Quick, what images come to mind when you think of the Church in America during the 1980s? For me it’s crappy liturgy, Cardinal Bernardin, hemorrhaging parishes and dioceses, and those awful policy statements from the bishops conference. It’s hardly what one would call “vibrant.” Yet Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr is basing his new vision for “A Vibrant Church” in Cincinnati on a relic from that very decade. Has nothing of greater value been created in the intervening quarter-century?
+These ideas reflect an approach based on the “Ministerially Complete Fact Sheet” used in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in the mid-80’s, the Parish Project: The Vibrant Parish sponsored in 1983 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the National Pastoral Life Center (NPLC), as well as being in sync with the results of “The Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project” funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., and published in The Changing Face of Church: Emerging Models of Parish Leadership, by Marti R. Jewell and David A. Ramey, 2010.
This vibrancy is part of +Schnurr’s new focus on “clustering,” a parish administration model that has been an unmitigated disaster for my home diocese of Rochester.
31 December 2011 at 12:02 am
I don’t find anything very bothersome about the plan–except for the de rigeur mention of “diversity” as an asset. It’s the orthodoxy and orthopraxy in preaching, liturgy, RCIA, ministries, schooling, etc. that will tell whether this plan works. After all, it wasn’t then Abp. Bernadin’s printed plan that was disastrous. It was the unstated vision and how and what was implemented. Let’s give +Schnurr a chance to carry this out.
Oh…And keep the powder dry.
31 December 2011 at 1:01 am
[...] A Vibrant Church+ – Rich, Over the Rhine and Into the Tiber [...]
31 December 2011 at 6:52 am
Looking at it, I don’t see much wrong except that. apparently, “Worship and Spirituality” doesn’t include anything about teaching and encouragement of Adoration, the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, or any other common Catholic devotional practices. This sort of thing came up as a priority in the past, in Catholic dioceses, and is becoming a priority again, nowadays.
Also, there’s nothing about teaching and encouragement of important Catholic liturgical practices, like parishes keeping up the Liturgy of the Hours (at least a few vespers a few times a month!), Eucharistic processions, patron saint festival activities that don’t solely include Tilt-a-Whirls, etc.
Again, these things used to be important diagnoses of parish health, but we just skip ‘em ’cause we know we’ll get too many F’s.
Finally, it would be nice to include things like “Parishioners have access to the Extraordinary Form” and “We form Catholics in the heritage of the Latin Rite and provide them with a basic understanding of practices in other Catholic Rites and Uses.” Obviously it would annoy some people to combine these topics; but OTOH, it would be difficult for fans of multiculturalism to object to teaching Catholic traditions of all Rites, even if it included our own.
31 December 2011 at 6:57 am
Oh, and it’s kinda weird to mention “small faith communities” but not mention other Catholic faith clubs and groups. (Not even K of C.) I’m pretty sure small faith communities didn’t really go anywhere, and of course there was an awful lot of bizarre conflict about either being stuck with strangers, or having a tendency to cliquishness — and of course, plenty of people who wanted to do it never got picked. Some people did get a lot out of it, I guess, but the whole thing seemed to be kinda problematic in its implementation.
31 December 2011 at 6:59 am
Oops. I meant “important symptoms of parish health”. Sorry about that.
31 December 2011 at 7:48 am
Dennis and ‘Banshee,
There’s nothing especially bothersome about it, but there’s also nothing bold or inspiring about it either. It’s essentially unimaginative happy talk based on an “approach” that helped the AOC lose 85,000 Catholics last decade, an amount roughly equivalent to the entire Diocese of Covington.
31 December 2011 at 10:04 am
Looks like good corporate governance … little leading to holiness … little leading to the Christ centeredness bringing true vibrance … much asking for tired old “community” features one can find in any elks lodge.
Noted “the Mass and Sacraments are well prepared, celebrated prayerfully, inspire toward mission” and was grateful for use of “the Mass” rather than “the liturgy,” but disappointed we don’t see something like “celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so powerful the presence of the faithful is commanded by their own heartfelt desire to be truly present for the true presence.”
