Meeting explores future of parishes

It was part of the prayer service that kicked off the Parish Leadership Gathering, held at St. Edward the Confessor parish in Clifton Park on June 25. The meeting was attended by more than 200 laity, religious and clergy involved in ministry in the Albany Diocese.

Representatives from the Dioceses of Green Bay and Rochester gave presentations on how their dioceses have handled pastoral planning. Both dioceses are demographically similar to the Albany Diocese. With fewer and fewer priests available to staff parishes, the presenters said, dioceses must find new models for parish life and ministry.

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard told the group that such pastoral planning is "an ongoing and ever-evolving process." Noting that a similar meeting on leadership was held in January, he foresees a third meeting on what specific steps the Diocese will take in planning for its future.

Hippo's got it

"How?" asked the hippo. The owl replied, "I just make policy; I don't implement it."

Mr. Mogilka noted that while many of those trying to plan for their dioceses' future feel like the hippo, it is possible to become butterflies.

Moving forward

The presenter noted that the first step is convincing Catholics that there really won't be enough priests to staff parishes -- soon.

"People believe the Church has always been there and there have always been priests; and until they really believe there are no other options, they will not move on," he stated.

Implications

* diocesan staff have to find new ways to support parishes;

* they must model the collaboration they ask parishes to live;

* younger priests are being made pastors more quickly, and diocesan offices must be resources for them;

* mentoring programs are one way for experienced pastors and pastoral associates to help new ones along;

* there is less "priestly presence" in specialized ministries like prison chaplaincies;

* priests are not available to help with movements like Cursillo or Marriage Encounter;

* lay leaders taking priests' places have different needs and personnel policies;

* retired priests must continue to serve in different ways;

* the diaconate is emerging as an ever-more important ministry;

* Catholic school systems are increasingly run by laity;

* the Church must pay attention to its growing Hispanic community.

New models

* In the "inter-parish programming" model, for example, parishes co-sponsor programs like youth ministry or religious education. The presenter called this a good precursor to sharing a pastor in the future, since it eases parishes into collaborating.

* In the "parish linkage" model, a pastor or parish life director is responsible for two or more parishes, which also share some staff but otherwise remain separate. This is different from actually merging parishes, but Mr. Mogilka said that one often leads to the other.

* In the "one team serving many" model, a pastor and lay staff serve several parishes, working from a central site. The Green Bay Diocese has two six-parish clusters served in this manner.

* In the "combine and build model," several parishes combine and build one larger church for all. The old churches can be designated "limited-use" churches for weddings and the like, or sold and the funds used as the nest egg to build the new church.

Oh, Rochester

With that in mind, he focused on some of the parish-staffing situations his diocese has struggled with, including:

* two six-church clusters each manned by one pastor (both of whom just resigned);

* another six-parish cluster that currently has three priests but will have just one within a few years; and

* a five-parish cluster in the city of Rochester that nearly closed all its churches to build one new one, then changed its mind.

Lessons learned

For one thing, he said, there isn't one right answer to any staffing problem -- even though "anyone not involved in the situation thinks they know the best answer."

Another lesson was that parishes themselves must own whatever solution is agreed upon. Mr. Pickett recalled a parish cluster that begged, "Have the bishop close us. Then we can be mad at you and not at each other."

"That never ends," he said. "They've got to come up with the answer themselves."

It's also important for the diocese to keep communicating its plans with parishes, the presenter said: "No one in the parish pays any attention unless they're going to be closed."

Mr. Pickett believes that even if there were a huge number of priests, dioceses would still face "cultural issues" like evangelization and how to minister to youth and young adults. But since there are so few priests, he said, "we have to be realistic about the age, ability level, skills and abilities of the people we have. It's not going to do us any good to have settings no one can function in."

Group discussion

A graph of the rising number of Catholics compared to the sharply declining number of available clergy drew a murmur from the crowd.

After each table voiced concerns for the future, Sister Kathleen Turley, RSM, diocesan chancellor for planning and pastoral services, concluded: "As we begin to look at what is the next formal stage of planning, these stories from other dioceses will be very helpful to us."

(06-28-01) [[In-content Ad]]