September 17, 2006
a reprint of the letter of July 15 -16, 2006
Since Archbishop Myers came to Newark five years ago, he had on the top of his list to make the Parishes of the Archdiocese become more effective tools in serving the Catholics. He took some time to prepare among other things, The Task Force on Parishes, to study the need and realities of the Archdiocese and to make the recommendations, regarding the future of parish structures, according to a specific timetable.
In his message, I want to quote him, "My expectation is that each parish will find neighboring parish partners with whom to plan for the future and in doing so, will begin to:
- Share more resources with each other and with parishes in need;
- Avoid unneeded duplication of services and;
- Fill in the gaps where service and ministry have not been available."
He continued expressing his hopes for stronger working and planning together, rather than working in isolation from each other.
Immediately after, a first group formed by 48 parishes, rolled up their sleeves and began to explore together. After they completed a self-evaluation of the conditions as individual parishes, meetings began with the parishes they intended to work with. After the implementation of their studies and the approval of the Archbishop, the plan became effective.
This process is known as The New Energies Parish Transition Project. And in order to help us through all the steps, the Archdiocese hired a group of experts from Seattle, Washington. The name of the group is, The Reid Group.
The Archbishop never had in mind to impose changes for the sake of doing so. From the very beginning he wants us to all be involved in the process. And now Archbishop Myers, has asked us to be part of the current cycle who will be involved in the planning of this project. His expectation is that each parish will find neighboring parishes with whom to plan in order to meet his goals.
The Parish whom we hope to collaborate with would be St. James in Springfield.
The pastors of the parishes involved with this cycle are invited to meet met with the Archbishop, auxiliary bishops, members of the Task Force and members of The Reid Group on Monday, September 18th. Also during that week, the parishes involved, not only the pastors, but also four members of each parish (the core committee) will meet to learn more about the specifics of this process.
This process involves a lot of work from each one of us and I am aware that at certain moments, it will become painful because most of us have a tendency to reject changes. But aware of our call as people of God, our goal should remain extremely clear in our minds and hearts. This is a great opportunity the Lord is offering us. Let's put together out time, talents and treasure in a more effective way for the well being of the Church of the Archdiocese. As the process progresses, I will provide you with more information; we will have meetings at different levels, that will provide us with the opportunity to exchange ideas. YOUR INPUT IS VITAL IN THIS PROCESS. My friends we have to pray a lot, we have to open our hearts to listen to God’s call, in order to be generous to give ourselves, in the implementation, not of our own private, personal kingdom, but the kingdom of God.
September 24, 2006
This past week, there were two meetings on the New Energies Initiative that I want to take the time to tell you about. The first was held on Monday afternoon at the Archdiocesan Center in Newark. All the pastors of the twenty six parishes of the Archdiocese who are participating
in this cycle of New Energies were present. This group represents the last cycle of parish –all of the 240+ parishes will either have completed or are in the process of New Energies.
There were a few points made at that meeting that I think are worth sharing:
• First, the purpose of the initiative is to honestly look at the parishes (and by extension the archdiocese) to evaluate how we are living the mission of Jesus.
• Second, we are moving from a feeling of competition to collaboration in the life of the parishes.
• Third, that it is not our church, but Jesus’ Church.
On Tuesday evening, there was a meeting of the Union County parishes and their core committee membership. While much of the information was the same, the emphasis on total parish involvement was stressed. They represent the entire parish. But, input from the entire
parish is necessary in order to make this self –study worthwhile. The core committee will be meeting over the next few weeks to plan the process for our parish. But, now is the time for the entire parish to begin to become familiar with the 28 principles. Please visit our parish website at www.ollmountainside.org and check on New Energies Initiative on the site menu. Here you will find a listing of the 28 principles (areas of evaluation) and other information.
Finally, and most importantly, this initiative will only work if we are open to the Spirit. Please remember this effort, and the entire parish, in your personal prayers.
October 1, 2006
The following people are the Core Committee to do parish planning as part of the New Energies Parish Transition Project:
Dr. Rod Dunne
Rosemarie Graziano
Gene Nagel
Donna Perez-Santalla
th to become acquainted with the materials we will be using to assess our parish ministries.
