In the time while I was hiat'in, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas released an overview and plan for its Johnson County region, available on the Archdiocesean website. I'm going to go over this document over the next few posts. I live in Johnson County and think that are in a happily and sadly average part of an average diocese in the United States.

First, a primer: the entire globe is divided into territories, called Dioceses. The head person of a diocese is the Bishop-- he is (oversimplification alert) the spiritual and secular CEO of that geographic area. The Bishop's boss is the Pope, though there are other groups and organizations who have influence on him, including other Bishops (in the USA, all Bishops belong to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops which operates like a loose coalition. The USSCB does not speak for any particular Bishop, but makes advisements and creates a single-ish voice for all American Bishops. Suffice it to say that the group has it's share of internal politics, for better and worse.) and a Vatican committee called the Congregation for Bishops, which is (again, oversimplification) the HR department for Bishops.

Important dioceses are given the title of Archdiocese and their Bishops are called Archbishops. In the United States, basically the biggest Diocese in a state is called the Archdiocese. Off the top of my head, the only state that I can think of with two Archdioceses is California, with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. It is important to note that in practice, there is no material difference between a Diocese and an Archdiocese or a Bishop and an Archbishop. One is as good as another. In the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, our Ordinary (another name for bishop) is Archbishop Naumann.

There are some Archbishops who do not serve an Archdiocese. Rather, they serve the Vatican itself and usually have some role that affects people spanning a lot of Dioceses or perform some particular function not related to operating a diocese. These Bishops are called Titular Archbishops. Some Dioceses have Auxiliary Bishops, who are like "assistant Bishops". It is particularly common if a Diocese covers a big geographical area or has a lot of Catholics in the Diocese; not all Dioceses have Auxillaries. When Bishops retire, they are given the title of Bishop Emiritus. These Bishops retain all the spiritual faculties of a Bishop, but they're retired from the operations of a Diocese. Some Bishops carry the rank of Cardinal. The most significant duty of a Cardinal is that he elects a new Pope. Not all Cardinals are bishops-- a fact that surprises even many lifelong Catholics. We could go on about this for a long time, but there is a good website that explains every office, role and officeholder in the church at http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/. The site in encyclopedic and is maintained by a Kansas City area man. It's his hobby. Wow. He's also a nice guy. (plaid shirt, fourth picture) But I digress.

I live in Kansas, which has 4 dioceses (Kansas City, Dodge City, Salina, Wichita). The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas covers 21 counties and a big chunk of the state. For administrative purposes, it is further broken down into a number of regions. The Archdiocese, with the help of consultants, has been developing a "Pastoral Plan" for each region. The goal is to make sure they are meeting the needs of the Church now and in the future.

This is a good idea. I hope every diocese is doing it, and I hope that they continue to develop these plans over time. Populations are shifting, country churches are having a hard time keeping parishoners as the rural towns are slowly disappearing-- but the remaining Catholics in the area need to still be served. And like they're changing politics and business and schools and everything else, the growing Hispanic population is changing things. A significant number of Hispanics are Catholic; the Church needs to be ministering to them. And though there's some evidence that the number of men applying to the priesthood is on the upswing, the hemmoraging has been so significant since the Second Vatican Council that they've got a long way to go to replace them all. (Aside: earlier this year, I bought a concise book called The Index of Leading Catholic Indicators that cataloged what has happened to the Church in America since the 60's. It's truly stunning. The introduction to the book was written by Pat Buchanan, reprinted here. Some of Buchanan's rhetoric is over the top-- pure PJB. But the facts are inarguable. Read it. It'll make your jaw drop. I had no idea how far we've fallen.) It's good to have a plan to make sure that you're covering all the bases.

The Johnson County Pastoral Plan is notable for its comprehensive look at parishes and schools. And though the report is fair, it does not pull punches. Some of our parishes are in trouble, some are coming out of the woods and some are in good shape. I am particularly interested in the information on the Catholic schools-- both grade school and high school.

So read the Johnson County Pastoral Plan. It's important to know what's going on in your neighborhood.