Rev. James D. Conley, D.D., S.T.L. | Diocese of Lincoln website

The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln has announced the creation of its first pastoral plan, titled “One Heart in Christ.” Initiated by Bishop James Conley in January 2025, the plan aims to provide a unified vision and direction for the diocese’s mission and ministry over the next five years.

A pastoral plan serves as a guiding document that outlines key principles, goals, and action steps for diocesan activities. According to the diocese, this effort involved collaboration among parishioners, clergy, religious members, and diocesan leadership. The process included input from hundreds of people across the region through listening sessions and surveys.

Bishop Conley emphasized the importance of community involvement in developing the plan. “From the beginning, it was essential that the pastoral plan would only be designed through deep listening to the people of the diocese and in learning what was most important to them,” he said. “We needed to ensure our pastoral plan was reflective of those priorities, and that we remained on that path during the entire process.”

Listening sessions began in February 2025 with invitations extended through various channels such as parish bulletins, social media posts featuring a video invitation from Bishop Conley, online comment forms available in English and Spanish, Mass announcements, and articles in diocesan publications. Nearly 300 individuals participated in these sessions.

Data gathered for planning included sacramental statistics from parishes, financial trends related to parish income and school enrollment, as well as educational information covering Catholic schools and homeschooling within the diocese. A diverse planning team composed of laity, priests, religious members, and staff met multiple times throughout 2025 to develop a vision statement, mission statement, guiding principles with measurable goals, and an initial action plan.

The “One Heart in Christ” pastoral plan is structured around four main pillars: Healthy Parishes; Education; Religious Vocations; Holy Marriage and Family Life. Each pillar includes specific goals aimed at strengthening parish engagement; enhancing faith formation for families and youth; supporting vocations among clergy and religious; promoting marriage preparation programs; providing ongoing support for married couples; expanding ministries serving families—especially those facing hardship—and encouraging stewardship at all levels.

Implementation will begin in January 2026 alongside a Pastoral Letter from Bishop Conley. The bishop described his directive: “The mandate was clear: To create a living, robust plan that ignites our hearts and leads us to Christ.”

Fifteen planning team members have committed their time over one year to help launch this initiative by collaborating with diocesan leadership as well as participants from earlier listening sessions.

The full details of objectives under each pillar are expected next month when additional elements of the five-year roadmap will be released.