Programming the Parishes, Part 1

As we examined the factors in play during the period in which the current UiH plan was developed (2015-2019), we noted the Renew My Church plan of Chicago. Another element was the rise of interest in parish programming models.

These programs establish a philosophy and model to which parish life as a whole should conform.   There are a few such models that gained notoriety in Catholic circles beginning around 2013-2014, as cash-strapped and demographically-struggling dioceses looked to the world of corporate business for operational and structural advice.

We became curious whether these programs played a role in determining the specifics of the plan of “Missionary Discipleship” within UiH and its plan for parish leadership–and/or if such programs will be included in the UiH’s roll-out.    We’re also curious if the change in the plan’s tone, content and direction was influenced by or related to these; as we mentioned, one such model is part of the Chicago strategy. So the practical question is whether UiH will serve as a vehicle for experimenting with these new parish programming models in a more comprehensive (and/or mandatory) way throughout our diocese.

These parish programming models have in common 1. a leadership structure that comes from corporate team-management, and 2. the cultural & recruitment strategies of an evangelical megachurch.

If we think of what goes on in a parish, such as  

• liturgies
• education
• ministry
• preaching
• parish organization
• the decision of who gets to be a leader and of what,  

we find that a parish programming model can provide the specific flavor, direction and reference point for all of these things.   Everything in the parish can be reorganized under the programming model and be guided by its ethos, all under the direction of a small management team of about 5 people.

If applied across a diocese, such a model would give a certain uniformity to all parishes or “pastorates.”

“New Ways of Being”

To embrace such a program, parishes and communities will need in some sense to move past their own culture and instead adopt the new culture and objectives supplied by the program and/or its leadership team.    “A new way of being,” one might almost say.

This generates some questions that we hope will be answered:

• Is our diocese planning to mandate the adoption of certain modelling programs for parish culture?    

• Or has Uniting in Heart 2030 been influenced by or structured upon these models?

Keep in mind:

• At least two such parish programming models have been explored or experimented with in our diocese:  Amazing Parish & Divine Renovation.  The Catholic Moment has published a number of articles on the programs: conferences pertaining to these program models attended by local clergy, and details of the implementation of one such model at The Church of the Blessed Sacrament in West Lafayette.

• Both bear considerable linguistic, ideological, and methodological similarities to the Uniting in Heart 2030 Pastoral Plan in its current iteration.  We urge readers to simply examine the models side-by-side with UiH 2030 and form their own conclusions.

• Both Amazing Parish & Divine Renovation aim to change parishes from being focused on tending and maintaining the spiritual life of their parishioners. The idea is to revamp the parish community with wholly new leadership team structures to make the parish”outwardly focused.” All of this, you will recall, is in the objectives of the Uniting in Heart 2030 Pastoral Plan.

• And like Uniting in Heart, with its plan for “Missionary Discipleship,”  both models focus on promoting “vibrancy,”  required participation in ongoing leadership team programming, and various methods of active recruiting.  

Amazing Parish

The Amazing Parish program is the brainchild of a successful Catholic businessman named Pat Lencioni, who along with another layman, sought to use corporate business models to help parishes reorganize and increase membership. Readers can visit his website for more information.

He advocates for the formation of parish leadership teams that resemble those of the corporate world, to help the “missionary pastor” with running the parish. This team makes important decisions for the parish or group of parishes, after its members attend some training seminars. (A parish team can take such training for $1,500.) Lencioni’s plan might be considered a sort of “franchising” plan for parishes, which gives them a new and different culture, streamlined like a business.

The “missionary pastor,” again, just as in UiH, is someone who has undergone “pastoral conversion,” and now sees a different way of doing things. Lencioni published a book that is in the style of a fable to tell a tale of such a conversion. It’s an imaginary story of a discouraged priest who meets a business professional and learns from him a new and better way to be a pastor.

The culture of such a parish, in Lencioni’s words:,

” . . will be one of camaraderie, teamwork and alignment.  People will be aware of and interested in the work of the entire parish, not just their individual department or program.  Silos and divisions will be minimal in an amazing parish.  From the pastor and his leadership team, to the parish secretary, to a ministry leader, there will be a spirit of oneness, a sense that every activity is connected, and that everyone involved is part of a unified effort.  There is no room for politics and division in such a place.”

Pat Lencioni

Because Protestant megachurches are seen as competition for Catholics in this model, many in the Amazing Parish and similar movements turn toward the development of more exciting weekend liturgies in the hopes of getting parishioners engaged, including building in technology and experimenting with bands, music, or lighting. (Rebuilt is another parish program model that demonstrates the more extreme end of these trends. That program was published by Fr. Michael White in 2013 and is based on his work in his own parish. Rebuilt is distinct from Amazing Parish and predates it by a year, but it does give a glimpse at how a parish might look when embracing a new identity as a megachurch competitor, as Fr. White’s did. Note: We are not aware of the Rebuilt program being considered in this diocese. It merely serves as an illustration of the extreme end of this general trend.)

A model with more direct connection to Amazing Parish is Divine Renovation, which will be considered in the next post.