The Core Team will be overseeing the evaluation of parish ministries based on the Standards, including the 28 Principles developed by the Task Force on Parishes.
The Core Team attended a training session on September 19
The 28 Principles are divided into six categories:
Spiritual Life, Education & Formation, Life of Service, Parish Community Life, Administrative Life and Pastoral Life Ministry. If anyone would like to see a copy of the Standards, including the 28 Principles, visit our website
www.ollmountainside.org and click on the New Energies
Initiative page. Copies are also available in the Parish Office.
October 15, 2006
Archbishop Myers has six goals in mind in promoting the project: (1) to enhance quality parish life throughout the Archdiocese, (2) to support increased understanding of and action on the 28 Principles of quality parish life, (3) to strengthen the presence and ministry of the Church, (4) to increase collaboration between and among leaders, parishes, and the whole Archdiocese, (5) to act as good stewards of all human, financial and facility resources and (6) to build a greater sense of unity within the rich ethnic, cultural and age diversity within the Archdiocese.
Our New Energies Core Team has begun meeting to evaluate the parish according to the 28 principles. Soon they will be announcing a ‘town meeting’ for input from anyone that would like to offer thoughts or suggestions. I intend to begin reporting to you through our bulletin and web page the results of these efforts as we move along in the process.
Principles 1, 2, 3 and 4 all deal with the liturgical life of the parish. Principle 1 states, “Liturgy is a priority in parish life and responds to the riches of the culture and heritage of the parish.” The indicators of this are: (1) good preaching, (2) the prayerfulness and dignity with which the Eucharist is celebrated, (3) the parish diversity is available to present good liturgy and (4) various forms of devotional prayer are fostered. It was the feeling of all involved that this is one of the strong points of the parish. The Adoration Chapel, Weekly Rosary and Novena, Liturgy of the Word for Children and Morning Prayer are some of the various forms of prayer that are offered on a regular basis. Special and seasonal service (Taize, Anointing Mass, Penance Services, etc.) are also offered on a regular basis. The quality of homilies, and guest presiders, was also noted. The Core Committee recognizes that there needs to be a deeper awareness in the call of all to minister in the life of the church, in particular Liturgical Ministries.
The Core Committee consists of Rod Dunne, Rosemarie Graziano, Gene Nagel, Donna Perez-Santalla and Fr. John.. Please feel free to respond to any of these comments by e-mailing me at frjohn@ollmountainside.org. You can also visit our website www.ollmountainside.org and click on the New Energies Initiative page.
November 5, 2006
Continuing providing information about the New Energies Parish Transition Project, the Core Committee met to discuss Principles 22, 23 and 24 of the 28 Principles. You can find all 28 principles on our web page. These principles deal with the Administrative Life of the parish.
The principles state “that a parish community shall ensure proper and just fiscal administration, business, personnel and property management in response to the parish community’s commitment of time, talent and treasure.” It goes on to say that “It is important that the Finance Council, the Pastor and Pastoral Staff and the Parish Pastoral Council maintain a collaborative relationship. These areas of leadership must take responsibility for being creative in responding to the needs of parishioners.”
With respect to the criteria for evaluating the Finance Council, the conclusion was that we do very well in the area of having a council in place that prepares a budget as well as seeing that parish priorities are reflected in financial decisions. We are a bit weak in the area of having and following a schedule for major maintenance upgrades. We seem to be reasonability satisfactory in the area of having a clear financial plan. Achieving that plan is an on-going process. The success of the Capital Campaign was acknowledged mindful that these funds are designated for Capital Improvements and not toward the operating budget.
The next area of evaluation is the Parish Pastoral Council. This is an area of parish life that is acknowledged to be weak. An effort to create a strong Parish Pastoral Council was emphasized.
Principle 24 states that the parish should be able to support its ministerial outreach and maintain the parish facilities. The self-evaluation rated the parish satisfactory in this area as well as in the areas of just wages for employees, paying debts within a reasonable time (but not on time), and we do not meet Archdiocesan financial obligations as required by Archdiocesan policy. Our financial report for year ending June 2006 indicates that there has been progress made in this area, but we are still operating at a deficit. There is still work that needs to be done.
