Part Four | Planning for the Future: Toward a Collaborative, Inclusive Ministry

Ministry in this new millennium will be more collaborative and more inclusive in its exercise. The Body is endowed with many gifts. Authentic collaboration is rooted in the conviction that all of the baptized are given a share in Christ’s priestly ministry, and that one and all are necessary for the fulfillment of the Church’s mission. True collaboration requires an appreciation of the distinction and differentiation of roles and responsibilities in the Body of Christ, together with a clear recognition of the fundamental equality of all the baptized, ordained and nonordained. For effective collaboration to occur, each one must believe that he or she has something to offer, and have trust in the gifts that others bring to our common task. Above all, we must be willing to admit that we can achieve something together that we cannot achieve alone.

While lay ministry differs from the ministry of the ordained, it too is a participation in the priestly ministry of Christ and so appropriate in its own right. Only with this realization is true collaboration between ministries ordained and nonordained possible.

If we are to move forward in confidence and hope, what is required, not simply desirable, is planning at all levels of ecclesial life in order to meet the growing needs of an ever-changing Church. What follows are four sets of exercises to be explored by parish-based groups, pastoral councils and other groups within the archdiocese as they seek to strategize ways to meet ministerial needs of the Church of tomorrow.

Exercise One: Seeing and Understanding

The first exercise involves looking at "snapshots" of Church life which seek to capture some of the challenges to be faced as we respond to the gift and the task of reshaping ministerial structures in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. These snapshots are intended to capture some of realities to be faced in the Church in this new millennium. You may select one of these snapshots and examine it at great length during one of your group meetings. Or you may focus on several of them over the course of a series of meetings during which you try to understand the challenges that await you and chart out a strategy for reshaping ministerial structures in more appropriate ways. There is an abundance of scenarios that can be captured in snapshots like the ones that follow. In the course of looking at these snapshots, you may want to develop your own for closer examination.

A 56-year-old Sister has been the Director of Religious Education in her parish for 13 years. Over the last year, tensions between herself and the pastor have been mounting. These tensions are brought to a head when a first-year seminarian, 30 years old, is assigned to help out in the parish as part of his seminary formation. He is introduced to the parish community during the Sunday Masses. The pastor is "all aglow with excitement and enthusiasm," referring to the seminarian as "the hope for the future of the Church." The DRE feels resentful because the pastor has made a "big scene," "falling all over the seminarian." "The pastor acts like the only ones doing ministry are himself and this ‘wet behind the ears’ seminarian." She claims, "I cover for him day in and day out. So do all the other lay ministers on the staff. Each of us does more than he does." The Sister, an appropriately trained minister, feels like hired help. She does not feel appreciated. Do you have any advice for her? For the pastor?

* * *

The functions of ministry continue to evolve today as they have in the past. In the Church of the future, should there be a transfer of jurisdictional authority, it is conceivable that lay ministers may preside at burial services, witness marriages, and baptize on a regular basis. If the ordained priest is identified primarily with what he does, this identity is potentially threatened with changes in activity. Since some of what the priest does is becoming more and more interchangeable with what the lay people do, this may result in an identity crisis for the ordained minister. In light of so many changes, a 62-year-old priest approaches his bishop in frustration, and articulates his concerns thus:

Now that just about anybody can do just about anything in the Church today, why would anyone want to be a priest?

With the Second Vatican Council’s affirmation of the importance of the laity, and with its understanding that the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders resides in the bishop(s), the importance of the priesthood has gotten lost in the shuffle.

Saying Mass and hearing confessions, the priest’s "job description," gets so little attention because of the administrative burdens of a parish priest, and because of the expectation that he "empower the laity."

My "job description" has changed too much already. I am afraid that I will be unable to negotiate yet more changes that lie ahead.

What would you tell this priest if you were his bishop?

