The parish of the future:
Emerging leadership models
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
For Catholics born before Vatican II, the parish of today bears little outward resemblance to the parish of their youth. How will the parish of the future differ? Specifically, in its pastoral ministry, how must it change?
A group of priests, religious and lay parish leaders drawn from the mid-Atlantic states pondered that question and its challenge at “Discovering Leadership Models,” a Nov. 2-4 symposium at St. Joseph in the Hills, Malvern.
The conference was one of eight such regional meetings funded by a $2 million grant from the Lilly Foundation.
How will pastoral leadership differ in the future? By necessity, it will rely much more on non-ordained leadership — but one size does not fit all.
For instance, an inner-city parish that has a diminished congregation, but is meeting the needs of newly arrived immigrant and minority groups, may have different needs than an expanding suburban parish dealing with an influx of mainstream Catholic families.
For Sister of St. Joseph Maryellen Kane of St. Mary Magdalene Parish, Jamaica, in the Brooklyn Diocese, that future is now.
Because her pastor is also the regional vicar, she, as Parish Life Coordinator, runs the parish on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s a very small parish; we have approximately 350-to-400 families, and about 350 people worship every Sunday,” Sister Maryellen said. “Our people participate pretty much in the parish family, and we have identified 132 people who are active in some form of ministry.”
St. Mary Magdalene has become a black parish, with its congregation composed of African Americans and immigrants from the Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria and Ghana.
The music ministry relies heavily on Gospel spirituals, backed up by drum, saxophone and keyboard; religious images do not portray a white, European Jesus or Mary, and other customs have an African flavor.
“We are truly black, but authentically Catholic, Sister Maryellen said.
Deacon Guillermo Gomez of St. Gerard Majella Parish, also in the Brooklyn Diocese, serves a multi-ethnic parish of whites, Hispanics, Filipinos, Haitians, African Americans and immigrants from India and the Caribbean. All are welcome, he said, and some adjust easily to the American Catholic Church, while others do not.
Deacon Gomez’s parish observes many feasts and celebrations for different nationalities, and some of the larger groups, for example, Hispanics, have their own parish organizations, he said.
Some immigrants melt into the general congregation in the second and third generations, he said, but others prefer to keep their national customs, and pray in their native language. Either way, new immigrants seem to be always arriving.
“In the diversity of the Church, we are facing the same problems — the shortage of priests and the need for the lay people to come forward and work,” Deacon Gomez said. “We need to be a collaborative Church, we need to work together as a team.”
Timothy McGaugh’s parish, St. Gregory the Great in Washington Township, N.J., faces quite a different challenge.
With 15,500 members in 4,900 families, the parish is huge. McGaugh is chairman of the parish pastoral council at a time when its role has changed. The council, which he considers a model for the future, is a body that concerns itself solely with the mission and vision of the parish, and provides leadership to the many parochial ministries. It does not concern itself with parish finances, which are the proper sphere of the parish finance council.
“We’ve become a faith-sharing and reflective body,” he said. “Our pastor is comfortable with allowing us to make decisions, but obviously would step in if it were a decision counter to the mission of the Church.”
Father Michael C. Picard, pastor of growing St. Andrew Parish in Newtown, one of a number of priests at the gathering, said he sees a future with fewer priests and more Catholics.
“Who will lead? Who will be the chief coordinator of all of the ministries? And in what kind of a facility will it take place?” he wondered. “Will schools be the same? Probably not.”
St. Andrew’s is a large parish trying to accommodate its members through liturgy and small faith groups.
“We are trying to take a big congregation and make it feel more connected, more personal, more belonging to one another,” Father Picard said.
At this point, Father Picard has two priests to assist him, but he knows that may not be the case in the future. “We are trying to build up the ministerial staff,” he said.
Among the Philadelphia archdiocesan staff at the symposium was Maryanne Harrington of the Office for the Formation of the Laity. For her, the meeting reaffirmed what she already knew.
“The laity need to begin to be formed in their faith, so that they can step up to the plate and enter into their role in the Church,” she said. “In the next 20 years, as we see less priests, we need to have more lay leadership on pastoral staff as well as people in the pews who are following Jesus Christ as disciples and taking an active role in the Church.”
The Philadelphia Archdiocese is meeting the challenge through Church Ministry Institute programs, Harrington said, with more than 300 people being formed in their faith, and gaining information about ministry and skills that can be taken back to their parishes.
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.