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A View from a Cluster

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The names are fictitious and the Diocese generic. The incidents below are true as seen by the writer.

Lately, the Diocese has begun “clustering” churches– apparently to deal with declining attendance and the scarcity of priests. 

I am a parishioner of St. Anthony Parish. Nearby are St. Christopher Parish (13 kilometers away), and St. Bernard Parish (about 20 kilometers away). St. Anthony’s and St. Christopher’s are literally down the road from each other. But getting to St. Bernard ‘s from St. Anthony’s or St. Christopher’s takes about 20 minutes on the expressway or about 20 minutes by the backroads.

I was brought up Catholic, but during college I drifted away. I met my fututre wife in an evangelical church. We attended other local churches after marrying, looking for a good place to raise a family. One day my wife asked me if I had any Catholic books that she could read.

Journey Back to Catholicism

Through a faith journey, she joined St. Anthony’s RCIA program. I got a “free ride” recalling never having denied the church as some denominations require upon joining. Indulging in boyhood memories; I attended with her to offer support. We are now parishioners at St. Anthony’s which is literally a walk down our street. I am pleased to be of service in this community, volunteering for events and serving as usher for Sunday Mass.

Shortly after we joined, the great popular priest here, Father Zachary, put in for retirement. Before he formally stepped down, our parish clustered with St. Christopher’s and St. Bernard’s. We began sharing two priests and two new deacons.

Clustering Takes Effect

The priests and deacons switched schedules each weekend as directed. The new priest, Father Yves, was extremely popular as was Deacon Thomas. These two really began drawing in the people. The Diocese insisted on having the deacons preach every other Sunday. Many times Father Yves (the star quarterback) stayed on the sidelines while the vastly unpopular Deacon Simon (third string backup) began to bore people away. In a Diocesan move beyond understanding, Father Yves moved to a far-away parish within the Diocese (obviously needed there). We inerited Father William and Father Vincent, both pretty decent. Budget shortfalls required terminating staff and Deacon Simon was shown the door. Things began to work out.

The cluster was assigned a “Financial Director.” This was dictated by the Diocese for financial oversight. It was my understanding that some funds had disappeared or were loosely handled. Well enough, but that Director’s salary was a significant  burden on the cluster’s finances. I am not even sure if our Director was even a parishioner of any of the churches. Here may be the first added incumbrance of clustering. Before this, each church had a bookkeeper. All audits under their care, to my knowledge, passed muster by the CPA firm hired by the Diocese.

Then there was the effort to bring the three churches together by holding joint services, having combined events and so on. St. Anthony and St. Christopher sort of did so as they were rather close. However the  events at St. Bernard were hardly ever successful. It was just too far away, especially for aging parishioners of St. Anthony and St. Christopher. Winter conditions and other travel woes hindered participation. So, St. Bernard was on the fringe and often wanting for cluster resources.

Merger Ahead

But then, there was a movement afoot. The three parishes had been separate corporate entities. They were now to take all three corporations and merge them into one. The Financial Director was to hold parish meetings explaining the benefits of merging over the administration of three separate corporate entities. I do not recall fully, but this seemed to be another directive from the Diocese.

Meetings took place after Masses at each church. The Director did not show, even with her professional salary, to make the presentations and answer questions. In my opinion this was a must and I am grossly disappointed she didn’t show. In fact, I’ve fired people who pulled analogous actions in the business world where I worked as a supervisor. So, it was up to parish councils and the priests to oversee the meetings.

They did the best they could as I recall, not being familiar with all of the details involved. I am an accountant and understood the stakes as I came across this in business often (being a corporate controller). Some attendees expreessed opposition, but not enough to prevent the merger. The three entities  combined into one shortly after. Upon filing all of the paperwork, the one new corporate entity emerged and the other three legally dissolved.

