The prescription for combating the decline lies in large part not with Rome, but with local Catholic leaders inspiring young people individually, said Thompson, from the University of Dayton.
“It’s going to have to be the lay leaders — parents, teachers, local parish priests — they’re going to have to put forward models of Catholic authentic life,” he said. “If they don’t do that — if people don’t see there is any real possibility of transformation, that this whole religion stuff doesn’t actually make a difference in people’s lives — then all the policy prescriptions are not going to reach people where they live.”
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I mentioned in a recent comment that I spent a couple of days earlier this week at a conference on the future of the archdiocese, the intention of which was to rally parish and diocesan leaders to do something about the dismal reality we're facing: decaying mass attendance, schools and parishes unable to stay above water, young people staying away, and so on. The "something" we're being asked to do is roll out a program across the archdiocese called Renew My Church, one leg of which is to get us to transform our parishes from being in maintenance mode (i.e. run for the benefit of its current members) to mission mode (i.e. becoming outward-facing, evangelizing people).
Our dismal reality is not brand new - it's been building now for several decades - but it's only in recent years that I've become aware of several programs intended to help facilitate a turnaround. The book I've mentioned here at NewGathering a few times, Divine Renovation by Halifax priest James Mallon, is one such effort (although the author doesn't consider his writings and services to constitute a program per se). Typically, these programs entail a parish's leadership assessing every aspect of the parish, from volunteer ministries to sacramental preparation to parking lot traffic flow to the cleanliness of the bathrooms, all from the point of view of attracting new members in large numbers, even at the cost of driving away some current members if necessary.
Liturgy and worship is one of those areas we're supposed to assess. Worship is a complicated, multifaceted thing, but the two areas of worship that receive laser-like focus in these exercises are the preaching and the music. As you probably have gleaned from the fact that I post my homily texts here, preaching is important to me - I consider it one of the primary activities of my ministry. I'm not sure if you know that I'm also a liturgical musician. It's not my day job (I do project management leadership stuff to pay the bills), and it's not really even my first vocation, which is the diaconate - which doesn't pay any bills but does require significant time, prayer and so on - but I've been a musician for a good deal longer than I've been a deacon, and I've been fortunate in that being a deacon hasn't forced me to completely set aside my involvement in the music program.
Here's where I'm going with all this: it seems to be a pretty consistent recommendation from these become-an-evangelizing-parish programs that whatever liturgical music is sung by your parish, get rid of it. And then replace it with Christian Contemporary praise and worship music. Why is this recommended?
Well, for one thing, these Catholic programs are largely cribbed from Evangelical best practices, with luminaries like Rick Warren generously having offered the secrets of their church-building success to dopes like us who thought we knew everything already but don't. And Christian Contemporary praise music is part of their recipe.
There is also the consideration that Christian Contemporary music has seeped into the public consciousness because, unlike Catholic music, it's a commercial industry in its own right. Christian Contemporary recording artists tour internationally and fill stadiums like their counterparts in the worlds of rock, country, urban contemporary and other commercially viable styles of music. In every radio market I've ever traveled through, there are several FM radio stations that blast praise music - I know this to be true because my first move upon renting a car in a strange city is to find the local NPR station on the car radio, and for some reason the Christian praise stations are always adjacent to NPR on the FM band. All of this points to the fact that there are quite a few people, including quite a few Catholics, who love Christian Contemporary music and have it on their iPod or their Spotify or whatever delivery methods they are using these days to consume music.
Beyond the consumption of praise music as a commercial product, and the plagiarism from our Evangelical sisters and brothers, the purveyors and promoters of these Catholic evangelization programs insist that, in their field experience, this Christian Contemporary stuff "works" - by which they mean that when it is used in our parish churches, it appeals to legions of folks out there whose shadows haven't darkened a church doorway in years or decades, if ever.
And so, at this conference, the church music they modeled for us was Christian Contemporary praise and worship music. Some of it was music written for Catholic worship, but most of it clearly was imported from Evangelicalism or elsewhere. There were about 2,500 of us in this convention center, so to facilitate participation, they flashed the lyrics on huge video screens that were interspersed throughout the convention hall.
