NEWS RELEASE * National Federation of Priests' Councils
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For Immediate Release For information contact:
May 5, 2011 Alan Szafraniec: szafraniec@nfpc.org
On the evening of the first weekday where the delegates were gathered for hearing the Good News, the Spirit of Jesus appeared in the midst of them. "Peace be with you!" resonated in chant and song and proclamation of the word. The saints were called upon in a comforting and consoling litany of intercession and blessing upon the 43rd annual gathering of the National Federation of Priests' Councils held from May 2–5, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ninety-six priests representing Presbyteral Councils from 44 dioceses, three priests' associations along with representatives from the Priests' Council of Great Britain and Wales, gathered to reflect on the theme: Pastoral Leadership: One Mind, One Heart, One Spirit.
In his opening greeting and remarks, Fr. Richard Vega, NFPC President, introduced the theme, calling on the gathered priests, speakers and guests to reflect on how, with Christ, we continue to give life to others in ways that enliven us and the mission of Jesus Christ that we share with all of the faithful as co-workers in the vineyard. "The heart of our ministry is relationship: with Jesus Christ, with one another, and with the people of God."
In the first major talk of the conference, Most Rev. David Zubik, D.D., Bishop of Pittsburgh, explored "The Soul of the Priesthood: Jesus Took, Blessed, Broke and Gave." In his opening remarks Bishop Zubik warned priests of the dangers of the day-to-day becoming routine. He cautions: "Even Eucharist can become routine; we must make our daily prayer 'O Lord, help me to receive you today as if it were my first Mass, my last Mass, my only Mass!' To be Eucharistic means we never take any day as routine." He reflected that at every liturgy, before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, he proclaims, "May the Body of Christ enable us to embody Christ!"
He commented on the solitude that some priests can experience, but emphasized that we cannot do ministry alone. "Through Jesus, the Father gives you the Paraclete, the promise of an ever-abiding spirit to accompany you." Bishop Zubik emphasized the need to revisit the sense of vocation and call everyone to claim their vocation given them through baptism. While warning of the dangers of powerful and flawed forces of moral relativism in our world, he emphasized that there is an indisputable spiritual hunger in our people, a hunger that is a revolt against our secular destiny. "Such spiritual hunger begins with an acknowledgement of our dependence on God and a necessary conversation with God in prayer. Hunger for the truth is a hunger for God himself."
Focusing on the first dynamic movement of Eucharist – Jesus took the bread - Bishop Zubik raised up the importance of the large "V" Vocations to the married, single, consecrated and ordained life. He commented that, in a culture where commitment has become passé, God is still calling. He also emphasized the importance of small "v" vocation as the role of both priests and laity in growing the church, and that everyone is essential in that work. Focusing on the vocation of the laity, he highlighted three areas: the lay apostolate, calling the laity to live their faith wherever God takes them on their daily journey; service in the church through catechetical, liturgical, hospitality, outreach to the sick, mourning, homebound and poor, and in other parish leadership.
Working from the second dynamic of Eucharist - Jesus blessed - Bishop Zubik emphasized that God's blessing comes to us through the gift of the Spirit and from our acknowledgement that the Body of Christ is both the Real Presence and the gathered community.
To illustrate the third dynamic of Eucharist – Jesus broke the bread – Bishop Zubik said that we must rely on "the inspiration of the Spirit to say 'yes' when we would rather say 'no'." This is one form of brokenness. But we also need to be aware of God's desire that everyone's gifts be broken open because we all share, through our baptism, in the role of teaching, leading and sanctifying. "The priesthood of the baptized and the priesthood of the ordained are equally essential to the mission."
The fourth dynamic of Eucharist – Jesus gave – calls us to offer the fullness of our gifts to build the kingdom of God. Bishop Zubik highlighted five things that are essential to being church: 1) Eucharist, in its nourishment and invitation to serve; 2) Catechesis, the essential task of passing on the faith; 3) Evangelization, being a beacon for those looking for a home, for those seeking to be invited back, while not taking those who are faithful for granted; 4) Formation, essential as a reality of who we are and what God is inviting us to become; and, 5) Stewardship, not just about time talent and treasure, but more so about prayer, sharing and service, about belief, sharing and participating in transformation.
