Category Archives: Pastoral Planning Group

In preparation for the integration of St. John and St. Paul into a new parish collaborative, the inter parish team will be presenting information, on a regular basis, that will help keep you well informed. With that objective in mind we are publishing the following article that was written by Rev. Paul Soper on Feb. 10, 2013. This is a brief, accurate and concise explanation of the Archdiocese Pastoral Plan for the formation of parish collaboratives.

Disciples in Mission: Pastoral Planning
by Rev. Paul Soper, Director
February 10, 2013
I don’t think anyone would disagree that the Archdiocese of Boston and the Universal Church have had a pretty tough decade. Reeling from the effects of the abuse crisis, declining Mass attendance, a bleak financial picture, and an ever-dwindling number of clergy to carry forth the mission of the Church, we easily could have decided to shrink and turn inwards. Instead of choosing the easier, yet more painful route of closing churches, we have decided to form an innovative, and dynamic plan to treat the cause and not the symptom of such disheartening changes, seeking a way to reverse global trends and get people back in the pews, increase donations, and see vocations on the rise, so that not only would we want to keep churches open, but we would need to keep them open to serve our burgeoning population? That is exactly what this plan strives to do.

In order to do this, we needed to address some structural components first. As our priest population is aging, we find it more and more challenging to serve all the parishes in the Archdiocese. It is difficult for pastors to serve their parishes because they are expected to wear many hats—as both spiritual shepherd and business manager. To address these issues, we have created collaboratives of parishes where we can not only pool resources, but also where a priest or priests can serve the spiritual needs of a parish, while a strong, well-trained support staff can handle the day-to-day tasks of running an organization. This way, priests can better focus on what they were ordained to do: serve the people of God.

This is not intended to be a top-down restructuring of every minute detail in a parish—certainly the people on the ground know best the dynamics of their own parish. That is why each collaborative will write their own local pastoral plan to hash out the details of how Pastoral Planning will take shape in their collaborative. While there will, of course, be many practical issues to work out, it is important to remember that the focus and goal will be bringing people back to Christ.

In the coming weeks, we will discuss exactly how we plan to do that—how we came to choose the collaboratives in Phase One, what will the trainings (undertaken by both parishes and the central staff of the Archdiocese) involve, what is the “New Evangelization” and how does it work. All of that and more to come. Until then, you can always get more details about Pastoral Planning on the website, Disciples in Mission.

Recently, St. John the Evangelist and St. Paul parishes held a joint meeting.  Attending the meeting were Father Powers, Father Fitzgerald and several of their Parish Council members. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the formation of an inter-parish, bridge-building team.  In observance with the Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Boston, the team will have as its long term objective, the preparation for the Integration of St. John and St. Paul into a new Pastoral Collaborative. As its short term objectives the inter parish team will work:

1. to raise awareness about the St. John/St. Paul collaborative
2. to build trust and confidence between our two parish communities
3. to effectively communicate our progress to all our parishioners
4. to encourage both church’s parishioners to join together at social and religious events

If you would like more information about the progress of Phase One Collaboratives, which includes 28 parishes being combined into 12 collaboratives, go to Disciples in Mission, the website of the Office of Pastoral Planning of the Archdiocese of Boston.

As you may remember, this past Spring our Parish was asked to provide feedback to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission (APPC) on the proposal to align St. John’s with St. Paul’s Parish in one of over 100 pastoral collaborative units the Archdiocese is proposing to create. More background information about the proposal, as well as our Parish’s Report to the  Archdiocese on the proposal, can be found on St. John’s website under the “Proposed Pastoral Collaborative” link on the home page.  All parishes in the Archdiocese were asked to provide such reports as feedback, and the APPC and others in the Archdiocese have spent the Summer reviewing these and assessing the proposals in light of this feedback. Continue reading →

The St. John the Evangelist Parish Report to the Archdiocese on the Pastoral Planning Commission’s Proposal was submitted to the Archdiocese on May 1, 2012.  A draft of this report was reviewed by the Parish’s Pastoral Council, Finance Council, Staff Council and Planning Group at a meeting held for that purpose, and the report was modified based on feedback received at that meeting. Much of the input reflected in this report was received at consultation meetings held following each of the liturgies on the weekend of March 24-25, with an additional meeting held Monday, March 26 to accommodate those who were unable to be present at one of the weekend sessions. An online survey option was also provided for those unable to attend a meeting, and both email and paper responses were solicited as well. Approximately 180-200 members of the parish community participated in the consultations (meetings and online responses), which provided a much needed opportunity for parishioners to share their thoughts, concerns, and hopes and in some instances their frustrations.

The report’s conclusion appears below;  the entire report is available under the Links and Downloads menu on the Proposed Pastoral Collaborative page.

Conclusion

Collaboration will bring many opportunities to revitalize and strengthen the parishes of the Archdiocese.  It will be important to continue to stress the positive aspects of the new model as parishes become bogged down in the difficult decisions that are inevitable.  In some instances, the Archdiocese might consider providing professional facilitators to assist parishes in sorting through difficult issues.

Careful planning for the transition will be critical to the successful implementation of the new structure.  At this point it is difficult to see how we will get from our current structure to the proposed collaborative model. Development of any plan needs to be done in stages, starting from the grass roots level in the parish.  Parishioners see the need for, and want to be engaged in, strategic planning, particularly with regard to the Pastoral Service Team and mechanisms in place to ensure that parishes share equally in decision-making.  This information will help people to understand and plan for the transition ahead.

