(St. Cloud, Minn., October 23, 2009) - Most Reverend John F. Kinney, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud, is issuing the following letter to parishioners of the 15 parishes in the St. Cloud metro area at this weekend’s liturgies regarding the Planning Process that has been underway.

The 15 metro area parishes are located in St. Cloud, Waite Park, Sartell, Sauk Rapids, St. Augusta, St. Joseph and Luxemburg, and among them, they have 10 schools.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

During the past year, your pastor and representatives from your parish have been involved in a process addressing faith formation at the parishes in the St. Cloud metro area. The focus has been on Catholic Schools and Parish Religious Education alike.

This has been an initiative by the pastors collectively to address how to best use limited resources to enhance existing programs. Demographics, loss of enrollment at schools and faith formation programs, best use of facilities, and parish budgets played a large role in this initiative.

I want to affirm the members of your parish who were so involved with this process and committed to working toward a common goal of stronger educational opportunities for all of the members of the parish.

During a discussion with the pastors this past Thursday, I listened to their observations and recommendations in regard to the planning process. In light of this meeting, I agree with the pastors’ recommendation to revisit the St. Cloud Metro Planning Process and, therefore, I am canceling all the parish options meetings scheduled for this week.

In the very near future, I will be responding more fully to the issues surrounding the Planning Process. At that time, I will offer my recommendations to the pastors regarding the next steps in the process for all St. Cloud metro area parishes.

For more information, contact Rebecca Kurowski, Director of Communications at (320) 251-0558 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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