St. Catherine of Siena Parish

What is the name of our parish?
We are a new parish known as St. Catherine of Siena. It was formed by merging St. Jude Parish and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish. We are still two individual churches and locations within the new Parish. This is not unusual within the Catholic Church as similar mergers and clusters are occurring in dioceses throughout the United States.

How are we referring to the two churches?
We are either St. Catherine of Siena Parish at St. Jude or St. Catherine of Siena at Sacred Heart.

Why are the two churches keeping their original name while the parish is changing its name?
Because the two churches are dedicated church buildings and names have been given them at that time, to change either of them to a different name would require taking the matter to Rome for approval. While each church remains open, they will continue to bear the name given them as established churches. This canonical detail doesn't prevent either parish from being merged into a new or otherwise existing parish, though the name of the church building would have to remain the same as it was when dedicated.

How large is the new parish?
St. Catherine of Siena Parish is currently the largest South Bend/Mishawaka parish in terms of physical area. It covers approximately 100 square miles.  View the Parish  Boundary Map.

What are some of the statistics and demographics of our new parish?

• Centre Township presents one of South Bend's best opportunities for development of single family housing. Should migration to South Bend occur as a result of economic development efforts, the southside of South Bend will remain one of the city's fastest growing areas.
• The improvements of US31 south of South Bend (and the interchange at Kern Road) will increase the attractiveness of the southside of South Bend to developers, both for commercial and residential uses. Traffic on Kern Road will increase, and available land will provide development opportunities.
• The city of South Bend realizes that growth of its city limits is imminent, and in an effort to plan for smart growth, they have identified a service area boundary, which represents the city's utility capacity through 2025. The service area boundary extends as far south as Roosevelt Road.
• Almost 80% of St. Jude congregation households are located within the new St. Catherine of Siena Parish boundary.
• A large majority of the St. Jude congregation households are located south of the US20 Bypass.
• Over 75% of the Sacred Heart congregation households are located within the new St. Catherine of Siena Parish boundary.
• The population density center of the Parish is influenced to the north by the large number of households near the southern limits of the city of South Bend.

Information provided by The Troyer Group Demographic and Relocation Feasibility Analysis Report.

In what ways have the two churches come together as a community?
There are many examples in which Sacred Heart and St. Jude churches are coming together under the new parish, St. Catherine of Siena. Through time and talent, we are working together, praying together, and celebrating together.

• Sacred Heart and Saint Jude Pastoral Parish Councils have been meeting as one council for many months.

• Our Building and Transition Committees are comprised of members from both churches.

• We help at each others’ events: Saint Jude parishioners helped at the Sacred Heart Fish Fry and Sacred Heart Parishioners have signed up to help at the Saint Jude Festival.

• The Adult Faith Formation Committee is a combined effort of Sacred Heart and Saint Jude, organizing and coordinating guest speakers.

• Both churches have combined our First Holy Communion and Confirmation classes.

• Our Parish celebrated one Easter Vigil this year.

• Saint Jude School Board elections were conducted with participation from our entire Parish.

• The Sacred Heart and Saint Jude choirs joined their voices and talents for the Confirmation Mass.

• Students from Sacred Heart attend Saint Jude School.

• Sacred Heart volunteers helped with St. Jude's 2008 Parish Mission and both churches celebrated a joint picnic as part of the Mission.

• Father Paul’s Sunday night Basketball League features athletes from Sacred Heart and Saint Jude.

Why didn’t the festival change its name to the St. Catherine of Siena Parish Festival?
Each church still has separate finances, so that means they each have their own fundraising events. Just as Sacred Heart has the Fish Fry and Hog Roast, St. Jude’s major event each year is the Festival. The Festival Committee felt that keeping the name the same would help avoid confusion with marketing to the general public. All the advertising was updated to include “St. Catherine of Siena Parish Presents the St. Jude Festival.” as a positive way to transition into the new parish.

Did Sacred Heart parishioners volunteer to help with the festival?
Yes, there were more than 20 Sacred Heart volunteers that helped with food preparation, the cake walk, ticket booths, gambling tent, and setup/teardown.