I suppose it's not news to the NewGathering readership that I can be an awful snob, and seeing these lyrics on the screen, which were supposed to inspire me to prayer and spiritual awakening - well, they hurt my finer feelings. I didn't like them. I thought they sucked.
Here are the lyrics of one of the songs they invited us to sing earlier this week. The name of the song is Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here:
V.1
There’s nothing worth more
That will ever come close
No thing can compare
You’re our living hope
Your presence holds
V.2
I’ve tasted and seen
Of the sweetest of love
Where my heart becomes free
And my shame is undone
Your presence oh Lord
REFRAIN
Holy Spirit you are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for,
To be overcome by your presence, Lord
(Repeat verses and refrain several times, in no particular
order)
BRIDGE
Let us become more aware of your presence
Let us experience the glory of your goodness
(Repeat bridge several times)
(Repeat refrain lots of times, throwing in the bridge here
and there for good measure)
These sung prayer opportunities were very professionally led at the conference - there was a praise band with guitars, keyboards and drums and some pretty good vocalists. You can hear it performed here on Youtube by Kim Walker Smith, who has a pleasingly husky voice (kind of Bonnie Raitt-like), in a stadium concert setting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySTtmLR1Exg
I don't claim expertise in Christian Contemporary music, but as I understand the style, this song is fairly representative. On several levels, it's about an authentic spiritual experience:
- The singer testifies that she has had such an experience
- She invokes the Holy Spirit to let her have another such experience
- For a person in the audience or congregation, listening to the song, and joining into the song (singing it, swaying with one's arms, etc.) is an attempt to enter into such an experience oneself
Here is my issue: they're just bad lyrics. They have little or no biblical root. "Atmosphere" in the refrain conjured up an image of a weather balloon or the weather segment of a newscast.
And even though this is probably a ticky-tack harrumph: the ending rhymes don't rhyme. They just sorta-rhyme. "Close" and "hope". "Seen" and "free".
And what does it mean for shame to be "undone"? I just think that we can do better.
The music during these two days weren't just samples to give us ideas. They were intended to be moments of prayer. And I wanted to enter into the prayer (I'm always a fan of prayer). The conference leaders wanted us to wave our arms and close our eyes and scream out the lyrics like the teens in that Youtube video. I tried. But I couldn't do it. I don't believe the Holy Spirit forsook me on that occasion, but she guided me down some other path. And (to dwell for a moment on my own emotional state), I felt disappointed and irritated. The lyrics, rather than being a portal into some sort of state of prayer or even bliss, were an obstacle for me. I tried but couldn't set aside the "this-is-really-stupid" feeling.
The Tuesday session of this two-day workshop happened to fall on the Memorial of Guardian Angels. My breviary, which is 1970s vintage, suggests the following hymn for Evening Prayer. It's not one that has been sung at mass in any parish I've ever belonged to, but it's out there. The breviary attributes this one to The New Catholic Hymnal by Faber Music Ltd. in London, but a few seconds on Youtube convinced me that it's probably from the Anglican tradition. Here it is on Youtube with a church full of folks who I assume are Anglicans in Manchester Cathedral, singing it with a zest unknown in Catholic parishes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAwTDwbVM3o
And here are the lyrics as they appear in my breviary:
1.
You holy angels bright,
Who wait at God's right hand,
Or through the realms of light
Fly at your Lord's command,
Assist our song.
For else the theme
Too high will seem
For mortal tongue.
2.
You blessed souls at rest,
Who ran this earthly race,
And now, from sin released,
Behold the Savior's face;
His praises sound,
As in his sight
With sweet delight
You all abound.
3.
Let us who toil below
Adore our heav'nly King,
And onward as we go
Our joyful anthem sing;
With one accord,
Through good or ill,
We praise him still;
Eternal Lord.
4.
My soul, now take your part,
Acclaiming God above;
And with a well-tuned heart
Sing out the songs of love.
Let all your days
Till life shall end
Whate'er he send,
Be filled with praise.
The hymn tune to which the lyrics are married is old-fashioned and not easy to sing (although it doesn't stop those Anglicans in the Youtube video), and I don't claim that this is the greatest hymn text ever composed. But I do think it's a good text - in fact, better than average.
