Vision 2030-What’s next for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City?

Real Life Disciples

In October 2013, Archbishop Coakley released his first pastoral letter, “Go Make Disciples.”
 
When I was first considering a move to Oklahoma City, this was one of the first things I read. It helped me understand the archbishop’s vision for the archdiocese, and what some of the pastoral concerns were.
 
One of the things I noticed was the time frame the letter kept mentioning. In a couple places, the archbishop mentioned five years. As I came onboard with the archdiocese in August 2017, I realized that there was only a year left in that window. It was time to ask the question, “What’s next?”
 
As that time frame of the first pastoral letter was coming to an end, it was time to start planning for the future. Where is God leading the Church of central and western Oklahoma in the coming years? What are the pastoral concerns that we as a Church need to emphasize?
 
A number of staff members took up this work a year ago and have been pursuing it ever since. We have been calling these planning efforts Vision 2030. The archbishop wanted to look 10 to 12 years into the future.
 
It is an exciting time in the archdiocese – the beatification and canonization process for Blessed Stanley Rother, the launching of the first-ever capital campaign (which has proven to be wildly successful), and very fruitful results over the past six years with what the archbishop outlined as his pastoral plan in “Go Make Disciples.”
 
Those original priorities were the new evangelization, faith formation and Hispanic ministry. We have made remarkable strides toward those priorities, and many of the objectives set out have been accomplished. Most notably, the Hispanic ministry efforts have converged with the successful capital campaign and subsequent building plans for the new Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.
 
Vision 2030 has been a progressive process of planning for the future. We first established a Vision Planning Team with key leaders from all over the archdiocese. That group looked back to the previous planning that had been done since Archbishop Coakley took office. That backward glance involved reviewing all the input from the previous listening sessions, surveys and feedback. There also have been several other consultations with the archdiocese over the past six years with the Catholic Leadership Institute and the Spitzer Center, all of which generated a ton of data and feedback in regard to the pastoral needs and concerns of the archdiocese.
 
A number of very clear pastoral priorities began to emerge. We launched a process to gather new feedback and input on what we were finding. Over a six-month period, we met with or surveyed more than 70 different groups of people from Guymon to Madill. Our primary question was, “How did folks resonate with what was beginning to emerge as a new set of pastoral priorities for the archdiocese in the coming years?”
Then, we took these findings to our priests and deacons. Beginning with the annual priests’ convocation this past June and following up with small group gatherings during the summer months, we got some very detailed and valuable feedback from clergy. What has emerged through all of this process is a very clear set of pastoral priorities for the archdiocese that will guide our journey into the future.
 
As Archbishop Coakley has prayerfully considered these priorities, he has gravitated to one of them as a clear focus for the near future – build a culture of conversion and discipleship for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
 
To accomplish this, he wrote a new pastoral letter this past fall. That letter was released on Jan. 25, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. You can find a digital copy of the letter online at archokc.org/2030. New study guides for this document are being developed, and we hope to have them available soon.
 
The final phase of the Vision 2030 process is YOU! A number of regional gatherings have been scheduled in the archdiocese this spring. As Archbishop Coakley said in his new pastoral letter, “A number of pastoral priorities already have been identified. I need your input and feedback to refine and implement them. In the coming year, I have asked my staff to organize a number of listening sessions. I want to hear from our people the desires of their hearts for our Church.”
 
The first of these gatherings was held Feb. 26 in Enid. It was a great success! Nearly 150 people participated. The energy in the room was palpable. I hope all of the other gatherings have similar participation and energy.
 
You can find more information about these gatherings, and even register for one, at archokc.org/2030. I hope to see you at one of these events in the coming months!