In a talk titled "Leadership for Transformation," Sr. Edith Prendergast, RSC, D.Min., M. Theol., the Director of Religious Education in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, began with a simple definition of a leader: Anyone who sees a need for change and is willing to help make that change happen. She emphasized that good leaders must have five essential qualities: to be visionary; to be competent evangelizers, collaborators and relationship builders; to be committed to transformation, allowing God to work in us and through us; to be risk takers: "To be successful we have to have one great failure in our lives"; and, to be grounded in spirituality.
Essential to being visionary, Sr. Edith elaborated, is to not just be about "doing stuff," but about having a dream, a goal, a vision. "Is it a vision that engenders a passion for God's reign? Are we willing to imitate God by being givers of life?" Ultimately it is about choosing mission over maintenance, about seeing possibilities in what seems fixed and framed. Every pastor (pastoral team) should ask the question: "What is my (our) hoped-for image/vision for our parish community? What risks are we willing to take to get there? (Mere adjustments and small shifts in what we're doing will not suffice!) What charisms do we want to nurture and grow for the vision?"
She went on to say that visionary leaders need to think outside the box, be able to look at the big picture, deal with resistance (within and beyond), and collaborate rather than compete. "We need to ask the questions: What does it take to lead our community/parish to the edge of tomorrow? How do we build competency as evangelizers, collaborators and community builders?"
She emphasizes the need to especially attend to the adult church, seeing ourselves as catechizing communities of faith. "The Church exists to evangelize. Is the faith tangible in our parishes? Are we developing households of faith, tapping into the power to evangelize through technology, catechizing in every aspect of parish life, inviting our people to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, ultimately asking the question through our words and actions, 'What does Love have to say to the world?'"
Some of the tension that exists in our parishes is about "who is in and who is out?" She related a verse from Edwin Markham: "He drew a circle that shut me out -- Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in." A key aspect of our leadership and discipleship, she insisted, is needing to broaden our circles of inclusion. We do a disservice to our Gospel call by not realizing that we are part of a global community.
Essential in leadership, Sr. Edith says, is trust. "It is the emotional glue that meshes followers and leaders." To build upon that trust and to work toward transformation requires: challenging people to rise above narrow interests; enabling and empowering our people; giving more than we expect in return; embracing a sense of adventure in our undertakings, inviting and encouraging risk-taking. "Jesus was a risk-taker, a transformational leader. He is a symbol of leaven, one who beckons people to look at their lives, to see life with a new perspective. He invites us to bring faith to life and life to faith."
Sr. Edith feels that Colossians 2: 6-7 captures the essence of what we are called to be: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." To do this, she suggests, as priests and laity we must be people of prayer, of conversation with God, willing to embrace the "great loneliness" as reflected on by Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI: "This experience of intense loneliness is one of the privileged ways of finding the deep answer to our quest for identity and meaning. Because it destabilizes the ego and disorients us, loneliness puts us in touch with what lays below the ego, namely, the soul, our deepest self. The image and likeness of God lies in there, as do our most noble and divine energies. That's the truth behind the belief that in loneliness there is depth. The lesson is this: Don't run from loneliness. Don't see it as your enemy. Don't look for another person to cure your loneliness. See loneliness as a privileged avenue to depth and empathy."
Sr. Edith insists that we are called first and foremost to spend time and waste time with God. "We need to be people who are able to bring together both solitude and compassion, to ultimately mirror God's immensity." In the words of Rainer Marie Rilke in his Love Poems to God: "I want to mirror your immensity. I want never to be too weak or too old to bear the heavy, lurching image of you. I want to unfold. Let no place in me hold itself closed. For where I am closed, I am false. I want to stay clear in your sight."
In a talk titled "Aggiornamento: Moving Parishes to the Next Level," Fr. Brendan McGuire, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose, CA, and a Vicar General for the Diocese of San Jose, powerfully built upon the first two presentations. The shift from a hierarchical model to a focus on the church as the People of God invites an increased role of the laity both within the church and within the social and political context of the world. "We are called to be 'in the world', not 'of the world.'"