How was parishioner attendance at the festival?
Attendance by both churches was excellent! Hundreds of St. Jude and Sacred Heart parishioners attended the festival, enjoying food, fun and fellowship.

Fall 2009 Parish Activities
This Fall has presented our Parish with a number of ways to be involved and come together as a Community.

On Sunday, September 5 Scott Hahn gave a presentation entitled "The Lamb's Supper". Over 500 tickets were sold, mostly to St. Catherine of Siena Parishioners, but also to members of other parishioners. There were probably some non-Catholics there as well. Dr. Hahn is a charismatic, exciting speaker. His background as a Presbyterian minister was in full force that evening. We used his engaging, evangelical style to weave his personal journey to becoming Catholic with the Eucharist and the Book of Revelation.

The Sacred Heart Hog Roast was held on Sunday, September 13. The Sacred Heart crew, along with some St. Jude volunteers, presented a wonderful feast on a beautiful fall day.

The Parish Picnic was very well attended on Sunday, September 20. Between 250-300 parishioners from both Sacred Heart and St. Jude came together to break bread on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The weather was slightly cool, but nice. It was really great to see such an age range in attendance. Young children, parents, grand parents and great parents all shared in this wonderful event. Eating and great conversation were the primary activities. Everyone brought a dish or drinks while volunteers cooked hamburgers, hotdogs and brauts. Attendees setup their lawn chairs and visited while eating a great meal, and even greater desserts. Other activities included volleyball, corn hole and a hay ride.

What is the purpose Parish Goal Setting?
Our Saint Catherine of Siena Parish community is vibrant and active. We have many ministries, committees and organization serving Christ in a multitude of projects. Having so many of our parishioners involved in so many committees and ministries is wonderful. It does, however, create a need to be vigilant in our communication with each other. This is especially true now that we are one Parish with the two churches of Sacred Heart of Jesus and Saint Jude. We have many transition issues – one of which will be how to best merge our ministries, committee and projects. Another very important issue is how we set long-term and short-term goals for the Parish as well as for the individual committee and organizations that thrive at Sacred Heart and Saint Jude

What is the first step in Parish goal-setting?
The joint Parish Council is hosting a Goal Setting Meeting on Sunday, August 30. Every ministry, organization and committee will have leadership representatives in attendance. The major objective is to identify What are the top three goals the Parish must accomplish in the next year. The agenda includes:

• Recognizing the many accomplishments and ongoing efforts of our Parish

• Reviewing items that have been identified as priorities for the next year

• Culling the priorities down to the top 3-4 goals

• Each group will meet and set its own goals in alignment with the Parish goals

How can I get involved?
The Parish Council is encouraging all Parishioners to get involved. Attend the Goal Setting Meeting if you are interested in getting helping define the vision of St. Catherine of Siena Parish.

What was accomplished at the Parish Goal Setting Meeting?
Our first parish-wide goal setting meeting was a great success with approximately 60 parishioners in attendance. We thank Barbara Walsh of Memorial Health System for providing her expertise in leading so large a group through a detailed process setting goals for the next year.

Much of the meeting time was spent in dialogue with one another regarding what we appreciate about our Parish and what else we should be doing. With that in mind, we prioritized goals that many of our committees, ministries, and parishioners submitted.

We identified the top three goals of our Parish for the next year as:

1. To unify our Parish, strengthen our identity as Saint Catherine of Siena and develop opportunities for us to become engaged in Parish Life.
2. To continue with our efforts to select and purchase a location for a new church building as we perform a feasibility study and evaluate fund raising options
3. To provide for expanded opportunities for us to strengthen our Faith through liturgy, prayer, youth and young adult groups and faith formation.

Each represented group then took these goals to determine the steps they will take in the coming year to make sure we reach them. Groups who were not represented will also be required to submit their goals. A full report of the outcomes of our day will be available soon. Parish Meetings will be scheduled in the near future to provide additional information and discussion on these goals and how we can work together to achieve them.