I would say that the Christian Contemporary lyric I provided is a very emotional lyric: it's sung by a heart longing to be overcome by a sacred experience. And if you watch that Youtube video, you'll see the singer and the audience getting themselves worked up emotionally during the song. I'd say the second lyric I provided here is more edifying than emotional. As a text it's a work of craftsmanship. It pleases with its theology and its scriptural allusions, as well as its artful conformance to the rules of its form (rhyming pattern, syllable count, scansion, etc.). It seems fair to say that it's not going to evoke a strong emotion or experience.
But on the other hand, the second lyric didn't put up a spiritual obstacle to me. The relative artlessness (albeit sincerity) of the first lyric became a spiritual deflator for me. Maybe that says more about my spirituality than it does about the lyric itself.
Jim, you're torturing me. This is sounding like the latest and greatest ecclesial Paradigm Shift. Thinking those up is an industry. I'm afraid I find them a big turn-off. A couple of cliches come to mind: one size doesn't fit all, and just because the only tool you have is a hammer doesn't mean everything is a nail. Their tool is Contemporary Christian. I think there is a place for it. But I don't believe it should crowd out other music forms. I don't believe that is what people are craving, and that is what will bring them back to church. What they are craving is authenticity and connection to God.
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with Ye Holy Angels Bright, sung to the tune of Darwall's 148th. I have my own musical prejudices, being a not-too-great organist. The music group I am part of does both contemporary and traditional. We welcome requests and feedback. And when we hear the congregation singing a song with gusto we know we have made a connection. Music has to be a two way street.
The song most often requested of us is "On Eagle's Wings". The ones where the congregation out-sings the choir are "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" and "How Great Thou Art".
DeleteKatherine - in general, I'm in favor of a paradigm shift that makes our parishes more evangelizing. The suburb I live in was built up in the 1950s and 1960s during the baby boom. Those original residents are now moving out of their houses, and the housing stock is turning over - the homes are being purchased by young families. The turnover has caused the local elementary school district to build expansion classrooms at several local schools.
DeleteYou might expect that our parish would be experiencing similar demographic change, with our older parishioners gradually and regularly being supplemented and replaced by the incoming young families. But it's not really happening. Our parishioners get progressively older, sicker and fewer, but their numbers are not being replenished by young families, even though the schools are bursting at the seams. We're failing at evangelization - we're failing to invite these families in to have their lives transformed and become disciples.
The cultural, ethnic and family ties that bound people like us to Catholicism don't exist for those young families. Somehow we have to figure out how to induce them to change their weekend habits and spend some time with us on a Saturday or Sunday. It is no longer sufficient to build a church and throw open the doors.
Just to add a thought to my previous comment and try to bring this back around to music: one of those renew-the-church programs is called Rebuilt. The authors of that book (which I'd recommend to anyone here, as a spur to thinking about the evangelization mandate, if for no other reason) have figured out that the key to getting families to join the parish is to somehow induce the dads to try them out. If the moms or the kids come, they aren't able to get the whole family to come, but if the dad comes, the rest of the family comes, too. Everything they do is geared toward inviting the dads in. Note that these aren't the dads in families that already attend the parish; these are dads of families with no previous connection to the parish.
DeleteOne of the things they've figured out is that dads like the Christian contemporary music. Dads aren't big fans of traditional organ repertoire nor of folk music. Dads, at least in their suburban area, like rock music. So that's what Rebuilt provides them.
Katherine, you mention that your current parishioners like "On Eagle's Wings" and "How Great Thou Art". That would be typical around here, too. But these programs would say, "Who cares what the current parishioners like? Choose music that is liked by those who are not yet members but might be candidates to join."
Jesus took Peter and James and John to the top of the mountain. And there, before them, Moses and Elijah appeared, and Jesus was transformed. (And Peter, because he was Peter, said something mundanely stupid, but would you have done any better?)
ReplyDeleteThen they came down from the mountain.
Contemporary Christian is for people who want to stay up there. And think they can. Meanwhile, down below, there is that possessed kid the disciples couldn't cure. Lots of work to be done below. Lots of feel-good to have above. Who wouldn't want to stay above?
But that's not how it works.
