I will provide you with offical communication and development updates on the planning process. I encourage you to be patient, and if you have any questions about the process, do not hesitate to email me.
Blessings
Fr. Juan
Updates:
Letter to the People of God in Racine
Dear Friends in Christ,
During this Easter season, we are reminded of the transformation, the newness of life, and the joy that emanates from the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. We are witnesses to this remarkable truth of our faith. Today, I want to share some news and updates about our future as a Catholic community in Racine. We began our journey of collaboration last July 2024. We started with 21 Masses on the weekend, with 2800 people attending Mass on the weekends. Now, nine months later, with 16 Masses on the weekend, we have 3200 people coming to Mass. This is an increase of 400 people. You probably have experienced it on your pews. More people. Praise Jesus Christ! We have a robust young adult ministry; we created events to bring the community together to get to know each other. We come together in prayer at our Food for the Journey events, and we also have a new marriage preparation initiative called Witness to Love. The collaboration fosters a sense of vibrancy, offers opportunities to grow spiritually, learn about the Lord and our faith, and be a joyful group of disciples within our communities. When we began this journey, the Lord Jesus Christ and all of us walked the streets of Racine in a magnificent Eucharistic procession that touched and transformed many lives and broke down walls of division, creating one Eucharistic community. These are the fruits of that amazing moment last summer.
Even though we have achieved so many wonderful things, let me share our current administrative reality. We have eight parishes, eight different pastoral councils, eight different finance councils, eight different staff teams, and eight sets of trustees. As you can see, it is an administrative, time-consuming machine. My energy, time, and passion go into managing all these parishes.
We have been working hard with our Planning Team, Pastoral Councils, Finance Councils, and Trustees. We believe that to manage this great Catholic community in Racine effectively, we need to create an administrative structure that provides the excellent support necessary to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and fulfill his mandate to make disciples of all peoples. One possibility would be to merge the eight existing parishes into one new parish with a fresh canonical and civic identity. If merged, the new parish would have a new name. Any possible merger would not entail closing any buildings at this point, but instead would create an administrative structure to support the incredible vibrancy we are already experiencing. Therefore, we could merge into one parish with eight different sites. Each site would maintain its current name and mass schedule, and there would be office hours to provide services to you, my brothers and sisters, at each site. Thus, the change would be more internal than external, more administrative. You, my brothers and sisters in the pews, would not be affected by this change. We would continue with our same Mass schedule, our sites would keep their beloved names, and each site would have office hours to provide the services you need. Simplifying the complex structure we currently have would help me have more time to focus on the mission of making disciples.
If approved by Archbishop Grob, the proposed merger could happen in July 2026. To achieve this timeline, we need to write a letter to the Archbishop asking for his approval to merge after he undertakes the required canonical consultation. We will need to work on the details for any future merger. I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for this process, which I believe is guided by the Holy Spirit. We are all in the hands of God. This is a journey that we do together, trusting in the Lord. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. My email is on the bulletin, and I am always ready to listen to you. My excellent staff, planning team, pastoral council, trustees, and finance council members will also be prepared to answer any questions. Blessings. Fr. Juan M Camacho