Category Archives: SJSP Collaborative Planning – FAQ

Question 5: I keep hearing that our parish will be part of a Parish Collaborative. Is there a plan specifically customized for the local needs of our two parishes and the unique character that  our “Wellesley/Newton Lower Falls” Collaborative will have?

We know that our Parish Collaborative will be comprised of St. John’s and St. Paul’s. We don’t know when our Collaborative will start, but we do know that a “Local Pastoral Plan” will be developed once our Collaborative is up and running. The Pastor will appoint a team to write the Local Pastoral Plan for our
Collaborative. This Plan will contain the details of how St. John’s and St. Paul’s will run their programs, promote vocations, and engage in “radical hospitality” to promote the goal of New Evangelization. The Plan will contain goals and ways to measure the movement toward these goals and will need to be approved by the Archbishop. Our Local Pastoral Plan will be unique to our Collaborative.

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to – stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com

Question 3. Since St. John’s and St. Paul’s are forming a Collaborative, does this mean the parishes will be merging in the same way that companies merge?

No. If St. John’s and St. Paul’s were to merge, the two parishes would cease to exist, and a new parish would be created. Instead, St. John’s and St. Paul’s will still continue to exist after the Collaborative begins. Think of our Collaborative as an “affiliation of parishes” – not a new parish. Both St. John’s and St. Paul’s will remain open. St. John’s and St. Paul’s will each maintain its own identity – its own name, buildings, canonical rights, bank accounts, books, financial assets, and financial obligations.

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to: stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com

Question 2: I’ve been reading that Parish Collaboratives are being formed throughout the Archdiocese. How was it determined which parishes would be grouped together? Why have St. Paul’s and St. John’s been grouped together?

Parishes in close geographical proximity to each other, often located in the same town or zip code have been grouped together for logistical and practical purposes. In addition, the Archdiocese sought to ensure that the parishes in the Collaborative will have enough financial resources to sustain the Collaborative. Another metric that was used is the parishioner-to-priest ratio: about 1,600 parishioners attending weekly mass to one Pastor. (A second full-time priest, or Parochial Vicar, may be assigned to Collaboratives when weekly mass attendance exceeds 3,200 parishioners.) The analysis utilized to form Parish Collaboratives also took into account the “vitality” of the parishes, including the combined number of baptisms, weddings, funerals, and weekly mass attendees are in the parishes being grouped together. Trends in population growth, educational requirements, cultural and language changes, family and household economic challenges, and migration patterns were also considered. St. John’s and St. Paul’s were a natural fit forming a Parish Collaborative.

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to – stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com

Question 1: What is a Parish Collaborative and why are Parish Collaboratives being formed around Boston? Will our parish go into a Collaborative?

The Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission, over the last several years, evaluated the resources (the number of priests, new vocations, church buildings, etc) available in the Boston area for the foreseeable future and has made a determination as to how to allocate these resources in a manner that will enable the mission of Christ and the Catholic Church to grow stronger. Parish Collaboratives are affiliations of two to four parishes which will work together in significant ways. They will share a Pastor, a team of appointed Clergy (Parochial Vicars and Deacons), a Pastoral Team, and a Pastoral Council. They will work off of a Local Pastoral Plan which they will develop together. It is important to remember that each parish will maintain its own identity – its own name, its buildings, its canonical rights, its own Finance Council, its own bank accounts, its own books, its own financial assets, and its own financial obligations. Common costs of the Collaborative (such as staffing and shared programs) will be shared between the member parishes. At some point soon, St. John’s and St. Paul’s will together form one of these Collaboratives.

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to:  stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com