On August 17, 2001, Father Reardon published this status report on the Strategic Planning process. This report is reprinted here.

1. At my request the Parish Council established the Futures Committee in 2000. Tom Orsi agreed to chair the committee.
2. After some months of work the committee recommended to the Parish Council that Dr. Elaine Notarantonio be retained for the purposes of helping the parish through a strategic planning process. The goal is to set priorities for the next five years. I accepted the advice of the Parish Council and approved the hiring of Dr. Notarantonio.
3. Dr. Notarantonio conducted a series of individual interviews as well as several focus groups. She also oversaw a parish wide survey by means of a questionnaire. The results of these information-gathering steps were presented to the parish in an open forum in the month of June 2001.
4. The next phase in the strategic planning process was the recruitment of 25 volunteers to form the core team to continue working with the information gathered thus far. This core team met for a three hour training session on Saturday, August 11, 2001. A summary of the session can be found in the bulletin for this weekend. I also offer a few reflections on the session in the bulletin.
5. Meanwhile another related development occurred. Virginia Davis died. She was a long time parishioner and the last beneficiary of a trust established by the Davis family more than thirty years ago. Upon her death the assets of the trust were to be divided as follows: 10% of the value of the trust is to come to our parish; 40% is to go to the Catholic Charity Fund of the Diocese; 35% is to go to the Society for the Propagation of the faith in New York; and the remaining 15% is to go to South County Hospital.
6. The trust consists of 23+ acres of land located at the intersection of Tower Hill Road and Ten Rod Road (80% of the value of the trust is in this land) and some cash (20%).
7. When Miss Davis died I requested that the diocese work with the parish to secure the land while we mutually investigated potential use of it for the parish and/or the diocese. The Bishop agreed to this request.
8. Two decisions were subsequently made. The first was to engage a civil engineer to study the land and its potential capacity as a campus for the parish with or without a school. The second was to engage a Financial Consultant to do a feasibility study in the parish. The purpose of the study is to measure parishioner opinion on the wisdom and practicality of utilizing the land for parish use.
9. Ruotolo Associates of New Jersey were awarded a contract to complete this feasibility study and make a final report in the first week of October. They will use standard procedures in carry out their task. They will interview individuals and conduct focus groups.
10. In arriving at the decision to hire Ruotolo Associates I was assisted by John Gibbons, Elizabeth McGrath, Martha Dwyer, Tom Orsi and Ray Valee.
11. It should be noted that the feasibility Study is an information gathering process. No decision has been made or will be made until after the study is complete and has been thoroughly reviewed by the Core Team of the Strategic Planning Process, the Parish Council, the Finance Council and myself.
12. Anyone who would like to be interviewed individually or take part in a focus group is welcome to do so. Simply call, write or email the Parish Office this week.
13. This study while independent of the work of the Core Team is part of the Strategic Planning process. Circumstances have dictated doing the study immediately. This is necessary in order to satisfy the desire of the other beneficiaries to receive their share of the assets of the Davis trust.
14. The study will generate data to be used by the Core Team.
15. The Strategic Planning process inevitably would have led us to a study and evaluation of the facilities that comprise the present parish campus: the church, the rectory, Halloran Hall, the Parish Center and the adjacent parking lots.
16. The purpose of the Strategic Planning process is to arrive at goals that translate into programs. Every program needs space in which it is carried out; personnel to facilitate its being carried out; and other monetary or physical resources. This leads to asking, among other questions, "Do our facilities support us in the realization of the activities and programs we deem essential and desirable for our life as a parish and for our mission to and in the wider community?"

I welcome any questions and comments in regard to these matters.