The Diocese of La Crosse by the Numbers
A look at some of our numbers suggests that our parishes are having less and less impact on the community around us. It is a crisis as well as a great opportunity to become parishes fully alive on mission.
Priests, Parishes, & People
The waves of immigrants in Wisconsin have left us in a unique situation. Our dioceses have a huge number of parishes in comparison to the other 172 diocese in the United States. But the ratio of priests to people is actually quite favorable.
Stability of Pastors
People tend to think of “our priest” or “the priest at that parish.” But not all priests are pastors. A pastor is a priest who is placed in charge of a parish or parishes.
Many parishes feel harmed by not having stability of assignment for their pastors in recent years. Our status quo has been to borrow more heavily from other countries to supply our pastors. This strategy automatically leads to frequent reassignments.
One question we ask parishes to consider is whether it is more important to them to keep their current structures or more important to keep pastors and school chaplains around longer. Stable and healthy leadership is far more possible if we are willing to reimagine our parish structures in a way that best serves their mission here and now.