Late in 2021, the Archdiocese of Omaha announced that the shortage of priests had reached the point that parishes in the Omaha area would have to consolidate just as rural parishes had been doing during the previous years. In early 2022, the pastors of Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Adalbert and Holy Cross identified key members of the parish to sit on a Strategic planning team to advise and help navigate our way through this new reality set forth by the Archdiocese of Omaha. Many meetings were held with both the strategic team as well as a broader team of parishioners and staff to ensure as many of our bases were covered as possible. 

We then held a series of Parish Town hall meetings at both churches to communicate decisions and gather feedback. We submitted our proposal to the Archdiocese of Omaha, but it was not accepted as submitted. The Archdiocese required additional changes to our mass schedules and staffing requirements under the new reality of having fewer priests. The strategic team in union with our pastors made difficult decisions and cuts where required to comply with the Archdiocese's new requirements. 

On July 1, 2023, our parish family became official under the leadership of our pastor, Fr. Vitalis Anyanike. 

Fr. V talk

• Not his vision but the vision of the archbishop, we grow within the vision

• We may not be the richest, but we pay our bills

• Evangelization

  • archO requirement 

  • Neighborhood evangelism fizzled out

• Parishes aren’t going away, so there is much work to be done

• How do we keep parish animated 

  • Committees 

    • Grew finance committee

    • Parish council

    • Building & grounds

Questions

• We lose about 100G a year not having a mass at St. Adalbert. 

  • Arch B said NO

• Parent Participation program, is that happening?

  • Yes, both schools have a PPP- 

    • HC 40 hrs based on family type, fine if not completed.

    • OLL 40 hrs, required now this year, fine if not completed.

• Updates to building maintenance

  • OLL

    • Asbestos found in St. Bern Hall & in St. Jude shrine. 

      • Stopped improvements for a time, work is still happening

        • Delayed 2-3 weeks

    • Partnered with Consortium on fixing things that need to be fixed at the school side, splitting costs 

      • Fixed cracks in stairs and walls at OLL

      • New stairs at HC

    • Fr. Salanitro did a good job keeping up the grounds

    • At OLL we’re playing catch up fixing things. 

      • Hail storm caused damage to roof

      • Working with insurance company to get it fixed

      • If we remove the roof now, what will come in June

• Windows are leaking at OLL- stained glass, we need to stop it from coming in. 

  • Moisture is getting trapped in between the stained glass panes

  • 5K to just bring scaffolding 

• Can we raise the fine to $100 or $200 for family engagement, to make them come to volunteer at the parish. 

  • Consortium offered a small discount to families registered at any of the consortium supporting parishes 

• Happy to hear parent participation program is being reinstated

• When archO wants to collect money for school scholarships, we are more willing to give when we see them involved in the parish.

• How many parents and families are attending mass on a regular basis

• And what % of OLL school families are registered at OLL parish

• As a community, there is so much more we can do to promote our school. We have been so humble about how good our schools are.

  • Rod

    • We have a beautiful building

    • feels young in this crowd, there is so much more we can do to build the church. 

    • OLL is well endowed for our students for money, we’re missing the people.

      • We have to grow our parish- what can you do.

  • Fr. V

    • Doesn’t have all the numbers

    • Doesn’t have the time to push it.

    • We make sure we don’t owe the consortium, always pay that bill.

    • Bulletin has a place for the school 

    • Pastor is not in charge of the school- we only provide spiritual support

      • Playground at OLL

        • There is a need, finance council approved 

• Shared concerns about aging out of our parishes, KoC at HC is struggling. In terms of Evangelization, we should put effort into the lost sheep. Talk to school and find out what we can do to attract them. Focus groups, age variety on the parish council. What do we need to do to grow? Grow the evangelization budget :) 

• We talk about evangelism and bringing people in: we did not get to meet the catechumens. It would be better to meet them and grow with them. 

• The children’s collection, bring it back

  • Each of us need to step up and bring in opportunities

  • How do we use our facilities

  • A few years, we’ll be so robust. 

• Town hall meetings are important. We’re getting a new archbishop, we don’t know his vision. But we should be praying for his vision. Hit our parish goals. 

• Do the individual parishes know what the groups are to meet the needs head on?

• Appreciating the music at the masses, I think this past weekend we went to SMM, surprised by the amount of our parishioners that were there. DT mass. Could we have 1 mass with less singing and a tighter schedule. 

