When it began in 1994, the Pastoral Planning process caused an uproar among some people in the Albany Diocese. Many Catholics from across its 14 counties phoned their parishes and diocesan offices, demanding to know whether "this means my parish will be closed."

Now that Pastoral Planning has reached the end of its formal stages, many people in the pews are heaving a sigh of relief: "Oh, good -- it's over, and my parish didn't close." What quite a few of them seem to have forgotten is that the original reason for Pastoral Planning was not closing parishes; it was to plan for the future of the Diocese, not only in light of a decreasing number of clergy but also due to other factors, including the increased role of the laity called for by the Second Vatican Council, recent popes and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard in his pastoral letters and other communications.

In other words, through pastoral planning, the Diocese wanted to help parishes make sure they remained responsive to the changing needs and resources of our times. As a result, cluster plans have been created to be used as needs arise, not stored on a shelf -- and they include the need for active participation of laypersons to maintain a vital and viable Church. Again, the focus of Pastoral Planning was not to close parishes, but to open up parishioners so that they understand they must now become leaders in order to keep the Church alive in the Albany Diocese.

By so doing, they will continue a tradition that echoes back to their ancestors in faith, back 150 years to the founding of the Diocese in 1847 (an event to be celebrated next year during the Sesquicentennial). For example, look at the plaque from St. Mary's parish in Albany, shown on page 5 this week. Those are laypersons' names inscribed there; they were literally and figuratively part of the foundation of the church.

For pastoral planning to be fulfilled, pastors and other parish leaders must promote lay leadership. If they know a teenager who plays an instrument, they can ask him to join (or create) a folk group. If they see an elderly parishioner in the front pew every week, they could request that she join a prayer chain to pray for parish needs.

For their part, Catholics in the pews can help by remembering that Pastoral Planning is not over. Just because cluster teams aren't meeting doesn't mean that there are no changes in store for the future. There are always changes, for good and ill, in the future; they need to be confronted, dealt with and resolved. Lay involvement is part of that process. If you don't have time to sit on the parish council, volunteer to teach religious education for an hour a week. If you don't like the idea of ironing altar cloths, try being a Eucharistic minister at the Mass you attend.

If Catholics don't take an active role in the Church, then planning for the future of our Diocese may become just what some already think it is: a thing of the past.

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