* * *

A 32-year-old physician is thinking of leaving his practice. He enrolls in an M.A. program in Pastoral Studies. As he nears completion of the M.A., he does indeed leave his medical practice and accepts a pastoral internship in the most remote region of the diocese, where there are three parishes with one pastor. A retired priest says Mass on two Sundays a month in one of the parishes, but can do no more. The doctor-become-lay minister is considering being ordained a permanent deacon, something he has begun discussing with his bishop. For now, he is pleased to be "just" a pastoral associate. In this remote region of the diocese, people do not like to travel very far. Indeed, some cannot. How can these three parishes share resources in such a scenario? How are the tasks and resources to be distributed? Concretely, how/where is the Easter Vigil to be celebrated in the coming year(s)?

* * *

The pastor and priest associate of a large parish are both on the verge of burnout because of the weight of pastoral activity and, even more, because of the day-to-day maintenance of the parish. To meet the crisis head on, the pastor hires a parish business manager and asks the bishop for the appointment of a lay pastoral associate. The latter takes up several tasks often associated with the priesthood, among them: leading the prayers at the vigil service before a funeral Mass, conducting the prayers for the commendation of the dead at graveside, and visiting the seriously ill in home and hospital. But the parishioners want personal contact with a priest in such circumstances. Discuss various strategies for facing the ministerial challenges in this scenario.

* * *

A young couple is preparing for marriage. They expect to visit with a priest periodically in the course of the preparation. In the initial contact, the priest instructs the couple to work henceforward with the parish marriage preparation team, comprised of married couples and led by the lay pastoral associate. They express their disappointment at not having one-on-one contact with the priest and decide to go to another parish for "personal attention." If you were the lay pastoral associate, what would you say to the young couple?

* * *

Several neighboring parish councils collaborate in working out their daily Mass schedule, so that there is no unnecessary replication of services. Parishioners are duly informed of the new Mass schedule, and encouraged to participate in the Masses at neighboring parishes. They resist on the grounds that "the other church is not my parish." What recommendations might be made to move forward?

* * *

A bishop is faced with closing or clustering parishes because he does not have enough priests to provide a resident pastor for each parish. What advice would you give to the bishop?

* * *

The Guadalupanas have gathered at the parish church on Thursday evenings for years, followed by a meeting with the parish priest to discuss their various apostolic works within the parish. The new pastor informs them that, because of other parochial duties, he is unable to join with them for their sessions. The Guadalupanas feel abandoned. More importantly, they are reluctant to meet without the presence of a priest, because of their commonly-held conviction that they cannot make decisions affecting the life of anyone in the parish without the approval of a priest. Any advice?

* * *

A senior pastor feels that he cannot retire because there is no priest to replace him as pastor. Despite his age, deteriorating health, and long years of service, he decides to stay on as pastor out of a sense of responsibility to his people. What other options are at his disposal?

* * *

A lay woman feels called to lay ecclesial ministry but cannot afford to live on a "church salary." How to proceed?

* * *

A member of the parish for more than 20 years is increasingly frustrated because he cannot connect with a priest. Secretaries, receptionists, lay associates, voice mail—but no priest is to be found. After finally reaching a priest, the parishioner is advised that what concerns him would be better dealt with by the deacon in the parish. He resists the advice. Any recommendations?

* * *

One parishioner telephones another and reports: "A few days ago I called the church for information about planning the Quinceañera for our youngest daughter. The parish secretary told me that the pastor was doing ‘group’ Quinceañeras only. Our family has a long history of priests conducting the Quinceañera in the presence of family and friends, not in front of the whole church filled with total strangers! I am hurt and enraged that the priest will not honor our traditions and do the Quinceañera the way it has always been done." What would you say if you were part of this telephone conversation?

* * *

A shy and reticent parishioner asks to see the pastor. She expresses great sadness as she tells him: "Our parish used to have three priests serving us. Now there is only you, Father, and there are no associate priests. On Sunday, we have ‘supply’ priests and sometimes it seems like these visitors are saying all the Masses. For many years we were urged to build a stronger sense of community in the parish, but now I am beginning to feel a loss of a sense of family and community in my parish because of all these visiting priests. What’s going to happen to our parish, Father?" What would you recommend that the pastor say?