Questions about structure, decision-making, staffing, delegation, and shared resources.

• Is a consolidated parish council a reality, or are the parishes better served by individual teams?

  • The direction given to us by the Archdiocese is to have 1 parish council with both parishes represented. Currently, OLL has an active parish council while HC does not. The current meeting cadence for the OLL council is about 6-7 times per year, with additional meetings as needed.
    
    
    

• Do both Parishes currently have a Finance Committee?

  • Yes, each parish has their own committee that meets quarterly. There are no plans to join these together at this time.
    
    

• Will a financial report on each Parish be given at this Town Hall meeting?

  • A general report was provided, but nothing handed out. A formal report was released in December at both parishes. Our plan is to provide reporting around the December time annually.
    
    

• Is there a list of shared personnel resources between the Parishes besides the Pastor?

  • Yes, we share our book keeper and our director of evangelization and education between both parishes and some of the maintenance team.

• Do both Parishes have a capital improvement plan for all buildings and property?

  • Yes, but not at a large scale. We have improvement funds and maintain things as needed.
    
    

• Is it a reality to expand the parish staff to better support the needs of these two parishes?

  • At this time, we do not plan to expand the parish staff. We do realize that there is a lot of potential in our area of town and have hopes that with more volunteers coming on board, we can accomplish a lot of work.
    
    

• Why is nothing delegated? There are plenty of people willing to help, but the ask never comes.

  • A lot has been delegated and we need more people who are willing to serve. Please reach out to Catie to get involved!

• Who is living in the rectories at Holy Cross, OLL, and St. Adalbert? What's the plan for these buildings? Who lives in the house that belongs to OLL?

  • At Holy Cross, Fr. Tony Ike who is the VA chaplain, Fr. Vitalis maintains a room here as well.

  • At St. Adalbert, Fr. Jaewha and Fr. de Anda is in residence. 

  • At Our Lady of Lourdes Fr. Vitalis maintains a room.

  • These buildings are maintained as rectories and will be continued to be maintained. When we have guest priests come to visit, they stay in the rooms that are inhabitable.
    
    

• Is the wall by the house on 32 Ave going to be replaced?

  • Yes, we are still working out the details with the insurance company and police. The wall was struck by a drunk driver. The cost will be $24,000 to rebuild, and insurance will not cover the full cost. Please consider a donation to this project.
    
    

Concerns about outreach, attendance, engagement with families, and spiritual renewal. Any suggestions or willingness to get involved is highly encouraged. Please reach out to Catie Johnson at cjohnson@holycrossomaha.org 

• What is the vision for evangelization in our expanding neighborhoods?

  • We have a visioning session coming up in conjunction with the Archdiocese to dream big for the future of our parishes. There will be more to come on this in the fall! 

• How can Holy Cross/ Our Lady of Lourdes regain its connection to families and young adults?

  • We are working closely with the schools and working on increasing the small group and evangelization opportunities. Any ideas that you have to help foster this connection, please reach out!
    
    

• Is there anything going to be done to stop the dying of the parish?

  • There have been really big changes to both of our parishes during this Journey of Faith process. We don't see that our parishes are dying,  but an opportunity to redefine our purpose and grow.
    
    

• How can the deacons move beyond liturgical roles to lead in parish revitalization?

  • There are limits to what deacons are called to do. All of our deacons serve our parishes in many ways outside of the liturgical role.
    
    

• How are we serving high school (especially public school students), college students, young singles, and older singles?

  • Currently, we do not have set programming  that caters to these age groups but  creating space for these groups is definately on the roadmap!
    
    

• Any plans for adult formation/Bible studies?

  • We currently offer a Bible Study on Thursday mornings at 9am in St. Edwards Hall (HC).
    
    

• Are we ever going to have another Lenten talk/retreat?

  • Yes, we do start planning this early. We have already started conversations with 2 potential speakers for the next year! 

• Could OLL/St. Adalbert start a committee to assist Catholic Charities?

  • We are not in a position to do this right now. If there is something that we can advertise for them, we are happy to.

Mass times, priest availability, sacramental celebrations, and liturgical decisions.

• I still sense we aren’t seeing many school families at weekend Masses. Are plans being discussed?

  • We are partnering with the Consortium schools that are at Our Lady of Lourdes and Holy Cross in an effort to grow our mass attendance. 