Tom, I think that's right. I've heard that a marathoner experiences a tremendous "high" the first time he runs a marathon, and then spends the rest of his life running other marathons, trying in vain to capture the feeling of that first high. You can't stay on the mountain top forever.
DeleteMy appetite for power rock anthems is pretty limited - I probably watched "American Idol" for too many years.
Jim, besides the simple praise music that is accompanied by instrumentalists, there is an SATB choral form of praise music which is more complex in music and text.
ReplyDeleteThere is an example here
Since you are a musician you experience music differently than the average person in the pew. You might try out the experiments I suggest in the post.
Jack, thanks - that is a beautiful song. I hadn't heard it before. Very different than the Christian Contemporary-style song I highlighted in the post.
DeleteJim, it is the type of music that is used in my large suburban parish with a school and many young families. It is also played on the local Christian music station. So there is more than one variety of Christian praise music.
DeleteJack, true enough - there is more than one variety.
DeleteI don't object to the entire category. I do object to the lyrics of the song I posted about. And, as I mentioned, I think the power ballad style gets old pretty quickly.
There is another aspect to this that probably says more about my spirituality than anything else: this program we're rolling out, Divine Renovation, makes the astute point that the prayer life in many Catholic parishes is nearly devoid of prayer to the Holy Spirit. Rev. James Mallon, the guiding light of that program, emphasizes that a key part of any parish renewal needs to be to add this missing element to the parish's prayer life. The song I posted about was put forth as a concrete example of how to do that. I don't know if you checked out the Youtube video, but the lyrics are very simple and can be sung and repeated, over and over, to invoke the Holy Spirit. In our Catholic circle, we would probably refer to this style of prayer as Charismatic.
I can certainly see that this is a gap in my spiritual life, and I would support supplementing our parish's prayer with a more Charismatic approach. I just hope that lyrics can be simple and yet better than this particular example :-).
"Typically, these programs entail a parish's leadership assessing every aspect of the parish...from the point of view of attracting new members in large numbers, even at the cost of driving away some current members if necessary."
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree with this strategy. If there's anything we don't want to do, it's to lose the members who are staying engaged now. Because all this large number of new members who, "if we build it, will come" may not come. In fact, why would they? If all we have to draw them in is Contemporary Christian music (which we're probably going to do a crappy job at), they can get a better version on the FM station on the way to work.
I'm really showing my age big time when my idea of contemporary church music is St. Louis Jesuits. Which is all scripture based. Between them and John Michael Talbot they taught a generation the Psalms.
DeleteKatherine - what the authors of these books and programs say about current parishioners is roughly, "They are the parish; and that means that if the parish changes it focus to be mission-focused, then these current parishioners need to do the same. These authors can be pretty callous in stating that a lot of times, parishes are better off by letting some current parishioners, especially the demanding and dysfunctional ones, and the low- and no-donors, walk away.
DeleteJim, I agree that current parishioners need to step up to the plate and do their part. And, God forgive me, there are a few demanding and dysfunctional ones that I wouldn't mind if they went somewhere else. But WWJD.
DeleteI don't know what Catholics want from their music.
ReplyDeleteOh, from many discussions with music directors, I know the answer to what do Catholics want. It's something different.
DeleteBack in the halcyon days of liturgical change and ecumenism, we weren't exactly making the walls shake with a mix of old hymns, St.Louis Jesuits hymns and the bishop's now-it-can-be-told favorite "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." We blamed the tepid sound on the architecture of our church.
DeleteBut, as I say, it was an era of ecumenism, and one night we had the church half-full of Presbyterians for a Bible service. The walls moved that night.
There are two Masses a month where we can count on a full church. One is the polka Mass, the other is the Mass where the Angel Choir sings. The Angel Choir is grade school kids from both the parish school and the CCD program. It is led by the lady who is a music teacher in a couple of local schools. Practice is before Mass, so the kids don't have an extra evening activity during the week. Anyway the families of the kids all show up.
DeleteThe polka group also does a Kolendy Mass during the Christmas season. I don't think there are very many Polish speakers left, but a lot of people come for nostalgia's sake.
Another Mass which gets filled up is the Sunday afternoon Hispanic Mass, which isn't in our parish, but one of the other parishes in town. I haven't been to it yet, but I hear the music is lively.
