Southern Tier eager to plan for future

This month, "Called to be Church" core teams across the Albany Diocese are meeting to pray and plan for the future in their regions.

Among their first steps will be poring over parish profiles that detail information and statistics that the teams will take into account as they look to the future.

The profiles cover geography, finances, outreach programs, liturgical services, demography, staffing, buildings, religious education programs, schools and cemeteries.

First meeting

Meeting last week for the first time were the parish core teams from St. Mary's in Oneonta, Sacred Heart in Sidney, Holy Cross in Morris, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary mission church in Edmeston.

The Oneonta team includes Rev. Joseph Benintende, pastor; youth minister Kate Johnston; John Burkhart, principal of the school; and parishioners Angie Van Bramer, Beth Zagata and Karen Brezenk.

The group started with prayer, which Father Benintende called "natural for us." The remainder of the evening was spent in comparing information in the profiles in both small-group and large-group discussions.

Comparisons

The parishes, said Father Benintende, have many similarities when it comes to priorities and outreach programs, but differ in size and methods.

While St. Mary's employs a large, full-time staff, for example, the other parishes rely on part-time paid staff and volunteers. St. Mary's also has a school and a cemetery, while the others do not.

Throughout the Called to be Church process, Mrs. Van Bramer hopes to encourage parishioners "to be a community and do more ministry, to [form] ministries that help other people. There's more than we can do."

Talents

Mr. Burkhart isn't only the principal of St. Mary's School; he's also a lector, a member of the pastoral council and a member of the finance committee. He hopes to use his skills in finance and perspectives on parish life to help with the planning.

"We're all trying to figure out where this whole procedure is going, what is going to be the final outcome and how we are going to meet our mission," he said.

Mr. Burkhart hopes to find "alternatives" that can "be done by laypeople. There are certain things that only a priest may do, that are necessary; but there are other things that laypersons can accept as something they can do. We're going to look at that whole spectrum."

Consensus

The team members will use consensus as a manner of decision-making -- instead of taking a majority vote -- in order for changes to be recommended.

"I hope we can all come to a consensus over our discussions as to how we want our parishes to look at the end of the process," said Mr. Burkhart.

Mrs. Van Bramer, a nursing home volunteer and president of the "Young At Heart," the parish's senior-citizens group, remembers the changes in the Church surrounding the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Then, the changes came from the top down. This time, she wants to be part of the process.

"I'm just plain interested," she said. "It will be a challenge down the road. What is going to happen to our Church, and what are we going to do about it? I would like to know what's going to happen with such a shortage of priests coming up. We need to bring Christ into everybody's life."

("This [process] will have some consistency because the core teams are going to be the same. I hope to get from this an openness to the other parishes, an openness to our own parishioners, an opportunity to listen and an opportunity to actually plan," said Father Benintende. Praying and talking with people from the other parishes "gives you that spirit to go on. We're not going to all agree on everything, but we'll have a consensus. I'm excited," said Mrs. Van Bramer.)

(1/11/07) [[In-content Ad]]