---

Imagine a Church in which coordination and collaboration among parishes fosters vibrant and dynamic ministries. While not intentional, we have been conditioned to focus on our respective parishes which in many cases foster competition.

The emphasis on individual parishes can lead to parochial­ism. According to Merriam Webster, parochialism is defined as selfish pettiness or narrowness. It is a tendency to focus on a tiny portion of a situation rather than attempting to understand the over­all picture. It is characterized by a constrained scope. According to study.com, the literal meaning of parochialism is the quality or state of being selfish, small-minded or focused on a small group of people. In my opinion, this has contributed to our problem within the Church. Our identity is focused on a specific church building and the parish it resides in rather than the bigger picture and mission of our universal Church. A paradigm shift in thinking is overdue — we are all brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of the zip code we reside or the name on the church building. 

The vineyard of the Diocese of Albany is geographically vast and represents the territory that Bishop Scharfenberger shepherds which includes 126 parishes across 14 counties. The love of our parishes is palpable, but we need to focus on serving everyone residing in the territory known as a parish. You might be interested in data I recently shared with the Presbyteral Council. For background, the Presbyteral Council is a consultative body made up of a group of priests who advise and offer insight to the Bishop. The information I shared came from MissionInsite which is a database platform utilizing information from a variety of sources including Synergos PopStats which the Diocese subscribes to. The total population within the Diocese of Albany is slightly more than 1.4 million people. Of that number, 34 percent (approximately 483,000 people) represent the total Catholic population. By enlisting what we call the “October Mass Count” data reported by each parish, we can calculate that the number of Catholics regularly attending weekend Masses is only 7 percent which is approximately 34,000 people. 

In many cases, we are focused on those who are worshipping with us, but not on those outside of our inner circle. Remember, we are here to serve everyone — all of God’s people. Matthew 25:35-36 tells us: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” We are called to do these things not because they are Catholic, but because WE are Catholic.

To combat parochialism, we have some very tough decisions to make to unite our parishes as collaborators, not competitors. We must be less parochial and go out from our separate buildings and partner to best fulfill our mission. Following Christ was not meant to be comfortable or convenient. Research has shown that there is a rule of one-thirds if a church building were to close. One-third of the congregation will worship in the building named as the successor church; one-third will decide to worship at another church more appealing or more convenient to where they live; and very sadly one-third of the congregation will no longer worship. At the risk of being judgmental, I do not understand this scenario. The question must be asked whether we have the love of Jesus in our heart or not. I can’t imagine walking out on God and my faith if my parish was merged or my church building closed. I had a recent conversation with a priest about this concept and he asked whether we “really had them” in the first place. 

Much anxiety and pain has occurred regarding pastoral-planning experiences. You may have been part of a church closure or have memories of meetings regarding the pastoral-planning process. I am very sorry that this pain exists. I also realize that conversations regarding church consolidations may reopen deep wounds from many years ago, but we cannot be afraid to take much needed action. We are at a critical point in time in which operating as usual is not sustainable. We are managing decline and need to be better stewards of our limited resources.

Our Church does not exist to be self-serving and inwardly focused. We must unite as brothers and sisters in Christ, not parishioners from one particular parish. The more parochial we are, the more we jeopardize not fulfilling our mission to the best of our ability.

Thomas Cronin is the Director of Evangelization & Strategic Planning for the Diocese of Albany. Contact Tom with any questions about boosting evangelization efforts at your parish at [email protected] or by visiting www.rcda.org/evangelization. Follow me on Instagram: tom_rcda.

---