Unprecedented Ministy Summit Calls for Action
Addresses Changing Parish Life
May 2, 2008ORLANDO, FL- A fanfare of trumpets, followed by prayer invoking the Holy Spirit, marked the beginning of a historic gathering of more than a thousand Catholic ministers who are collaborating to explore and promote ways to nurture parish life in the face of significant change.
Some 1,200 priests, deacons, lay ecclesial ministers, and vowed religious took part in the National Ministry Summit in Orlando. The three-day Summit, convened by six national Catholic organizations intent on addressing changes in U.S. parishes, employed a collaborative process that yielded recommendations that the sponsors will study and begin to implement.
The top recommendations include promoting more education and direction for ministers, especially those pastoring multiple parishes or parishes without priests; steering ministers toward identified "best practices;" broadening the task of vocations offices to include lay ecclesial ministry; using tools such as the web and blogs to reach young adults; encouraging just wages and benefit packages for ministers; and fostering cultural awareness in foreign-born priests.
The unique event, held April 20-23, was the culmination of the five-year Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The partner organizations include the National Association for Lay Ministry, the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development, the National Association for Church Personnel Administrators, the National Association of Diaconate Directors, the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association, and the National Federation of Priests' Councils.
"People in different ministries were able to share their experiences and make connections that will shape the life of the Church for years to come," said Marti Jewell, director of the Emerging Models Project. "The most significant legacy of the summit is that participants learned from one another. They also were inspired to address changes in parish life with new information and new energy."
The data from various project studies revealed realities of contemporary parish life that surprised some participants but already were being experienced by other ministers who attended the Summit. Jewell told the group that 40 percent of the 18,000 parishes in the United States already share a pastor with another parish or mission, and 60 percent of U.S. dioceses have more parishes than diocesan priests available to pastor them.
Jewell presented a summary of the project's other findings after Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., presented the theological framework of the project's study and process. Quoting from Scripture, Church tradition, and current U.S. bishops' documents such as Co-Workers in the Vineyard, Bishop Cupich reminded the ministers that "God calls and we respond. God calls us to holiness, community, and to witness." Cupich serves as episcopal adviser to the Emerging Models Project.
The Summit was not a typical conference, where those present only sit and listen to presentations. Participants chose to join one of six "Action Groups" that focused on the critical issues revealed in the project studies. Those issues included:
- Pastoring Multiple Parishes
- Best Practices in Pastoral Leadership
- Parish Life Coordinators and Sacramental Ministers (Canon 517.2)
- Young Adults: The Next Generation of Parish Leadership
- Implications of the Emerging Models Study for Human Resources
- Implications of the Emerging Multicultural Diversity for Pastoral Leadership
Through a collaborative process designed by the planners and orchestrated by Summit facilitator Jim De Boy, members of the Action Groups worked out recommendations for the future. The groups first listened to deeper and more detailed data on their issue, presented by teams of experts who had participated in the studies, convocations, focus groups, surveys, and analysis. The data presentations were followed by discussion, discernment, and eventual design of recommendations to address the issues presented.
A computerized response process allowed Summit leaders to capture the ideas and comments of all participants. A group of editors grouped the hundreds of recommendations according the major themes and developed a list of those most supported by participants. The top 10 overall recommendations for improving pastoral leadership are:
- Develop a comprehensive training program and materials for ministry in a multiple-parish environment.
- Define in clear and precise language the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of parish life coordinators, sacramental ministers, priests moderators, and bishops.
- Provide for initial and ongoing formation, education and skill development for all those in church ministry which balances leadership, administration/management, and support roles.
- Create a culture of accountability through performance reviews for all ministers (ordained, religious, and lay) that reflects the application of best practices of emerging models of parish leadership.
- Develop pastoral planning processes which include greater consultation between lay leaders and pastors of area parishes with diocesan leadership when considering clustering, twinning, merging and closing parishes.
- Broaden the definition of "Vocations Office" to include lay ecclesial ministers in addition to the ordained and religious life, in order to share discernment resources, mentoring, support, etc.
- Implement use of technological tools that young adults use for communication and networking at the parish and diocesan levels (such as well-developed web sites, blogs, and podcasts).
- Develop comprehensive human resource management systems at the diocesan level that integrate effective practices reflecting Gospel values, adaptable to local/parish needs, including just wages and benefits packages.
- Present a summary of the Ministry Summit at the November 2008 bishops' meeting.
- Include education for cultural awareness and ministry with the particular cultural groups in their parish in the orientation of foreign-born priests ministering in the United States.
Summit speakers helped participants to discern how to address pastoral leadership issues in the future. Sister Terri Monroe, RSCJ, director of the Leadership Institute at the University of San Diego, presented insights for ministers on being effective and responsible agents for change. She challenged the group to remember that leadership includes an active set of skills that mobilizes people to address the challenges they face. It is not just a theory or set of ideas. Those who train priests, deacons, and lay ministers must remember this in designing their training processes and formation programs, she said.
In closing comments, Rev. Robert Schreiter, CPPS, of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, reviewed the Summit findings and presented challenges for the future. He called the event "remarkable" in that it was able to bring together a diverse group of laity and clergy for "research, conversation, and collaboration," noting that the Church has matured to realize both its possibilities through imagination and the challenges it faces in the 21st century.
The texts of the presentations made at the Summit, plus the full reports of the Project Studies and Action Group recommendations, will be posted on the Emerging Models website (http://www.emergingmodels.org/) in the near future. CDs of the presentations can be purchased immediately by calling (202) 291-4100, ext. 12.
###