In summary, it was felt that the best thing about the ministry of administration in the parish is that we have put together a solid team working for the good of the parish. The greatest hope being that our people continue to take pride in their church, develop a greater sense of ownership for the parish ministries and our physical plant. Overall, financially our parish is on the right track, but we still have hurdles to overcome.
November 19, 2006
As promised, here is a summary of the questionnaires completed two weeks ago as well as the Parish-wide meeting that was held on Monday, November 6th. There were 204 responses received from the masses and 28 parish members attended the parish meeting.
- Some of the issues raised are not in our control and are issues for the larger church (women priests, married clergy, increase in the number of priests, etc.) and cannot be addressed on a parish level.
- There were many commendations on the liturgies and prayer life of the parish in the evaluations: homilists, variety of prayer forms, and children’s liturgy of the word. There is a need to increase and improve the number of people involved in ministries in the parish (both liturgical ministries and other ministries in the parish.)
- The Adoration Chapel was recognized as the great blessing it is for the community as well as the need to increase awareness of and participation in it.
- The work of the Circle of Compassion was acknowledged along with the suggestion of more awareness in what the group does and how people can become involved in it.
- Several people voiced a need for a Seniors Group, or more activities geared toward the seniors of the parish. There is a real need to expand opportunities and for younger families. Religious Education (on all levels) was recognized as being good, but ‘there is always room for improvement.’ Adult Education and Formation programs need to be expanded and developed. Youth Ministry and a sense of hospitality were seen as needing work.
- A greater outreach to the sick and elderly, as well as college students and youth; an expansion of the services provided to those with special needs.
Finally several people voiced a need for a greater sense of ownership of the parish by its members. This would be demonstrated in greater involvement in the ministries of the parish; a larger group of volunteers to support spiritual, social and educational activities; a better sense of hospitality and welcome by all and ‘just celebrating how good we feel about being a member of the parish.’
These areas will be discussed by the parish staff, as well as the core committee members of the New Energies Initiative. Some we can address as a parish, some perhaps in partnership with other local parishes. As always, we will continue to keep you informed.
Bulletin of March 4, 2007
After several months and many meetings, the New Energies Task Force (Rod Dunne, Rosemarie Garziano, Gene Nagel and Donna Perez-Santalla) have submitted our recommendations to the Archbishop, in conjunction with our partner parishes – St. James, Springfield and St. Rose of Lima, Short Hills.
The full text of the report can be found on the parish website www.ollmountainside.org on the New Energies Initiative page, but here is the summary of the recommendations and goal that the three parishes have made:
It is the suggestion of the three cluster parishes that we adopt for our cluster:
MODEL THREE: PARTNERSHIP PARISHES
Parishes enter into partnerships with other parishes when:
• They create joint programs.
• When appropriate, they share staff to enhance the quality of ministry and practice good stewardship of resources.
They share parish pastoral council, finance council or commission in-services or retreats.
Examples of ways parishes can partner include:
• A common catechetical program.
• A shared youth ministry program or adult formation program.
• Support for a common Catholic School.
• A joint RCIA program.
A shared parish outreach program.
The key to successful partnership parishes is an attitude of cooperation which results in finding opportunities for sharing resources to enhance the quality of ministry in each parish. Partnership parishes also work together, where possible, on “twinning” with inner city parishes or in support of a mission parish outside of the United States.
For our cluster this model would deliver a wide range of benefits to each of our parishes.
• Smaller-value efficiencies include joint training of lectors and religious education teachers and combined cluster processing of religious education administrative tasks such as registration.
Higher-value benefits include revitalization of our collective Youth Ministry programs, launch of a dedicated effort to target and minister to our Young Adult population, and potentially hiring a Family Life Advocate as a shared resource for the cluster.
This suggestion was made for the following reasons:
We have adopted the partnership model for our cluster because we believe our three parishes have sufficient parishioner
support, liturgical strength and financial stability to remain independent entities. We also believe each parish can
benefit from the synergies and efficiencies of partnership.
The next step is for the Archdiocesan Task Force to review (and modify, if necessary) our recommendations. They, in turn, will submit it to the Archbishop for his final approval.
I am sure that I speak for all involved that this has been a challenging yet life giving experience. As we look to the future, we will be stronger in our response to the mission of Jesus, which is, after all, what we are about.
