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"Things will never be the same, again!" The first reaction to the possibility that a parish will be linked with another parish is often shock and disbelief. More and more, people are faced with this reality. With the diminishing number of clergy available to pastor parishes and the movement of Catholics from the Northeast to the South and West, the need to reorganize parishes is becoming increasingly acute. Providing leadership for parishes is one of the greatest challenges facing dioceses, today.
There are three options. Either pastors do more work; someone else does it; or you eliminate some of the work! The solution most frequently chosen by bishops involves all three! Twinning, clustering, or merging parishes, called linking, is the emerging model in which a pastor and staff have the responsibility of bringing together two or more parishes. There can be many reasons for this decision. Sometimes parishes have dwindled in small towns and rural areas where factories have closed or young people have moved on in search of jobs and a different life style. In other places, however, parishes have grown so large they simply cannot contain all the new parishioners and need to establish a larger parish and worship space.
Whatever, the reason, nearly half of U.S. parishes share their pastor with at least one other parish or mission, and that number is growing. Pastors are taking on responsibility for three, four, or more parishes and lay ecclesial ministers and deacons are responsible for ministry in a parish with a non-resident pastor. The challenge can be daunting, especially if this is seen as simply a matter of working harder.
However, in the midst of this change, creative leaders are seeing new and exciting possibilities in the movement to link parishes or create mega-churches. The Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project, in studying leadership in linked parishes, has discovered that there are very specific skills and process that support this emerging model. Some of the suggestions shared with the Project:
• Begin to rethink what it means to be a parish. People are being called to recognize that parishes are communities of disciples who care for one another and carry the good news into the world of their lives. They do this with the guidance and support of pastors and parish staff. Once we let go of thinking that only the pastor is responsible for the community we can begin to find the grace in linking and merging parishes.
• Learn to be agents of change. Parishes that are linked go through the various stages of grief. For some the process of linking was handled well with months, or even years, of preparation and ownership by the parishes involved as they decide a future that will serve their communities well. For others the transition is handled badly. An announcement is made on Sunday and the doors of the church are chained on Monday! Either way the natural reaction is one of grief. We need to become well versed in the art of moving communities through change.
• Become creative! Realize there is no guidebook for the path ahead. What is happening for your parish communities is unique to them. Develop creative adaptations of traditional practices that will work in this new setting.
• Develop the ministry of presence. What is most needed is a quality of pastoral presence that will be an anchor for the community as linking moves forward. Be fully present to parishioners, holding the vision and the course. Pay close attention to what is happening within the community - and within yourself! Care for yourself and compassionately listen to people's struggles.
• Engage members of the linking communities in studying possibilities. Communities can become energized by the fact that they are able to do more together than they were able to do alone. Be proactive in developing the new model. Give parishioners ownership of the change by engaging them in discerning their future. They are often very perceptive in naming what is needed!
• Don't reinvent the wheel! There is a growing body of material available about effective processes and needed skills for multiple-parish ministry. Consult with pastors and pastoral planners who have already gone through the process. Resources and books are available on the Emerging Models website: www.emergingmodels.org.
The Spirit is leading us into an unanticipated future! Like Peter trying to walk on water, we are called to have faith; faith that our actions are being guided as we explore emerging models of being Church. Twinned, clustered, or merged, we continue to be about the mission of Jesus.
National Ministry Summit Recommendations
When the question of multiple parish pastoring was addressed by 1300 lay and ordained pastoral leaders attending the 2008 National Ministry Summit sponsored by the partners of the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project, they developed and prioritized recommendations for multiple-parish ministry. The top four recommendations included:
1. Develop and provide training for those engaging in multiple-parish ministry.
2. 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.
3. Develop guidelines to assist parishes transitioning from single to multiple-parish pastoring which could manage change and promote growth.
4. Study the meaning of "parish" today in light of evolving pastoral realities, needs and circumstances in multiple-parish pastoring.
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These links will connect you to a variety of valuable resources to assist local parishes in their planning.
This Mutual Cooperation Agreement template is presented for consideration by the parishes as a tool to be used for guidance to assist in promoting cooperation and sharing between parishes in a clustered arrangement that share a pastor.
This Checklist for closing a church provides assistance to the parish if a decision is made to close a church. Although difficult, such a decision can be made with the assurance that the religious articles and sacramental records will be maintained in perpituity for the families who gave life and sustanence to the parish.
North Dakota State Data Center
North Dakota State University Center for Community Vitality, Fargo, North Dakota.
Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
Pastoral Councils - Mark F. Fischer
Resource for Community Planning UND Center For Community Engagement, Grand Forks, ND
Pastoral Ministry Degree University of Mary, Bismarck, North Dakota.
Books:
A concise Guide to Pastoral Planning Dr. William L. Pickett, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana
Shaping Catholic Parishes, Pastoral Leaders in the 21st Century, Carole Ganim, Emerging Models of the Church, Loyola Press, Chicago, Illinois
Listening to the People of God, Charles E. Zech and Robert J. Miller,
Closing, Rebuilding and Revitalizing Parishes, Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, NJ
Sharing More Than A Pastor, Joan C. McKeown, Arc Research Co., Grantsburg, Wisconsin
Periodicals:
Church Magazine
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The official site of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota
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