Welcome! You have just one of the teams of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

Each of us serving here is blessed to be called to the service of the Church. We are called to be good stewards of the gifts and talents God provided each of us as we strive to perform our job responsibilities to serve the Church and our local communities. We are also called to be disciples of Christ demonstrated by our actions and the way we perform our jobs and interact with those we serve. How we conduct ourselves in our work, in our personal life, and in our spiritual life should exhibit our deep love of Christ and His Church. By living a life dedicated first to Jesus our Savior, performing charitable acts, growing in our faith life, and loving one another as He loved us, we can best serve one another, the bishop, the pastor, our administrators, our coworkers, and those in our community.

This Diocesan Employee Handbook contains information about the employment policies and practices of all entities within the Diocese. Please take time to read this handbook carefully as it is a valuable reference for understanding your job and your role within the Diocese.

The pastor or agency director reserves the right to interpret, modify, or supplement the provisions of this handbook at any time. Neither this handbook nor any other communication by any representative or other, whether oral or written, is intended to create a contract of employment. This handbook does not guarantee that you will be employed for any specific time. Any agreement to employment for a specified period of time will be put into writing and signed by the pastor or agency director.

Please understand that no employee handbook can address every situation in the workplace. The pastor or agency director retains the right to make decisions involving employment as needed to conduct work in a manner that is beneficial to the employees and each parish, school, or other entity. This handbook supersedes and replaces any and all prior handbooks.

All parishes, schools, and other agencies comply with all applicable federal and state laws. This handbook generally reflects those laws where applicable. Each entity also complies with any applicable local laws, even though there may not be an express written policy contained in the handbook.

If you have any questions about your employment or any provisions in this handbook, please contact the pastor, principal, supervisor or agency director.¹

1. An “agency” as used herein shall include any department, institution, office, parish, school, Juridic person or any subdivision thereof governed by the moral authority of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield in Illinois. (The authority to determine policies for these entities is stated in the, 2017 Diocesan Synodal Statues, Part I, General Norms #9, “Diocesan policies further specify and delineate in greater detail the fundamental particular laws of these statutes and require all diocesan, parish and Catholic school personnel to act in a prescribed manner in handling specified situations. Diocesan procedures are uniform methods or standards of implementing diocesan policies.”). ↩︎