One Big Family

Then realizations of the merger hit members of St. Anthony. Their parishioners used to hold a garage sale at the end of spring which gave them a tidy sum to help smooth over the perennial shortfalls in the budget. Many parishioners and community members donated items to the sale as it was a nifty way to spring house clean gently used items. It was a win-win event. As the traditional time drew near, the sale’s organizers realized that whatever they made would have to be split between all three churches being one big happy family. St. Bernard and St. Christopher would each get 1/3 of the take for doing nothing. The organizers decided to not have the sale mainly for that reason. The garage sale involved a lot of hard work to organize times, coordinate volunteers,  gather, sort and price goods. To do so with essentially a 67% tax on their efforts would not to be worth it.

Taxation Without Representation

Even more of an impact was the fact that some parishioners of St. Anthony and even some members of the community were concerned about St. Anthony’s historic stained glass windows. They were (and are) deterioratin. Preserving them requires considerable funds. A concerned non-Catholic spouse of a parishioner personally funded a study to get work estimates. It would cost on the order of $40,000.00 to properly preserve them. The autumn before the merger, he coordinated a historic house tour to earn funds to do so. Many came out to donate and see the houses with church volunteers in each. I believe they collected about 1/4 of the needed funds. But after the merger, again the council realized that any event like this would end up having to split anything earned. They balked at holding more such events knowing they would have to shell out 2/3 of the money earned to the others again for doing nothing. Meanwhile the windows degrade; there is one that won’t open now due to its poor condition. I understand that even spending the earned funds for a partial preservation effort may have to be split in some fashion. St. Christopher and St. Bernard have modern windows.

Transparency

Before the merger, the Director reported the offerings for the prior week in the cluster bulletin. St. Anthony did pretty well meeting most of its operating budget goals (With the garage sale filing in for some of the traditional summer shortfall.). St. Christopher and St. Bernard rarely did as well as they are less wealthy congregations. St. Anthony subsidized both St. Christopher and St. Bernard in the cluster. After the merger, the offerings appear as lump sums so each church’s individual performance cannot be ascertained. But no doubt St. Anthony still subsidizes them, only now it is not so evident. The same thing happens to attendance records, mirroring the same type of result.

As a concerned Catholic, I am deeply troubled by “clustering”. That and merging I believe sounds the retreat loud and clear from the one true Church founded from the lips of Jesus Christ himself. Will the last one to leave please turn off the lights?

Evangelization and Discipleship in the “Workplace”

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~~  Written by Patrick Lencioni, Co-Founder, Amazing Parish.org ~~

No, this short essay is not about bringing Jesus to the secular world, as crucial as that is. What I’m thinking about is the workplace that we call a parish. If parishes are ever going to teach people how to bring the Good News to corporate America, to disciple people who work in banks, software companies and factories, we first have to be able to do it in our parish offices.

What makes me think that we’re not already doing this? While there are certainly parish offices in the world where evangelization and discipleship are the backdrop for everything they do, most people who work in parishes will admit that this isn’t their reality. Even many pastors will acknowledge that they’re a little reluctant to push their “employees” to grow in their faith, citing their busy schedule, their fear of alienating a colleague, or their concern that they might be overstepping their boundaries as a “manager.”

Most people who have worked in parishes know what I’m talking about. But explain all this to a person who has never worked in or spent much time in a parish office and they’ll be shocked. “You mean to tell me that the people who work at the church every day aren’t doing all the stuff that we hear about on Sundays? They’re not praying together, reading the Bible together, sharpening one another? How am I supposed to do this in my place of work if they’re not doing it in theirs?”

Please understand. I love parishes, and I honor and appreciate the people who work in them. I really do. But I can’t lie when I say that most parish offices feel a lot more like insurance companies and dentist offices than the spiritual field hospitals that Pope Francis talks about. There is a surprising lack of joy, enthusiasm and even camaraderie in many of them, which hurts the people who work there as much as it does the people who come to the parish office looking for the love of Jesus while they’re asking about a wedding, a funeral or a baptism.

