March 19, 2025

Bishop Terry R. LaValley has approved the Living Stones pastoral plans of 21 pastoral care areas. These approvals are the result of the Living Stones Planning process that has taken place in all parishes of the diocese to plan for the period 2025-30. In approving the plan, Bishop LaValley expressed his gratitude to the Living Stones Planning Committee, our pastors, and the many parishioners who worked to formulate the plans.

“The Living Stones Planning Committee, led by Mr. Gary West, worked long and hard to guide the parishes in the formulation of their pastoral plans,” said Bishop LaValley. “I am also grateful for all who contributed to the plans on the parish level,” he added.

The Living Stones Planning Committee submitted a Plan and Report, which was approved by Bishop LaValley on July 5, 2024, to guide parishes in formulating their pastoral plans for the period of 2025-30. Between 2025 and 2030, 14 priests will reach the normal retirement age of 75, and we have five priests over the age of 75 who continue active ministry as pastors and chaplains. While the number of priests will decline between 2025-30, spiritual reports indicate that the number of parishioners regularly participating in the life of their parish has decreased. We do have enough priests to serve the number of people currently participating in parish life, but there is a need to determine an allocation of human and material resources to best accomplish this.

The Living Stones Planning Committee initially recommended 29 pastoral care areas under the 2025-30 plan. The goal was to give pastors and their teams a manageable pastoral care area in terms of size, population, staff, finances, and worship. Consideration also was given to the geographic characteristics of the diocese, distances between parishes, and the rural nature of our diocese.

After consultation and feedback from the deans and priests of the diocese, the following pastoral care areas were accepted and approved by Bishop LaValley.
ST. LAWRENCE DEANERY:
1. Ogdensburg (including Heuvelton and Lisbon)
2. Massena – Waddington – Madrid
3. Gouverneur – Star Lake
4. Potsdam – Canton – Colton
5. Norfolk – Norwood – Brasher Falls
6. Morristown – Rossie

JEFFERSON-LEWIS DEANERY:
1. Watertown Blessed Sacrament (St. Patrick, St. Anthony, and Holy Family)
2. Watertown (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) – Evans Mills – Black River
3. Adams – Henderson – Sackets Harbor – Brownville
4. Clayton – Alexandria Bay – Redwood
5. Carthage – Copenhagen
6. Cape Vincent – Rosiere – Chaumont
7. Lowville – Croghan – Harrisville
8. Port Leyden – West Leyden – Constableville – Lyons Falls

CLINTON-NORTHERN FRANKLIN DEANERY:
1. Malone – Chasm Falls
2. Chateaugay – Constable – Fort Covington
3. Brushton – North Bangor – St. Regis Falls – Hopkinton
4. Plattsburgh
5. Rouses Point – Champlain – Chazy – West Chazy
6. Ellenburg – Mooers Forks – Altona – Lyon Mountain
7. Morrisonville – Cadyville – Redford – Dannemora – Peru – West Peru
8. Au Sable Forks – Keeseville – Willsboro – Essex – Wilmington

ADIRONDACK MOUNTAIN DEANERY:
1. Saranac Lake – Lake Placid – Keene
2. Tupper Lake – Long Lake – Newcomb
3. Port Henry – Elizabethtown – Westport – Mineville
4. Ticonderoga – Schroon Lake – Crown Point
5. Indian Lake – Blue Mountain Lake – Olmstedville
6. Old Forge – Inlet
7. Lake Pleasant – Wells

The goal of diocesan planning is to foster vibrant pastoral care areas that meet the needs of the people of the North Country. Parish vibrancy is measured by the elements of parish life that must be present for a parish to effective and enduring, including (a) prayer and worship; (b) faith formation for all ages; (c) stewardship; (d) staffing and leadership; and (e) adequate facilities. Early in the planning process, the need to address stewardship became evident. Pastoral care areas need sufficient and qualified staff, and the ability to provide needed programs and activities. All parishes are addressing the need for increased stewardship and most parishes will conduct stewardship drives with the assistance of professionals to address these needs.

To prepare the plans, the Living Stones Planning Committee proposed that the process include deanery meetings with clergy, meetings at the pastoral care area level and communication with parishioners. The report and plan of the Living Stones Planning Committee included guidelines and parameters to guide pastoral care areas to address the various elements of parish vibrancy.

Bishop LaValley has approved the pastoral plans for the following pastoral care areas:
1. Ogdensburg, Lisbon, Heuvelton
2. Massena, Waddington, Madrid
3. Gouverneur, Star Lake; 4. Norfolk, Norwood, Brasher Falls
5. Morristown
6. Adams, Henderson, Sackets Harbor, Brownville
7. Clayton, Alexandria Bay
8. Constableville, Port Leyden, West Leyden, Lyons Falls
9. Tupper Lake, Long Lake, Newcomb
10. Old Forge, Inlet
11. Potsdam, Canton, Colton
12. Carthage, Copenhagen
13. Malone
14. Fort Covington, Chateaugay, Constable
15. Brushton, Hopkinton, North Bangor, St. Regis Falls
16. Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Keene
17. Port Henry, Elizabethtown, Westport, Mineville
18. Ticonderoga, Schroon Lake, Crown Point
19. Indian Lake, Olmstedville
20. Lake Pleasant, Wells
21. Plattsburgh
22. Cape Vincent, Chaumont, Rosiere.

The Living Stones Planning Committee will continue to work with the six remaining pastoral care areas to complete their pastoral plans and have them approved. Three professional groups have offered their services to the parishes with regard to their stewardship campaigns. These groups are The Cunneen Group, Cathedral Corporation, and Our Sunday Visitor. Each parish has selected the professional it wishes to work with and has determined the timeframe for the campaign to take place in the parish. Generally, the campaigns will take place between spring 2025 and spring 2026.

“The period between 2025-2030 presented challenges to our planning process,” commented Bishop LaValley. “In that five-year period, we face 14 priests becoming eligible for retirement and expect four ordinations. Serving the needs of our parishioners in light of such a potential decrease in the number of active priests was a daunting challenge,” added Bishop LaValley. Mindful of this challenge, the diocese has recruited seven religious priests and seven foreign priests to work in our diocese to lighten the load. We have benefited greatly from the religious and foreign priests on loan to our diocese. Additionally, a number of our priests have continued to serve as pastors after our normal retirement age of 75. This additional help has been a great benefit to the diocese, and I am most grateful.”

Planning is an on-going part of diocesan life. At present, we have a solid plan to meet the needs of our parishes with our human and material resources, but the challenge continues. Bishop LaValley stated that we need to constantly pursue our diocesan goals to assure healthy ministries and parishes in our diocese.

“We need to continue to form our people in the faith, we need to constantly plan for the future, and we need to create a culture of vocations, asking God to send us the priests, deacons, consecrated religious, and consecrated virgins to serve the needs of the Church,” he said.