Is the school going to change its name?
The school is fully in line with changing its name to St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School. Principal Steve Donndelinger and the School Board petitioned the bishop and received more time to transition into the name. This will allow the school to use up existing marketing materials and provide extra time needed to create new materials and signage. This also allows the School Board to precisely plan for the name change in coordination with feedback from parents, parishioners and alumni. For now and at least for the next school year the school will continue to be named St. Jude Catholic School.

Is the school going to close?
Our school is very much alive and well. All plans for the new parish include a vibrant, active school. Active participation by all parishioners is encouraged to keep the school growing. There are no plans to close the school.

Is the school going to move when the new church is built?
The current plan is for the school to stay in its current location. There would be a chapel designed into the current school space allowing for student Masses and other Sacraments on site. Ideally, the rectory would become office space. The overall redesign is still in the planning phase.

Will the new church be on either the current St. Jude or Sacred Heart sites?
The Bishop feels the St. Jude site is too close to St. Matthew. The diocese goal is to have parishes more than 3 miles apart. The Sacred Heart location is being reviewed as one of the building options.

Have we purchased land to build on yet?
We are currently looking at sites. Recently, a location came to our attention that would be adjacent to an already developing area of new homes. The bishop asks that at least three possible locations, including the Sacred Heart property, be presented to him for consideration. No final decision has been made yet. The final possibilities will be presented to the Parish before land is purchased.

What is the status of site research for our Building Project?
The Bishop has asked that we present at least three possible building locations, including the Sacred Heart property. The Building Committee has created a matrix of sites that are available for sale, which includes pros and cons for each location. The committee is ready to present the options to the Diocese.

When is the presentation to be scheduled?
We are waiting for a confirmation on the presentation date. The Building Committee is hopeful that it will occur in June 2009.

Presentation Update: 7/5/09
On June 15, 2009, members of the Saint Catherine of Siena Building Committee traveled to Fort Wayne with Father Delaney to meet with representatives of Bishop D’Arcy. Joel Hoff, Hank Groot and Steven Donndelinger made a presentation to Father Bob Schulte, Chancellor of the FW/SB Diocese and Joe Ryan, who is the Chief Financial Officer for the Diocese. The presentation focused on several possible building sites, of which the present site of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church was one. The results of extensive research regarding each site and demographic studies were provided to Fr. Schulte and Mr. Ryan so that they can properly advise Bishop D’Arcy, who will then determine how our Parish will proceed. They were impressed with the organization and depth of information provided to them and applauded the effort put forth by our Building Committee.

We do not know when we will receive a response from the Bishop. When we do receive a response, we will update the Parish. Also, we will plan a Parish meeting to allow everyone to view the presentation and learn more about the Bishop’s response. We will attempt to make this meeting as convenient as possible for all parishioners to attend.

PARISH MEETINGS
There will be two Parish meetings to make important announcements regarding the future of our Parish.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2009 at 1 PM, SAINT JUDE – KELLER ROOM
MONDAY OCTOBER 5, 2008 at 7 PM, SACRED HEART OF JESUS

As promised at the Parish Goal Setting Meeting held on August 30, members of Parish Pastoral Council will share the results of the meeting and what we, as parishioners and parish ministries, can expect as next steps in ensuring the set goals are met.

One of the goals identified was to “Progress on the building of a new church.” Members of the Building Committee have been involved in assessing a possible new parish location. At these Parish Meetings, the Building Committee will announce the location of the proposed building site as well as explain the process of how the site was selected and the current status of the project. They will also offer information about the need for a fundraising feasibility study later this year.

Countless hours of prayer, study and analysis, have guided these committees as they focus on the future of Saint Catherine of Siena Parish for the Glory of God. Please join the excitement and attend one of the meetings!

Is Sacred Heart going to close?
There are no current plans to close Sacred Heart church. All planning is going toward building a new St. Catherine of Siena church. At that time there will be more information on the transition of the two churches moving into the new church.

Is the merger being done to "bail out" St. Jude using Sacred Heart assets?
Not at all! St. Jude Church and School are both in acceptable financial shape. St. Jude has been operating in the black for the past 2 years and offertory income has increased by 28% over those 2 years. Any debt owed to the diocese has been eliminated.