A faithful Catholic of the Diocese of Gaylord approached a member of Gaylord Diocesan Watch with the following question: Could the Church benefit from its own DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency)?
In response, we determined that perhaps the Diocese of Gaylord would benefit from a Department of Veritas Excelsis (DOVE), ie, a Department of Truth in the Highest. This Department, working with the Bishop, Vicar, and Chancellor of the Diocese, could enlist a comprehensive review of Diocesan departments and parishes to look for ways that the faith could be promulgated, enhanced, and honored by ALL of the population of the Diocese. DOVE could do a survey on what Catholics believe and understand of the Catholic faith. DOVE could review our pathetic lack of vocations and see what is drawing the few vocations we do have and see why most of them come from one parish (Holy Rosary, Cedar).
Additionally, DOVE could look at various offices of the Diocese. For example, it could look at the number of accountants the Diocese has and ask the question: Does the Diocese really need 3 accountants? Does the Diocese need an Office of Development and Stewardship and an Office of Communications and an Office of Information Technology? Could these Offices be merged into one Office? What level of productivity comes out of the Office of Hispanic Ministry and other Offices?
DOVE could look at individual parishes to see how they can better present the faith and evangelize the people of our Diocese. DOVE could offer positive and substantive recommendations to make the Diocese better. Finally, DOVE could recommend cutting waste from the Diocese to make the stewardship of donor dollars more transparent.
Who will be the members of DOVE? Certainly, Gaylord Diocesan Watch would be willing to participate in this task; this is consistent with our foundational goal of assisting the Bishop and the Diocese. However, based on the response of the Diocese to our requests to meet with Bishop Walsh, we are not holding our breath. In the meantime, we will continue to work on assisting Bishop Walsh in reporting on important issues of the Diocese with our apostolate. We will also continue to pray for the Diocese of Gaylord.