It centers around liturgy as a gathering point and a sending point. "Eucharistic renewal must be first and foremost! The documents call everyone to 'full, active, conscious participation in the liturgy.' We need to make the Mass an awesome, inclusive experience. We must become people of prayer."
Fr. Brendan reiterated the adage, "If you do what you have always done, you will get what you've always got." As leaders we need to not be afraid to ask difficult questions and invite others to do the same. "We need to be careful not to be curators of the museum, but instead to envision ourselves as gardeners: discerning what seeds to sow, tilling the soil, planting the seeds, and express our trust and dependence on Christ as the grower."
"Church mission is about others, not us!" Fr. Brendan elaborates. With a poignant and challenging video titled "Tell Me Why!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j6IBdHW_rY), he makes his point. We need to move people beyond self-focus and invite them to self-sharing, inviting them to see a greater vision for their parish and its mission and their role in helping to realize that mission.
He related that, on first arriving at his parish, he asked a pretty disjointed leadership to meet with parishioners and ask four key questions: What do we do well as a parish? What do we not do well? What do you want to be involved in that you are not already involved? What is your passion?
Fr. Brendan then makes an argument for shared leadership: for philosophical reasons, it attains the best use of resources in leadership; for theological reasons, it expresses and embodies our shared baptismal call; and for ecclesiological reasons, it develops church leadership reflecting collegiality. Rather than the typical model of parish life where liturgy and education are bookends with social activities, outreach and social justice in between, Fr. Brendan suggests a model where Jesus Christ is at the center of concentric circles, emanating outward with focus on liturgy, education, social ministries, community building, and communication. Every subgroup in the parish – children, youth, new parishioners, young adults, adults, families and seniors – are then addressed through these circles. Note the importance that needs to be placed on communication!
In the midst of this structure is the need to form and nurture a shared leadership, where every member has influence in determining a course of action for the mission. Inviting a deeper involvement and sharing of responsibility engenders a deeper level of commitment and an increased generation of ideas, building a commitment to the church's vision and goals. Such a leadership structure strengthens allegiance to the parish, increases open communication, and diminishes unresolved conflicts.
The model which Fr. Brendan has implemented has created a different vision of parish leadership comprised of a Pastoral Team, Pastoral Council, Finance Council, and Shared Ministry Council (representatives from all of the ministries in the parish). The model requires informing and consulting up and down through the various levels of leadership. The Pastoral Team acts as one body; each member serves as a member and liaison to the three groups. Ultimately the model invites a broader sharing in leadership and responsibility and accountability in decision-making. It encourages those best qualified to contribute under the best set of circumstances to which they can offer their unique gifts. Implementation of this model has expanded participation in liturgy and parish leadership and ministries, increased a sense of ownership, and doubled the size of the parish.
Fr. Brendan closed by emphasizing the need to keep prayer central to what we do. He asked that every member of his leadership team commit to 15 minutes of prayer each day for the parish and its mission. Two members told him they could not commit to this and he told them they could not be on the leadership team. "Prayer must be central to who we are and what we do," he emphasizes. We need to help our people to pray. Fr. Brendan can be contacted at www.holyspiritchurch.org.
Mr. Dominic Perri, a facilitator and organizational development consultant presented on the variety of excellent programs offered by NFPC for both Council and individual priest development. He encouraged representatives to engage NFPC to offer these cost-effective programs as stand-alone offerings or to be woven into a convocation, conference or presbyteral day. The offerings include 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, including a modular series on Leadership; Appreciative Inquiry, which approaches visioning in a parish setting, not from problem-solving, but from a perspective of "what gives life in the parish', and envisioning "what is possible" in creating a more vibrant future; Conflict Dynamics; Healthy Intimacy; and Council Development.
On Thursday Father Louis Vitale, a Franciscan Friar who for more than forty years has consistently engaged in civil disobedience and nonviolent action for justice and peace, a champion for the rights of the poor and the marginalized, will receive the NFPC Touchstone Award. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an association of the leaders of congregations of US Catholic women religious with more than 1500 members, representing more than 90 percent of the women religious in the United States will receive the NFPC Mandatum Award for assisting its members in collaboratively carrying out their service of leadership to further the mission of the Gospel in today's world
Prepared by Fr. Larry Dowling (Archdiocese of Chicago) |
