Sydney
7 September 2003
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Tasmania accused
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Refugee
kids freed, but for how long?
Matter
of perspective
Archbishop
honours Year 12 students
Treasured
Gospels from Holy Island
Own
faith is vital to dialogue – cardinal
Marist
laity unity move
$50,000
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Good
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Upgraded
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Editorial:
A parallel universe?
Letters:
Age of consent
Conversation:
Prof Friedhelm Mennekes, parish priest and art lecturer - Space for art in a sacred
space
Why
the world is the way it is
1500
reasons to be proud of his school
Brothers
died on mission to save their leader
‘Don’t
forget your people back home’
Pius
XII – Hitler, the Holocaust and ‘Canossa’
On
‘going to Canossa’
Laity,
clergy share the pastoral load
Pell
embraces Cardinal's vision for Sydney Synod
Kylie
on line to help kids
Engadine
sisters in Columban art show
Laity, clergy share the pastoral load
Bishop Leo Clarke
By Fr John McSweeney PE
Some years ago a friend of mine, the then parish priest of Taree, called me from the Spirituality Centre in Randwick. He, his bishop and brother priests of Maitland diocese (as it was then called) were taking time off to study ways of responding to the changing circumstances in their diocese: While the number of Catholics was increasing, attendance at Sunday Eucharist was declining (especially among those under 40) and the number of priests was dropping.
It became clear that new ways of furthering the Church’s mission in the Maitland-Newcastle area were needed.
A diocesan pastoral planning committee – six lay people, three priests and three religious – was set up to tease out the diocesan principles and infrastructure needed to move into a rapidly changing future.
Its brief was “to hear God’s people and empower them to participate more fully in the life of the local Church”.
Then the bishop announced the convening of a diocesan synod – the first ever in Maitland – which, according to the Code of Canon Law, would be a gathering of the whole diocesan family. Its purpose was to involve all members in developing a pastoral plan which would guide individuals, parishes, organisations and groups throughout the diocese in their efforts to meet the new challenges facing the Church. In keeping with the Vatican II call for consultation, collaboration and shared responsibility, a draft was submitted to parishes and apostolic groups throughout the diocese.
In light of feedback, the draft was revised, discussed further and presented to the Synod as a proposed diocesan pastoral plan.
The synod, consisting of the bishop, priests, religious and lay men and women from every parish in the diocese, met, discussed, modified and eventually accepted an agreed diocesan pastoral plan.
A second session of the synod a year later discussed and adopted norms for the establishment of parish councils in every parish to facilitate planning and shared decision making.
A full-time team of three – a religious and two lay people – was set up to provide pastoral resources and data, conduct formation sessions for parishes and assist parishes in developing their own parish pastoral plans.
This provided structures and processes which would enable clergy, religious, and lay people to work together to further Christ’s mission.
It soon emerged, as parishes began to use the new processes, that the likelihood of some parish being without a resident priest in the not-too-distant future had to be looked at. When this problem had surfaced in the late 1980s, a Plan for Parish Staffing was drawn up under the then bishop, Bishop Leo Clarke. Impl-ementing the new diocesan pastoral guidelines entail-ed revisiting this plan.
A new discussion paper, Principles and models for parish restructuring, was drawn up and circulated to all parishes and deaneries for study and feedback. Parishes were asked to consider three restructuring models and how they might collaborate with neighbouring parishes within one of them. Feedback was collated by the diocesan pastoral team headed by Bishop Clarke’s successor, Bishop Michael Malone.
It was becoming increasingly clear that the task of “preparing parishes for staffing change”, in view of the worsening clergy shortage, was more complex and time-consuming than originally thought. There was no one restructuring model that would fit every parish or region; each community needed to be considered on its individual merits.
It was also clear that people needed more time for discussion, particularly inter-parish discussion. Many parishes, especially in the Newcastle area, were faced with a wide range of options for working with neighbouring parishes.
This led to a new process which entailed each dean consulting with the priests, as a group and individually, as well as meeting parish councils and/or the body of parishioners.
Feedback from this consultation led to the division of the diocese into 11 fairly large clusters, leaving open the possibility that two or more of the restructuring models could eventually operate within each cluster.
Next the cluster formations, together with the 1996 census data, were run before a diocesan assembly, consisting of bishop, priests, religious and laity. The assembly looked at a wide range of parish pastoral activities and the possibilities these held for inter-parish collaboration, as well as the cluster formations, parish Mass times and clergy deployment etc.
Parishes were at different stages of development regarding lay involvement.
In some, parishioners already shared a good deal of responsiblity for organising and co-ordinating parish pastoral activities. In others, the parish priest still retained responsibility for many of the hands-on, day-to-day pastoral and administrative activities.
The assembly urged pastors to undertake the task of training parishioners now to share responsibility for the various pastoral activities, so that when there are fewer priests, they will have the confidence and the competence to carry on these responsibilities.
Fr John McSweeney PE is pastoral associate in the Kingsgrove parish