31 December 2011 at 6:32 pm
Rich:
I may be wrong, but I do not believe anything here is new. This looks like what was already in place under his predecessor.
31 December 2011 at 7:00 pm
Sounds like more recycled “Great Facade” language. For “vibrant,” read “in the throes of death.” Likewise, for “new springtime,’ read “Great Apostasy.”
Say, was George Orwell Catholic?
31 December 2011 at 7:10 pm
Father Fox,
It’s one of the main links at his new “Pastoral Regions,” i.e., clustering, homepage, which is prominently featured on the archdiocese’s website:
http://www.catholiccincinnati.org/
31 December 2011 at 10:29 pm
Rich:
I see that. As far as I can tell, it’s the same plan the priests were working on when I was ordained in 2003; we’ve been working from a “pastoral regions” plan since that time. I watched the video that was posted, and it seems as though one change was asking Father Wenke to review the progress of the plan; and it looks like they are raising the profile of it.
31 December 2011 at 11:24 pm
Thanks, Father. Yes, that’s what I’d do too: ask an effete leftwing malcontent to review the progress of a thirty-year-old plan. Will the last Catholic to leave the Archdiocese of Cincinnati please remember to turn out the lights?
1 January 2012 at 9:33 am
Sounds like the ridiculous “for the harvest” garbage tried in the early 80′s. Lost a lot of respect for the diocese back then and still haven’t gained it back. Participated in the meetings at my then home parish of St Joesph, Egypt, after a boring presentation by a lay person representing the diocese discussion ensued , after realizing that the talk was not going the way it was desired,(we were not interested in closing), the suit got up and announced that “all 25 small parishes in the area to be closed and demolished and one new mega church will be built between Ft Recovery and Minster and you have no say in the matter”. Well all hell broke loose, one of the older parishioners stood up ad informed Mr Stuffsuit, “if that is the plan I’m joining the Lutheran church down the road” Mr S replied, “you are forbidden to do that”. Reply: Really?! Needless to say the meeting was over, I heard later that after about 3 more local meetings of this nature they gave up.
Now fast forward, Clustering meeting 5 years ago, Diocese officials instructed clustered parishes to demolish rectories, Question, What will we do when we are able to have our own priests again? Answer, Quote “You will never have a resident priest again, ever, get used to it, ”
On the plus side our Priest and his retired associate are doing a relatively good job of handling 5 parishes, but if you look closely you can see the underling push for them to blend and suddenly find themselves in a push for one new bigger church and the destruction of their history, incremental-ism you know, the plan of all progressives when they meet resistance
Rant Over
1 January 2012 at 9:39 am
Banshee
“Oh, and it’s kinda weird to mention “small faith communities”
——————————————–
don’t they mean small parishes, oh wait that takes a priest, small faith community means lay administrator or facilitator, or am I off base?
1 January 2012 at 8:22 pm
Good points, but aside from bombarding the heavenlies with prayer, what can we DO? After moving back home from the wilds of Missouri, I certainly don’t want to live in a spiritual replica of Rochester! — Rosemary
2 January 2012 at 12:05 pm
[...] Schnurr claims his new “clustering” initiative for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is based on The [...]
2 January 2012 at 12:52 pm
Re: “Small faith communities” vs. parishes.
Skim the book “The Changing Face of Church,” upon which the clustering plan is based. It is indeed based on greater roles for so-called lay administrators and facilitators in clustered parishes.
The Changing Face of Church: Emerging Models of Parish Leadership (Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership)
2 January 2012 at 1:40 pm
Don’t panic! “Small faith communities” are those clubs of ten people or so that meet weekly or monthly and discuss the Bible, or whatever book the parish assigns. In the good ones, they are a sort of neighborhood club to pray for people, that sort of thing. It had a vogue but died out, except for those who get good out of it.
But that was the big buzzword trend back in 2003 or so, which explains why it’s still in the plan now.
2 January 2012 at 1:41 pm
Which doesn’t mean the silly clustering thing isn’t still on. Just that the small faith communities aren’t it.