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February 15, 2023    –    Vol. 1 No 1
An update for parishes and parishioners on Partners in the Gospel
It's been almost three weeks since the launch of Partners in the Gospel across the entire Archdiocese of Seattle. Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, in partnership with parish leaders, introduced the vision to re-invigorate and renew our local Catholic Church. 
 

We encourage you to get familiar with the initiative

The Partners in the Gospel landing page is full of information and resources about this strategic pastoral planning effort. We encourage you to watch the video and read the Overview to learn more about how our local Church will go through this renewal

Questions & Answers

Read through the commonly asked questions and answers. If you have any questions or comments that aren’t addressed in this resource, we welcome you to submit them at this link.
Watch this introductory video and learn more about Partners in the Gospel.
LATEST UPDATES
Since the introduction of Partners in the Gospel, the team has been focused on a few key areas:
  • Reviewing feedback from parishes leaders who attended the Convocation in Tacoma last month, as well as feedback from pastors and parishioners about the introduction of Partners in the Gospel at their parishes. This feedback will help us further refine our process and communications.
     
  • We are currently working with PartnersEdge, a research consulting firm that has helped other dioceses work through similar planning efforts. PartnersEdge collected Archdiocese of Seattle data and combined it with census information, which will be used to create a “Current Reality Report” for our region. This report will help us better understand the reality we face today and help us better plan for the future.
     
  • The pillar workgroups – Worship & Prayer, Community & Hospitality, Missionary Discipleship and Governance & Administration – have started meeting regularly to ground their work in the Gospel, define their areas of work and develop tools and resources to help guide parish families in the process of re-envisioning and becoming one canonical parish.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: Why now?

A: Today we face many realities that are impacting parish life and making it difficult to fully live out our mission. We face an urgent — yet exciting —opportunity to transform parish life.

Over the past few decades our local Catholic Church has experienced a decrease of engaged parishioners, fewer priests, dwindling finances, deteriorating campus conditions and more. Here are just a few statistics:

  • Today the archdiocese has 80 diocesan pastors for 174 locations; by 2036, we estimate we will only have 66 diocesan pastors, an 18% decrease. (We also have fewer seminarians and fewer lay ministry leaders.)
     
  • While the overall population the Archdiocese of Seattle is growing, registered households are declining, along with Mass attendance, baptisms, first communions, marriages in the Church and parish giving:
    • From 2010 to 2019, Mass attendance as a percentage of total registered parishioners declined from 40.7% to 35.5%.
    • Between 2010 and 2019, baptisms declined 30% and weddings declined nearly 19%.
       
  • Currently, 67% of parishes operate with a financial deficit (excluding extraordinary income, which is income apart from Sundays and Holy Days).
Click here more question & answers

PARTNERS IN THE GOSPEL CONVOCATION
Close to 1,000 Church and ministry leaders assembled at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center on January 18 to kick off Partners in the Gospel. Click here to read the story from Northwest Catholic.
Click here to read the entire Prayer for Partners in the Gospel English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
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