What can be done? First, pastors and parish leaders need to change their expectations about what a parish office should be. Rather than a clearinghouse for administration, it should be a living, active, joyful beehive of human interaction, one where visitors, volunteers and co-workers are actively welcomed, discipled and loved every time they arrive. Does real work need to get done? Of course. But never at the expense of spreading the Gospel. I can’t imagine that St. Paul, while he was making tents, ignored the spiritual needs of the people around him, even if he had a lot of work to do.

Second, pastors and parish leaders need to look around at the people they work with every day and identify those who need to be evangelized and discipled. One parish leadership team actually had every team member adopt two people in the parish for discipleship, knowing that changing the culture had to begin with them.

Finally, some parishes may need to revisit the physical nature of their offices. Fewer closed doors, more common space, and a greater emphasis on demonstrating that their workplace is about doing the work of Jesus, rather than dentistry or insurance.

All of this will start with the recognition that those of us who work in parishes, as employees or volunteers, will have to get a little less comfortable, and a lot more relational. At first it will feel weird. Eventually, it will be liberating, the way that all aspects of growing in the love of God is liberating. Is every person who walks in the door of the parish office going to welcome this new spirit of evangelization and discipleship? No. Not at first. But most will be thrilled. Believe me.

G.K. Chesterton once said that every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is searching for God. If that’s true, and I’m convinced that it is, then it is certainly true that every person who walks through the door of a parish office is searching for God’s love. What a blessed responsibility it is for anyone who works in a parish to fill that need.

 

4 GLS Tools to Accelerate Your Emotional Intelligence

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~~  Written by Liz Driscoll, Willow Creek Association  ~~

 

Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. – Travis Bradberry

At the 2016 Global Leadership Summit, we took a deep dive into a key leadership skill: emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ has been described as the most important business skill for the 21st Century—and it is something that can be grown and developed in anyone.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are aware of their own emotions in the moment and they are able to manage and channel those emotions to build trust. They also sense the emotions of others—and know how and when to make a critical ask. Or when to back down. These leaders navigate challenging emotional waters and come out strong and intact.

  1. During the month of July, our GLS community will focus on the topic of Emotional Intellligence. Here’s how you can follow along. NEW! Download and listen to Episode 005 of the GLS Podcast. In this edition, Bill Hybels discusses how he is working to build emotional intelligence into his staff at Willow Creek. To watch or listen click here.
  2. Download the podcast shownotes. Included in the shownotes is a short summary with key takeaways, a list of links to resources mentioned in the podcast and reflection questions for you and your team.
  3. Gain new perspectives on the Follow the GLS Every week, watch for original posts on Emotional Intelligence from trusted voices in the GLS family. This month, we will feature posts from:

 

Bill Hybels – 2017 GLS Faculty Spotlight

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~~ Written by Willow Creek Association ~~

More than 20 years ago, Bill Hybels founded The Global Leadership Summit with a vision to bring the best of leadership learning to the local church. Fast forward to 2017. The event has grown to become one of the premier leadership conferences in the world—attracting a global audience of more than 400,000 people with a world-class faculty.

USA Today ran a story one time about a guy who slipped into a coma on the heels of a terrible auto accident. He didn’t stay there for 19 days or even 19 months, but rather for 19 years. They interviewed him right after he awakened from all that unconsciousness and asked, “How is it that you finally were able to start talking?”

“Well,” he said, pausing to consider it for the first time. “I just decided to start moving my lips.”

As I read the newspaper article, I couldn’t help but think, “If all it took to break out of a 19-year coma was to start moving your lips, why didn’t you give that a shot 10 years ago? You might be giving public speeches by now!”

Personally, I’ve never understood inactivity. Why a person would sit when he could soar, spectate when he could play or atrophy when he could develop, is beyond me. I feel sure Jesus felt the same way. A lot of adjectives might describe Jesus’ time here on planet Earth, but comatose would not be one of them. In the span of three years in “vocational” ministry, he performed dozens of miracles, healed hundreds of people, catalyzed thousands of conversations, set the stage for the most ambitious church plant in history and died for the sins of all humankind. He was the epitome of action-orientation.

