necessary adjustments to the plan as required.

Finally between 2000 and 2003 several parishes were restructured based on the previously mentioned reports.

In 2008 a review committee was established to relfect on the ToPs project ten years after the Faithful into the Future report was published.

Time Line

1988-1994 - Parishes in Transition
1993 - Parishes in Transition Survey
1995 - Planning year
1996-1998 - Transformation of Parishes Task Group
1997 - ToPs Survey
1997 - ToPs Interm Report
1998 - ToPs Final Report
1998 - Faithfully into the Future Report is published and circulated
1998-1999 - Archbishop's Coordinating Committee
2001-2003 - Restructuring of several parishes in the Archdiocese
2008 - ToPs Review

The mandate of the Parish in Transition Committee was to implement and guide a program for the Archdiocese by 2005 which would revitalize parish life, better understan contemporary ecclesiology, live our our baptismal committment, and provide leadership for administering parishes for the future. The Parish in Transition Committee also aimed to develop guiding principles for implementing necessary changes in parishes with relation to the shortage of priests and changing demographics of the Alberta Catholic Community.

The mandate of the ToPs Task force was to provide a plan for the effective transformation of parishes in the Achdiocese of Edmonton, as well as to develop and recommend criteria for making decisions related to changes in the statues of parishes.