It was a serious observation.
DeleteEpiscopalians look to some traditional Anglican hymns (many are also in the Catholic hymnal). There was a "new hymns" movement, but this didn't catch on in too many places.
So in the two or three ECUSA churches I attended regularly in my 20 years as an Anglican, there was a definite "flavor," which, despite liturgical and architectural differences, linked it to the C of E services I attended in Britain.
Catholics can't seem to settle liturgically, and I have never really seen a sensible definition of what makes good liturgical music other than that we once had a supply priest who would not let us sing Amazing Grace because "God's people are not wretches."
Jean, I like what I know of the Anglican/ECUSA musical flavor. I think they may be a more homogenous group than the Catholics. The Catholics seem to vary a lot regionally, even in regions which aren't far apart.
DeletePersonally I would love a Mass that sounded like the King's College Choir, but probably not going to happen here.
We are currently using That Man Is You, a program developed by a reformed energy trader in Houston, to energize fathers of young families in our parish. It meets at 6:15 a.m. on Friday mornings so the men can get to work. The un-retired who still go to work disappeared about halfway through the first year (two years ago), and the program is known familiarly now as That Old Man Is You.
ReplyDeletePart of the weekly program is about 15 minutes of music videos produced around the time of JPII, and featuring JPII at youth rallies in the video. The music is, therefore, Youth Rally Anthemic. And the videos already look a bit dated in the pontificate of Pope Francis. The guys the program is trying most to attract probably don't remember JPII anyway,
Tom, that is really interesting.
DeleteThese guys who put on this workshop for us told us that we'll get more misses than hits when we evangelize. Some seed falls on rocks, some in shallow soil, etc.
Seems there isn't a single fool-proof recipe for how this growth-through-evangelization is supposed to work, but when something doesn't work out, the advice is: assess what happened, think of something different, and try that. That's probably where a parish is put to the test in all this: if the parish says, "Oh well, that failed, let's just revert back to business as usual", then they're probably not going to make progress. I mention this because I can easily see that happening at our parish. The forces for stasis are going to be powerful, and a lot of pastors would rather not pursue something that is going to cause a lot of unrest and conflict.
The younger guy who stuck longest with the program on how to keep your marriage together and raise virgins was divorced but close to his teen-age daughter. He said he was getting a lot out of it. We haven't seen him yet this year, though.
DeleteWe had That Man is You for a few years. This year it morphed to Men of God. Not sure what the difference is, maybe different program materials.
DeleteMaking progress: You can't attract converts and make it stick if the parish isn't interested and on board with the effort. The local parish has not had anyone in RCIA for about seven years. Before that, it lost 90 percent of its converts post-RCIA in the first year. We've been there for 20 years. Raber was introduced to someone the other day as a "new member." I suspect most people don't know my name. I am "Dave's fallen away wife."
DeleteMen of God. Hoo boy. Promise Keepers for Catholics. Bring on the drums and sweat lodge.
DeleteDrums and sweat lodge. That's sounding way more interesting than what my husband was describing. This morning he was a member of That Man Slept Late.
DeleteJim said "what the authors of these books and programs say about current parishioners is roughly, 'They are the parish; and that means that if the parish changes it focus to be mission-focused, then these current parishioners need to do the same'. These authors can be pretty callous in stating that a lot of times, parishes are better off by letting some current parishioners, especially the demanding and dysfunctional ones, and the low- and no-donors, walk away.
ReplyDeleteThis a business model of the church. Francis says the church is not an NGO, not even a not for profit business. When these leaders say the parish is changing, it is not the people in the pews who are changing, it is parish management which is changing and they are usually out of touch with the people other than their loyal supporters.
They are drawing their lessons from very business oriented evangelical congregations. One of these Evangelical pastors spoke to us a few years ago. They literally reinvent themselves every six months to draw people to their show.
The people who come are not defined as members of the church. The members are an inner core of several hundred people who commit to ten percent of their time and ten percent of their income. They are a business with a large staff that gives a lot of attention to their customers, not a community that is the Body of Christ.
