September 2025

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I come to you today as your archbishop and as a fellow Catholic who grew up in this archdiocese. I have walked the same sacred path of faith as you, and I believe deeply in the bright future toward which God is calling us.

Journey in Faith is a pastoral and spiritual pilgrimage that we are walking together as an archdiocesan family. It is a Spirit-led invitation to renewal, vitality, and growth. It is an opportunity to build something enduring, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come. I envision a Church that is alive with the joy of the Gospel, where our parishes are not only sustainable, but thriving centers of mission and encounter.

Last fall, over 22,000 of you responded to the Disciple Maker Index. Your honest reflections – together with statistics on our sacramental life, demographics, and resources – have given us a much clearer picture of where we are now, and where the Holy Spirit may be urging us to go.

This journey is about boldly proclaiming the Gospel. It is about ensuring that our parish communities are ready for the future – that they are alive, welcoming, and deeply rooted in Christ.

Recently, your parish priests and our Journey in Faith Planning Commission prayerfully considered several models for how parishes might collaborate more intentionally in the formation of new pastorates. These models focus on strengthening relationships – among clergy, laity, and neighboring communities – so we can share human and material resources, develop new relationships, and transform our communities to become more like Jesus Christ in thought, word, and deed. I highly value the insights and perspectives of the priests and the Planning Commission.

And now, I desperately want and need to hear from you. Your parish will soon be hosting information and listening sessions. These meetings will be open to everyone. The participants will be invited to listen, learn, reflect, ask questions, and offer input and insights. The proposed models for your parish are now online at dbqjourneyinfaith.org. Please take a look at them, make note of their strengths and weaknesses, and attend your regional and parish sessions. The first session, which will be held in different regions of the archdiocese, will provide information about the proposals. The second and third sessions, which will take place in individual parishes or clusters, will provide opportunities for listening and input. You can also give feedback on the Journey in Faith website. 

These models are not decisions. They are starting points, designed to elicit your reactions and perspectives. I want to hear your honest feedback. 

I understand the challenge and weight that change can bring. I have been there. Years ago, my own home parish was merged into a neighboring parish, and the church was no longer used for Catholic worship. My extended family had been active members of this parish, which was established in 1861 by Czech immigrants, for 135 years. It was the first Bohemian Catholic parish in Iowa. My great-great grandfather, a stone mason who emigrated to the United States from Bohemia in the early 1850s, helped build the first church. He and my great-great grandmother donated a stained-glass window to the second church, which was completed in 1917. And my grandparents were the first couple married in the new church. I was baptized there. Almost all of the ancestors on my father’s side are buried in the church cemetery. So when the church was no longer used for Catholic worship, I felt a deep sense of loss. It was as if the soul of the building had gone quiet. 

As a priest, I had to walk with parishioners on a couple of occasions through the process of clustering and merging their beloved parishes – guiding them through uncertainty, listening to their pain, and helping them discover new life on the other side. It wasn’t simple. But it was sacred.

That is why I believe so deeply in this journey. If someone asks me why we have to go through this painful process, I might ask them: “Would you be willing to give up your Sunday Mass of convenience – or even Sunday Mass in your particular beloved church period – if Journey in Faith will renew, reenergize, and revitalize our archdiocese, thereby helping us retain our young people and bring back your children, grandchildren, and other relatives who have left the Church?” I know I would. I would give up anything for that. If this process can  enliven our parishes, help us evangelize better, and make our ministries more vital, wouldn’t it be worth the suffering, sacrifice, and martyrdom that it requires? It is all for the sake of the mission Jesus gave us. It is all for the sake of the Kingdom of God. 

I know this process will be challenging and difficult. But we can do it together. And it is worth doing, because it will help us renew our commitment to our mission, strengthen the formation of our people, plan wisely for the future, and support the well-being of our faithful priests.

So I ask you, dear friends: please join me on this journey. Let’s be honest. Let’s be courageous. Let’s be hopeful. Let’s be faithful.

And let’s trust that the same Jesus who walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus is walking with us now – revealing Himself as we break open the Word and share the Bread of Life.

May God bless you. And may God bless the Archdiocese of Dubuque.

Let’s Journey in Faith – together.