DETROIT – Surveys will be distributed to parents, faculty, staff and students in fifth grade and above at each of the six-county archidiocese's schools as part of a campaign to strengthen and refocus Catholic education within the six-county archdiocese.
Archdiocese of Detroit said schools will use the survey results to help develop new strategic plans by the start of the 2018-19 school year. The plans are rooted in the Archbishop Allen Vigneron’s pastoral letter, "Unleash the Gospel," which calls on schools to be centers of evangelization and discipleship, accessible to any Catholic family seeking an education.
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“When Catholic schools have evangelization and discipleship as their highest priority, they offer an unparalleled opportunity to form joyful missionary disciples,” Archbishop Allen Vigneron said. “We would not be the church that Jesus wants us to be without Catholic schools available to assist our families in this kind of formation for our children.”
The surveys will be distributed by email Jan. 29-Feb. 2. A second survey will be sent in the coming weeks to non-school parishes in the archdiocese.
Each institution has ownership of its future, said Deacon Bill Kolarik, project manager of the strategic planning process for the archdiocese. Led by diverse planning teams composed of principals, pastors, at least one parent with a student in the school, at least one parent without a student in the school and a representative from a neighboring parish, each school in future months will evaluate itself using national accreditation standards and benchmarks for Catholic schools.
The new strategic plans will be submitted this summer to the archdiocese for evaluation and input from the Catholic Schools Council and Office of Catholic Schools, then forwarded to Archbishop Vigneron for approval.
Archbishop Vigneron's pastoral letter, "Unleash the Gospel," can be read here.