What’s more, he sought out followers who shared his bias toward action . . .

Luke 5 says that one day Jesus was standing by a lake, preaching to a group of people. Needing a little distance from the swelling crowd, Jesus decided to continue his sermon from the water. He saw a couple of boats along the shore, left there by fisherman who were washing their nets, so he hopped into one and asked its owner—Simon Peter—to row him out from shore. Once in the waves, he resumed his talk.

Certainly Jesus possessed the skills necessary to row himself out to sea. But taking matters into his own hands that way wouldn’t have yielded any new information about the person he was thinking about drafting onto his team. Jesus wanted to find out what would happen to Peter when struggles or challenges came his way, so he put Peter to the test.

“Give me a hand here, would you, Peter?” That was the request Jesus made. And without so much as a second thought, Peter said yes. Of course I’ll help. Of course, I’ll spring to action when a need arises that I can help meet. Absolutely, yes!

More important even than the apostle’s yes though, was the motivation behind it. Pete’s yes oozed out of his wiring, not out of obligation. He didn’t know he was being tested. All he knew was a need had presented itself and that he was perfectly equipped to meet. So he met it.

Because of his solid bias toward action, Peter passed the test. Jesus finished the sermon, and kingdom gains were netted.

The whole thing seems so simple, so elementary, but be honest: Do you screen for action-orientation when you want someone to join you near the center of your cause? Are you intentional about seeking out the ones who, by virtue of sheer wiring patterns, will say, “Your dilemma is my dilemma, too”?

I was helping a Willow Creek Association church with a building initative a few years ago, and en route from the airport to the church, the senior pastor and I talked about this “bias toward action” concept. He told me that whenever he’s considering hiring someone new, he gives the person a driving test. Are they looking for the fastest lane? The shortest route? An edge on nearby drivers?

We happened to be sitting at a stoplight while he was telling me all of this, and somewhere mid-paragraph, the light changed from red to green. I waited a few seconds for him to notice, but no such luck. Finally, I couldn’t choke it back: “It’s as green as it’s gonna get. If you’re so action-oriented, then step on it! I’m dying here!”

Friend, it’s as green as it’s gonna get in our world. The doors are open, the path is clear, the harvest is huge and the time to act is now. I believe God is looking to pour out his favor on those who are hopping out of bed each morning ready to further the cause for his glory. Lead with a bias toward action. You will never regret it.

 

To hear more from Bill Hybels and 12 additional world-class faculty leaders, register today to attend the Global Leadership Summit at Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women!


The GLS Reaches 1,000 Prisoners in Ecuador

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~~ Written by Willow Creek Association ~~

As the GLS expands across the globe, there is an increasing interest to bring the event into prisons.

Each city that has decided to take on the initiative to bring the GLS into prisons has the same heart behind it—to raise up, encourage and equip leaders behind prison walls with godly leadership principles, so when they leave (or even if they don’t), they are better prepared to enter society and make a positive influence.

The idea to bring the GLS into the local prisons in Guayaquil, Ecuador was sparked after the local team watched the grander vision story about Burl Cain during the 2015 Summit.

“We’ve been hosting the GLS in our church for the last 10 years,” said Anna Maria, GLS leader in Ecuador. “And when we saw how the GLS had started going into the prisons in the U.S., the pastor in our church who is in charge of prison ministry was inspired to do this in our city.”

Last February, they launched the GLS in one of the nine prisons, reaching more than 1,000 prisoners.

“It’s amazing to see the reaction to what they’re experiencing,” Ana Maria shares. “They thanked us for giving them tools they never had before.

“As their minds open to things they thought they could not do, it infuses into them hope for the future.”

In the U.S., the goal is to bring the GLS into 60 prisons in 2017. There are also prison initiatives in Kenya, Venezuela and of course, Ecuador. Thank you for praying and supporting the GLS in prisons.