The province’s Visioning and Planning Committee is using the expertise of several specialists in sociology and strategic planning to review opinions from and statistics about Holy Name Province. A complete update on the progress of the V&P committee will be provided to the guardians at their annual meeting next week.
Ann Dill, a Brown University sociology professor who has been hired by the province to provide expert unbiased analysis of the notes from our small group meetings, has been reviewing the data from the Days of Reflection and Renewal and the house chapters. She is now receiving the reports from the Planning Our Future Together (POFT) gatherings with lay partners as they arrive. We received House Chapter reports from all but two communitees. Ann will present a report to the commits at its next meeting on Nov. 30.
The V&P committee has chosen Dominic Perri from Chicago as its strategic planner, to assist in the planning process through the Chapter of Mats in June. Dominic has experience working with religious communities and dioceses in various types of planning processes. He was recommended to us by CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, and by the Paulists who have gone through a similar process.
Dominic has agreed to a tentative schedule for meeting with us and on the fee for his services. He will also be with us at our next meeting to help us make the transition from the data that Ann is presenting to helping plan the house chapters in January and the fraternal gatherings.
Janet Rizzuto, a lay partner and parishioner at 96th Street, will facilitate preparation for the Nov. 30 meeting, an important gathering because the data will be discussed for the first time. Also, the committee will first begin to consider the implications of these data for the province’s vision statement and five-year plan.
Dean Hoge, the widely-known sociologist of religion from The Catholic University, has agreed to film a presentation for us on the sociological analysis to present at the fraternal gatherings scheduled for the spring.David Convertino is working with HNP’s office of communications to arrange the filming in New York.
Bill Short, OFM, has agreed to be filmed with a Franciscan analysis of the issues we are facing in light of the sociological analysis. We are scheduling this so the video can be ready for use at the fraternal gatherings.
The continued support of the guardians is crucial to the success of this “bottom-up,” inductive visioning and planning process, according to Dan Sulmasy, a committee member.