Mutual respect and trust will be critical to the success of any collaboration. While these will develop organically, some recommendations might be offered on how to promote these qualities.  We will learn a great deal as we work through the process, and there are opportunities to learn from each other.

Communication as we begin this transition will be important, as will documentation of the process at the Archdiocesan and local parish level.

Thank you again to those of you who were able to attend the town meetings scheduled to respond to the proposed draft of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan on the last weekend in March.  Summary reports of each session have been prepared and are included in this week’s bulletin (and are available on the Proposed Pastoral Collaborative page on the parish website). Please note that these summaries are condensed versions of the many good questions and comments that were made. The final report to the Archdiocese will include these summaries in addition to expanded remarks and comments that were made on the Pastoral Planning Group website and/or to members of the PPG. While we have high hopes that our input will make a difference, we know this transition is an enormous task with many voices registering their concerns. This very useful input from the parish will help us lay a foundation that will need further development. The project is far from complete, but we have made a very good start, and there is an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and guide as we proceed with this important work. Your input is critical to our parish’s response, and every contribution is valuable. It is not too late to register further responses. Please visit the St. John’s website or contact any member of the PPG.

Current members of the PPG: Carolyn Anderson, John Calcio, Rose Mary Donahue, Svea Fraser, Gerald J. Kehoe (Chair), Dan Kenslea, Mike Nilles, Sister Evelyn Ronan and Fr. Tom Powers.

Please take a few moments to complete this brief online survey to provide much-needed input regarding the proposed Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan for our parishes:  Pastoral Planning Survey.  The Archdiocesan proposal, which focuses on “Strengthening our Parishes as Primary Communities of Faith,” creates a new structure called a Pastoral Service Team (PST) comprised of both laity and clergy who will provide pastoral services to multiple parishes, which partner with one another to exercise the mission of evangelization.  This plan hopes to provide pastoral services to parishes without altering the parishes themselves. It is hoped that PST’s will enable each parish to determine how best to use their resources through a culture of partnering and collaboration. Each grouping will be known as a Pastoral Collaborative.  We have been paired with St. Paul’s Parish, based on four general principles and specific criteria (please click here for more information.)

A summary of your input will be given to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission (APPC) by May 1, 2012. After all the parishes in the archdiocese have responded, the APPC will prepare a final recommendation for the Cardinal.

For more detailed information on the proposed Pastoral Collaborative and Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning, please visit our parish website as well as the Archdiocese of Boston Pastoral Planning website.

The Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission (APPC) has begun a series of 20 vicariate consultations with parish pastoral and finance council members to discuss proposals to strengthen parishes for the mission of evangelization in the Archdiocese. We ask parishioners to join the Commission’s work by prayer and by visiting the planning website for important information on the proposal and the Commission’s work to date at www.planning2012.com.  The APPC is asking pastors and their councils to conduct Town Hall meetings or other sessions over the next several weeks to discuss pastoral planning efforts in the Archdiocese. Parishioners who wish to take a web survey on pastoral planning can find it at the www.planning2012.com website.

Information about the proposed pastoral plan for churches in our Archdiocese has been publicized over the past several weeks. Click here for easy access to more   information and for links to all RCAB material: www.stjohnwellesley.org/proposed-pastoral-collaborative

The Archdiocese has stressed that this is a proposed draft, with consultation rounds for input from all members. Every parishioner is encouraged to reflect on the challenges and possibilities of this proposal. Now is the time to voice your opinions, concerns, support and/or constructive criticism.

The APPC (Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission) has provided “Consultation Homework,” seven questions to help us prepare our response to the proposed pastoral plan. Your answers to these questions and others you may have are critical to preparing feedback to the Commission:

1.  Does the combination we are proposing for the Parish you are associated with seem to meet this goal of improving evangelization? (Why or Why Not?)

2. Remembering that our objectives are to be more welcoming, nourishing, thriving and evangelizing communities than we already are. What are the advantages of this combination, not only for your parish but for the parishes included in your collaborative.

3. What are the possible problems with the parishes we are proposing collaborating/sharing a pastoral staff together? Please share any real pitfalls you could identify. (Please share any historical, social, or cultural information that should be taken into consideration.) Is there any kind of information you would need to be supplied to you, to help you provide a fuller answer to this question?

4. Remembering the general criteria set out in order to achieve the ideas of Fairness, Partnership, Financial Viability, and Pastoral Effectiveness, do you have comments on the criteria used or ways to improve the 6 measurements discussed during our session?

5. Keeping the criteria used and the overall goals in mind, do you have a better idea about parish combinations with your parish that seem more workable to you and why?

6. Are there other criteria that should be taken into account specific to your parish and geography?

7. We would be receptive to any general suggestions about multi-parish pastoring that you feel would help APPC in making it’s ultimate recommendation to Cardinal Sean and the Diocese.

Please let us hear from you! This can be done through the St. John Pastoral Planning Group (PPG) email or individual members, or written and placed in a “Comments Box” placed at both entrances to the church.

Current PPG Members: Carolyn Anderson, John Calcio, Rose Mary Donahue, Svea Fraser, Gerald J. Kehoe (Chair), Dan Kenslea, Mike Nilles, Sister Evelyn Ronan and Fr. Tom Powers.

Pastoral Planning Group Email: PPG@stjohnwellesley.org