ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Informal Evaluation by the Cluster Implementation Committee

During the Spring, 2003, the Cluster Implementation Committee conducted an informal evaluation of the Cluster Pastoral Plan in consultation with the Parish Pastoral councils. The purpose of this informal evaluation was to determine the current status of the cluster plan. They considered the following questions:

1. What action(s) has (have) been taken to carry out the Cluster Pastoral Plan?

2. What action(s) still need(s) to be taken to meet the goal(s) of the Cluster Pastoral Plan?

3. To what degree has the vision of the Cluster Pastoral Plan been implemented?

4. Were any new needs discovered or new actions taken during the implementation of the Cluster Pastoral Plan?

5. What obstacles, if any, stood in the way of the implementation of the Cluster Pastoral Plan?

The committee found the following actions have been taken:

• Vocations

A Cluster Vocation Subcommittee was charged to educate, promote, increase awareness and develop events around religious vocations. The Committee recognized that this goal is best addressed at the parish level. The opportunity to tie into the Diocesan endeavors proved to be attractive.

• Spiritual Renewal and Religious Education were two distinct cluster goals that the committee merged into one goal after some discussion and refection on their similarity.

The Cluster Implementation Committee promoted spiritual renewal and strengthened religious education through collaboration and sharing of resources. Specific initiatives included the following:

• Jeff Cavins weekend presentation on Scripture
• Father James McGuinn's 10 week renewal program (Delta E-3)
• Jim Murray's "Proud to be a Catholic" presentation
• Combined high school Confirmation preparation
• Published combined cluster calendar of parish offerings.
  
  

In order to determine the need for additional classrooms in the cluster for children in K through 8, the Cluster conducted a School Enrollment Survey of the cluster parishes.

• Youth Ministry

The Cluster presented a cluster youth ministry event. Parishes recognized the difficulty in sharing a youth minister. Two of the parishes hired their own youth minister. Another of the parishes developed a youth ministry committee and continued its relationship with another parish outside Cluster 53 to reach out to youth in their parishes.

Actions that still need to be taken include:

• Study of potential need will continue. Two of the parishes have their own elementary schools. One has a pre-school/kindergarten program. The fourth has had no difficulty in enrolling parish children in other parish schools within and outside the cluster.
  
  
• At the present time the committee is planning a retreat day for parish liturgical ministers.

Obstacles, that have stood in the way of the implementation of the Cluster Pastoral Plan are:

There has been good cooperation among the parishes. However, lacking a crisis situation or compelling need, there has been no great incentive to act in concert. It appears that each parish feels capable of fulfilling its fundamental mission on its own. The various parishes seem to have their hands full without adding another level.

Status of the Plan

In light of the information collected, the Cluster Implementation Committee in consultation with Parish Pastoral Councils recommended to the Regional Vicar that the status of the plan be

To develop or expand the Cluster Plan - the goals have been addressed but new information indicates that some new cluster plan actions will be needed.