Thank you! We're grateful for your input through the visioning survey

March 15, 2022

One year ago, Bishop William Joensen invoked the Holy Spirit and enlisted a diverse group of lay faithful and clergy to envision and discern the direction the Diocese of Des Moines should pursue in the coming months and years.

The process that was initiated has made great strides.

Together with the bishop, the Strategic Visioning Steering Committee has begun to focus upon themes that have emerged among 38 focus groups, 40 one-on-one interviews, and nearly 2,600 survey responses in English and Spanish.  

Feedback has been offered by a host of persons with diverse experiences and points of view, ranging from priests, lay parish staff and leadership, youth and young adults, people in the pews, as well as non-practicing Catholics and others who belong to other faith traditions or no organized religion at all. 

The synthesizing and interpretation of data continues to be a revelatory and Spirit-led process. The top themes that emerge will have an impact upon diocesan outreach, programs and resources for the next three-to-five years.

A key element of the visioning process involves listening to members of the faithful. Bishop Joensen and the Steering Committee are grateful for the many folks who completed the online survey or the alternate version that appeared in the January edition of The Catholic Mirror. Everyone who wanted to be heard had an opportunity to share his or her thoughts, said Dan Ebener, of Quad City Leadership Consulting. He is the primary facilitator for the Diocese’s visioning process.

Listening was a critical factor contributing to the success of this effort, said Dan Kinsella, co-chair of the Strategic Visioning Steering Committee.

“We are all many parts but one body. Our ethnic perspective and our physical geography do make a difference in what is important to us,” he said. “We have to listen to everyone.”

Maria Matamoros, a co-chair of the Steering Committee, pondered how the Diocese can assist parishes in supporting a stronger and more personal connection to God.

“We need to start with the connection to God, finding that personal relationship with Jesus,” she said. “To build a relationship with someone, you have to first get to know them, inspiring a thirst for knowledge of God through intentional and meaningful evangelization efforts.” 

Steering Committee member Jennifer Simmons, principal of St. Malachy School in Creston, is grateful the Diocese conducted the survey as part of its research.

“I thought they did a nice job making sure the views of the people spending time in the pews every week were heard, but I also feel they did a great job trying to reach out to those who have fallen away from the church,” she said. “I worked hard to find those who had fallen way from the Church and encouraged them to take the survey. I want their voices heard.”

As the Steering Committee and Bishop Joensen interpret what the Holy Spirit is disclosing in the data and interviews, the Diocese will need to think boldly and creatively, Ebener said. 

During March, the Steering Committee and Bishop Joensen will continue to discern the top themes and identify strategies for moving forward.  

The Steering Committee will provide final recommendations to Bishop Joensen in April. From there, diocesan staff will begin strategic planning to determine what action steps need to be adopted to make the vision a reality in the next three to five years.

“I truly believe the Holy Spirit is working through this committee and all who have participated in the process. The exciting part is where it’s going to take us,” said Matamoros. 

“This is the perfect time to do this,” Kinsella said. “I think if we execute this properly and follow the Holy Spirit, it will lead us to places that are better than any place else we could be.”

Matamoros hopes the faithful are as excited as the Steering Committee is about their role in future plans.
“I hope people read this [account] and think, ‘Wow, sounds like great things are coming to the Diocese and our parishes, and each one of us will get to be a part of it,” she said.