Greetings to you in the healing, hope, and joy that we receive so abundantly in the Risen Lord!
“Let us proclaim from the height of International Falls, to the width of Walker and Grand Portage to the depth of Pine City, the dawn from on high is breaking upon us in the Diocese of Duluth! This dawning is an awakening to the vision and mission that God entrusts to us at this time in our history, a dawning and awakening that is the result of the Pentecost stirrings of the Holy Spirit moving boldly in our midst, calling us to proclaim the healing, hope, and joy that we can only find in Jesus Christ to everyone who dwells in the 25,000 square miles of our diocese” (Bishop Daniel Felton, Healing, Hope, and Joy in Jesus, December 25, 2022, pg. 2).
Truly this new dawn from on high is (and has been) breaking upon us! I have been with you since my consecration and installation on May 20, 2021. Since then, we have journeyed together in the healing, hope, and joy that is only found in Jesus Christ. As disciples on mission, you and I together have been given the mandate to live in and proclaim this healing, this hope, and this joy to every person within the Diocese of Duluth, not just the baptized Catholics.
Your pastors and parish leadership have discerned together and in the Holy Spirit what encompasses your mission field. Our 25 Mission Fields are the basic building blocks for implementing our vision and mission. Our vision: As disciples on mission, we will accompany and lead all people to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. Our mission: As disciples of Jesus, we will intentionally help one another to grow closer to Jesus, no matter where we are in the journey of life.
Together in the Holy Spirit, as we continue to implement our mission and vision some of our structures are called to change and grow. A small part of this includes parish boundaries.
After much discernment with parish and diocesan leadership, on September 26, 2024, I promulgated this decree by means of an email sent to all 32 of our pastors in the Diocese of Duluth. With this decree, I constituted anew all 70 parish boundaries within the territory of the 10 counties that comprise the nearly 25,000 square miles which is the Diocese of Duluth: Aitkin, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Pine, and St. Louis.
After much prayer and discernment, we decided this was opportune to assist us in implementing our vision and mission. Be not afraid! This reestablishment of parish boundaries does not signify any parish closures. In fact, it is due to God’s abundance, that we are aligning our structures to the mission God has entrusted to us. This reestablishment of parish boundaries provides us with the clarity necessary to continue to walk with and in the Holy Spirit in our mission fields.
As I said in my pastoral letter to you in 2022, “It is not only the changing of time, but also a change of culture that is set before us in this Pastoral Letter, a change of culture that seeks to stand us on our heads so that we might see Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God and our mission and vision from a totally different perspective. This change of culture includes moving from an attitude of scarcity to one of abundance; from organizing ourselves for decline to preparing ourselves for growth (Felton, Healing, Hope, and Joy in Jesus, pg. 13). We have been and are preparing ourselves for growth in the Holy Spirit. With redefined parish boundaries, we are continuing to align our parishes and Mission Fields to walk in the mandate given us by the Holy Spirit: to proclaim the healing, hope, and joy that we can only find in Jesus Christ to everyone who dwells in the 25,000 square miles of our diocese.
It brings me great joy to write to you this day.
In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us!
Venerable Bishop Frederic Baraga, pray for us!
Holy Msgr. Joseph Buh, pray for us!
St. Joseph, pray for us!
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
May God bless you and those you serve in your mission field,