Now that the pastoral plans from the majority of parishes in the Archdiocese have been submitted, the work of sorting and recording them was undertaken and completed last week. These will soon be sent to the five vicars.

A similar exercise was carried out for plans handed in by some 140 schools – 120 primary and 20 secondary schools. These have been sent to the Catholic Education Board of Management (CEBM) and copied to the Education Conversation Group headed by Justice Annestine Sealey. Plans from the religious and ecclesial communities will be dealt with separately.

For greater clarity a step-by-step routine follows:

1) Having received the plans, the Vicars will identify commonalities expressed in his various parish plans. Some may need tweaking or strengthening and then a determination will be made as to whether or not training will be needed for proper implementation. Benchmarks and best practice goals will then be set.

2) The vicars will then meet with the parish executives (three-person teams) and then with the Parish Implementation Team (PIT) to plan for implementation of the various strategic objectives. These objectives need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a Timeframe.

At the parish level each activity must be directly related to the objective with clear actions of how the objective will be achieved. Some parishes may identify more than one activity.

The action steps should flow naturally from the activity and should describe the steps to be taken to achieve the desired outcome. Action steps should be distinct, measurable and follow a logical sequence to ensure successful completion of the activity.

3) Resources: There are three main areas – Human, Material and Financial. In the case of human, there is need to identify who will be responsible for each of the activities planned. (For example, a resource person may be required for some activities, the parish priest or other clergy or professional or a member of the PIT or the youth ministry or the music ministry etc.).

All materials, equipment, facilities required to facilitate the implementation of the planned actions should be clearly listed. (Example: printed material like pamphlets, brochures, audio-visual equipment, speakers etc.).

Financial requirements needed to cover the cost of materials and human resources should be identified.

4) Start Dates: For each action listed there should be dates set when each one will be started and completed to ensure that serious consideration be given as to the timeframe in which things can be accomplished and such dates should be realistic.