• Even prior to COVID, and with Mass reductions, there’s been a drop in attendance. What is our plan?

  • This is not something specific to our parishes, this is a universal problem. We don’t know how to address this at this time.
    
    

• Why has the use of visiting priests at Holy Cross changed? Can we invite them back?
  
  

  • Nothing has changed, we utilize more visiting priests than other parishes. We are grateful to have the support of Fr. Hunke, Fr. Flott, Fr. Gabuzda, Fr. Ike, Fr. deAnda, Fr. Kampschneider and others. We welcome any priest that is willing to say mass for our parishioners. Much like everything else, bringing in these priests costs money. We would appreciate your donation to continue this partnership.

• Is there a plan to return celebrations like Holy Saturday, Confirmation, and school sacraments to Our Lady of Lourdes, especially since the parish has previously accommodated these events successfully?

  • Since the Consortium was established, our role as a parish is to provide spiritual direction and sacramental opportunities to the children enrolled in those schools. Journey of Faith brought us the opportunity to join the OLL and HC Religious Education programs together and this includes Sacrament Preparation for all ages. It has been the direction of the Archdiocese that our parish family is to only have one Confirmation mass. We plan to keep First Holy Communion separate for as long as we can. As for other parish celebrations, our goal is to rotate when we are able to. 

• Why were none of the catechumens introduced at OLL during their faith journey?

  • This was an oversight this year that has been shared with the OCIA team. It was never the intention of our team to exclude either parish from this journey and we will take steps to ensure this does not happen again. 

• Will Holy Cross ever have more Mass times?

  • No, unfortunately we will not be in a position to add additional mass times to either parish location.
    
    

• Do we track Mass attendance? Are numbers shared or reviewed?

  • We do mass attendance counts periodically, but we submit a count to the Archdiocese in October.
    
    

• Will Our Lady of Lourdes continue to have its own identity?

  • Yes.
    
    

• Can Holy Cross adopt perpetual adoration like OLL?

  • No. If you are looking for a set hour, you’re welcome to volunteer at OLL or make a consistent holy hour in the Holy Cross Chapel.
    
    

• Do we have any names of Spiritual Directors?

  • No, you can call the chancery for direction. This need is beyond the scope of what the parish can handle.
    
    

• I think Fr. V does a great job at school Masses. Any plans to bring in other priests for visits?

  • The schools are welcome to invite anyone they see fit to visit the classrroms. Fr. Vitalis does visit the classrooms when requested and when his schedule permits.
    
    
    

• On Vocation Sunday, can men be invited to consider the Diaconate?

  • We promote all vocations. We strongly recommend that if you have someone in mind, approach them to consider the vocations. You can also let the Pastor know who you would recommend to be a deacon.

Requests for improved outreach, transparency, bulletin updates, and internal relationships.

• What can we do to improve our online presence? The lack of consistent posting hurts us.

  • We are working to post more consistently across both parish's social media  pages.
    
    

• Why do we not work closer with our school and their events? Nothing is ever in the bulletin.

  • At the end of May, we met with  the school leaders and  aligned on what is needed to ensure there is open communication for the bulletin and other needs.
    
    

• Please list parishioners who die in the bulletin. Welcome new parishioners. List baptisms.

  • This is a great idea!
    
    

• Events are announced from the altar but not in the bulletin—hard to remember dates/times.

  • We do our best to ensure they are listed in both places, but sometimes there isn't time to get it in the bulletin.
    
    

• I don’t like the 11am Mass time, and parking at OLL is unavailable—what can be done?

  • We offer several mass offerings across the two parishes for Sunday obligation. Both OLL and HC  have 5pm mass on Saturdays. OLL offers mass at 9am and 5pm , while Holy Cross offers 7am and 11am on Sundays. 

• Why is the meeting held at OLL when Holy Cross has better parking/accessibility?

  • It was important for us to be in a smaller setting. We try to spread events across our facilities evenly and fairly depending on size and need.

Stewardship, trust, and practical questions about financial resources and envelopes.

• Where is our money really going?

  • In December, both parishes released a financial report.  We follow Archdiocesan procedures for all finance related items and review them regularly at our respective Finance Council meetings.
    
    
    

• What is the plan for all the rectories with only one priest assigned?

  • Currently, the buildings are in need of repair. We are updating them as funds are available. When we bring in visiting priests, we utilize our facilities to house them.