We are in danger of adopting some of their very bad practices, like pseudo masculinity. And an emphasis on stewardship and tithing. Next we will have the prosperity gospel.
All these at a time when the young people are fleeing from organized religion in large part because they find a huge amount of hypocrisy in the political involvement of the Evangelicals. The largest religious movement in America is the Nones not the Evangelicals. If we want to get young people with have to appeal to the Nones, i.e. do something different than the Evangelicals.
The Nones were for Bernie Sanders who wrapped himself in Pope Francis as he appealed to their critique of the corporations, the rich, and their support for social programs for everyone (e.g. health care and education).
Thanks, Jack. You said some things I was thinking. I don't want to be part of a business model, I want to be part of a "community that is the Body of Christ."
DeleteJack and Katherine, you're putting your finger on some things that bothered us, too, over the course of the two days. A former priest from our parish with whom I walked to lunch on one of the days was shaking his head, saying that these proposed changes would alienate his family members, who currently are happy as members of a parish. Naturally, he'd prefer that his family remain active in the Catholic church.
DeleteMy experience is that every time a new pastor comes in, we lose some parishioners who don't like him, and then over time we gain some parishioners who do like him. We even get a few new parishioners who "follow" the new guy from his old place, if it isn't too far away. So whenever there is change in a parish, there will be some turnover.
I am with Jack on the things he's warning us against. At the same time, I believe that our parishes - and the church as a whole - needs to become much more of an outward-facing, evangelizing organization, rather than what parishes mostly appear to be today, which are organizations that (to put it in crass business terms) provide services to their existing parishioners. The problem is that the number of parishioners is, on the whole, in decline, and is not being replenished. The church's core mission is to proclaim the Good News to those who need to hear it. Those who most need to hear it are those who currently are not regularly hearing it: those who are unattached to any sort of a faith community.
Becoming an outward-facing church is a big change. It will disrupt many different areas of the parish, and (if I may be excused for introducing the business element again by quoting a business guru) there is no constituency for change. People who already belong to the parish are by and large happy with the parish, or at least not so unhappy that they've left.
Jack, in his comment, names a number of spiritual perils that come with growth. Some of them are unintended consequences of the good things that (we are told) come with growth: more members, higher collections each week, and so on. We would need to remain vigilant about those spiritual perils.
Personally, I would wish that we could double our parish membership without alienating any of our current members. What that means, in practical terms, is that the current members need to be flexible and open-minded - because, as I say, some things about their parish will change.
Jim, I am catching up on reading. The thought that crossed my mind on your meetings about renewing your parish, instituting change, etc, was that I see no mention of bringing the parish members into the discussions. Perhaps they are being consulted, but you haven't mentioned it. Your meetings seem only to include “professional” religious types.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that has impressed me in the EC is the consultation process that goes on for major decisions on changes.
For example, when the previous bishop announced plans to retire, the diocese went into action. Each parish had discussion sessions and surveys that allowed the parish members to describe the qualities and experience they would like to see in the new bishop. They elected delegates from among themselves to the diocesan search committee. All parishes' input was considered at the diocesan level before a job announcement was finalized (yes - they advertise the bishop openings). The final qualifications description was sent to parishes for feedback and approval. Candidates were selected by the search committee as finalists. Once again, the information about finalists was sent to all parishes for comment and feedback. The diocesan committee made the final selection.
This process is going on now in our parish. The rector announced his retirement plans last fall, for end January. The same process is being followed within the parish - surveys, listening sessions. discussion groups - scheduled multiple times to try to get every parishoner to attend and respond. The elected vestry has also been polling the membership and holding discussions regarding possible worship schedule changes, changes in music, etc. The rector search has entered the phase of selecting finalists who will be presented to the parish soon. The final selection will occur and a new rector installed early in 2019. The final decisions regarding parish changes in worship services will be made with further input from the members.
In my experience as a once-Catholic, and as someone with many Catholic friends and family, the biggest gripe I hear is that the "leadership" of the parish - sometimes only the arrogant new pastor, sometimes the lay "leaders" acting in concert with the priests - impose changes without consulting the people in the pews. Suddenly it's St. Louis Jesuits, or maybe throwback to the 50s with Immaculate Mary type stuff. Maybe it's "praise music" (which totally turns me off, but.,.). Maybe a change in religious ed program or mass schedule, or mass type (many young priests seem to prefer pre-VatII), etc. Maybe try getting the parish membership on board - to agree that changes are needed in order to reach the unchurched? Once that is agreed to, then discuss the possible changes that might be made to attract new members without driving old members out the door.