Exercise Two: Understanding and Judging

In the second exercise the focus is on one or another of the scriptural sources which provide the basis for the understanding of ministry expressed in this Pastoral Letter. The purpose of the exercise is to gain a clearer understanding of the nature of ministry, ordained and nonordained, and, in light of that understanding, to come to some judgments about the way ministry is to be exercised in your parish in the coming years. What does the passage say about ministry in the Church, the coming Church "seen" in the snapshots in Exercise One? Do our current ministerial structures in the parish, deanery, pastoral region, and the archdiocese help or hinder the view of ministry expressed in:

1 Corinthians 12 ff. "Gifts that Differ"
John 13: 1-20 "As I have done for you"
Mark 6: 30-44 "You feed them"

Discuss how our exercise of ministry in the Church might be a clearer expression of our commitment to take to heart Jesus’ words to his disciples: "I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done for you."

Exercise Three: Deciding

The third exercise is intended to help parish groups decide what needs to be done, what changes need to be made, in order to move toward a more collaborative and inclusive approach to ministry. Within the context of your small group or parish community, invite one or another of those present to share the story of the circumstances which brought him or her to recognize the need to change, to be more collaborative and inclusive—perhaps in a personal relationship, in the family, at the workplace, and then in their life in the Church and in their ministry. What decisions needed to be made and why? What was needed to sustain and strengthen the decision once it was made? Invite the individual and the whole group to focus on a series of questions, among them: What were the perceptions, convictions, behavior that had to be set aside in response to a call to greater collaboration? Consider several qualities often judged necessary for collaboration in ministry:

Respect for the priesthood of the baptized and the ministerial priesthood rooted in the conviction that each is essential to the life of the Church.
Commitment to ongoing conversion to equality, interdependence, mutuality in every dimension of ecclesial life.
Openness.
Willingness to change.
Vulnerability, the recognition of the need for help, because we cannot and should not try to do it all ourselves.
Nondefensiveness.
Generosity, a willingness to share.
Holding in poised spiritual liberty the inevitable tensions that come with change.

Which of these qualities do you judge to be most important as your parish moves toward a more collaborative and inclusive approach to ministry? What is missing from the list of qualities? Name them. What are the strengths and challenges of a more collaborative, participatory, inclusive approach to ministry? Spell them out. Does a collaborative and inclusive approach to ministry have any weaknesses or shortcomings? Be specific.

Exercise Four: Acting

The fourth exercise involves identifying concrete and quite specific actions that must now be taken in light of what has been seen and understood, and in view of the judgments and decisions arising from the previous exercises. This exercise focuses on several questions to be explored together at the parish, deanery, regional, and archdiocesan levels.

How does the priest best discern charism and vocation in the members of his parish community?
How might we better educate seminarians and priests to recognize and develop the gifts of the all the baptized?
How might the priest be better at mentoring leaders in the parish and in forming faithful disciples?
How do we animate people to respond to their baptismal call to full participation in the life of the Church, to share in the mission of Christ and the Spirit according to their unique vocation and gift?
Through baptism, all Christians are called to share in the mission of Christ and the Spirit. The demands of Christian discipleship entail giving particular attention to the last, the littlest and the least in Church and society. Who are the last, the littlest and the least in your parish, neighborhood, workplace, school, community? And what concrete steps can be taken to be of greater service to them?
What concrete steps should we take to develop a process to discern, identify, and call forth the gifts of the baptized and then provide adequate formation in the exercise of lay ecclesial ministry?
What concrete steps can we take to nourish, support and sustain vocations to the ordained priesthood and religious life?
How can we assure that the training and formation of lay ecclesial ministers will be one of the top priorities of the archdiocese and of our parishes?
How do we educate lay Catholics to embrace new models of ministry?
How do we help priests negotiate the many changes that yet lie ahead?
How do we learn the skill of listening to one another within our communities, small groups, the parish, the deanery, the pastoral region, the archdiocese?
If you were to develop a job description of the ordained priest in the Church today, what would it look like?

Continue to Conclusion

Part Four | Planning for the Future: Toward a Collaborative, Inclusive Ministry

Exercise One: Seeing and Understanding

Exercise Two: Understanding and Judging

Exercise Three: Deciding

Exercise Four: Acting

Pastoral Regions

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