Most EC parishes have only two services each Sunday, one more formal than the other. Most RC parishes in cities and suburbs have more than that. It would seem possible to offer different types of liturgy, different types of music, in order to "reach" more people. Also programs. Few RC parishes that I know these days offer meditation groups such as Centering Prayer groups. Their bible studies are mostly authored by former Protestants, and books also too often by born-again Protestants turned Catholic (scott hahn for example). Very little progressive Catholicism is on offer. Besides doing their bit with the homeless shelter once every few months. most "social justice" activity is limited to "pro-life" in the narrow sense (abortion). Maybe contact former parishoners and ask why they left. Do they attend a different Catholic parish? Did they join a different denomination? Are they spiritual but not religious (ly affiliated). Religion has become as polarized as politics in our country, and this is very true of the RC church these days. Of course, the EC and ALL protestant denominations are also losing members. No panaceas.
Ann, you make a number of excellent points.
DeleteThis program, Renew My Church, is an archdiocesan-wide effort. It seems fair to describe it as top-down: it's being driven by the archdiocese, and it's not optional for parishes: all of them must participate.
The program is now being rolled out to the parishes, so it's considered to be pretty fully baked, and there are some pilot parishes that are much farther along the path that ours is; I had dinner last night with some folks from a parish in Chicago who are now in Phase 5, whereas our parish (and, I think, most of the parishes in the archdiocese) have not yet even begun Phase 1. I would tell you all what the different phases consist of, but that's not clear to me yet. To what extent the archdiocese solicited the input of typical parishioners in putting together the overall program isn't clear to me, either; my guess is that laypersons who serve on archdiocesan-wide pastoral councils were consulted, but I don't know for certain. I'm pretty sure there wasn't an open "cattle call" for direct feedback via the Internet as we've seen from the Holy See in the preparatory stages of Francis's synods. (Or, if there was something like that, I completely missed it.)
You're right that the meeting I attended was primarily for parish leaders from parishes across the archdiocese. "Leader" can be an amorphous term, and there were some folks in attendance who were parishioners, as opposed to clergy, religious and professional staff. But most of the attendees were from the latter categories.
I agree with you that it would be best to actively engage the laity, not only in soliciting their feedback, but in having them actively take part in the program. I'm pretty hopeful that this will happen in our parish. Our parish has a pretty strong tradition of collaboration between the clergy, staff and parishioner leaders. That is one of the things that attracted me to the parish prior to my becoming a deacon. It was my participation in some of those leadership activities that led a former pastor to invite me to join the diaconate.
Still, the fact remains that that good tradition at our parish is only as strong as the current pastor wishes it to be. As it happens, we have a new pastor, and he's off to a great start, so I'm hopeful he'll wish to continue the tradition. But there is no mandate that I'm aware of that a pastor must consult widely with the people of the parish, and I don't doubt that there are some pastors who would wish to skip over wide consultation. Some of that approach is because of personality and leadership style, while in some cases it may be because the pastor in question is from an ethnic/national background that doesn't have the same "democratic" traditions as is found in churches in the United States.
Our last ECUSA parish out it's "mission statement" in the Sunday bulleting, proclaiming it was "committed to spiritual and numerical growth."
ReplyDeleteI found this off-putting because I don't think the object of evangelization should be merely to get butts in pews by offering whatever spiritual message seems to draw people in. The parish eventually splintered when it seemed to lose it's Episcopalian identity entirely.
Istm, that your first job in evangelizing is to ask what you have to offer your parishioners and the community at large and to make sure people know about it and feel welcome.
I think the Methodist Ladies in our town excel at this. Everyone knows that you call the Methodist church here if you need food, shelter, clothing, Thanksgiving dinner, or help with grandma. Someone always answers. There is a reason it is the biggest church in town: It's congregation acts like happy Christian people.
Apostrophe errors due to over-eager auto correct.
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