Catholic dioceses today face all kinds of challenges. Many of the challenges are very different depending on what part of the world you're in and on what kind of leadership is in place (or was previously in place there).
One of the great things about the diocesan model is that each diocese has quite a bit of autonomy in determining how best to run their diocese for their specific circumstances (subsidiarity). The problem is that they seem to forget this and instead just sit around copying each other or waiting for somebody else to do it first! We need our dioceses to lead, not follow.
And especially at a time like this when so many parishes are struggling (financially, spiritually and otherwise), the organizational leadership and coordination of resources at the diocesan level could very well end up making the difference between a growing or a shrinking local church.
Unfortunately, a lot of diocesan offices are just not fully equipped to make this important difference. There are three key reasons for this: attitude, agility and accountability.
Attitude: Dioceses of the future need to have an attitude that is proactive and missionary. But too many dioceses today are mostly re-active and stuck in maintenance mode. They are only looking inward, not outward.
Agility: Dioceses of the future need to be agile and adaptable. Things move fast these days. Whether it has to do with technology, public relations or personnel, organizations must be quick, nimble, creative, innovative and willing to take chances with decisive action. But too often they are slow, inefficient and impotent when it comes to solving basic problems. Their personnel are clinging fearfully to the status quo. And their bureaucracy rivals that of the federal government...except they are held even *less* accountable!
Accountability: Dioceses of the future must be held accountable. Whether it's politicians, CEOs or your 14 year old teenager, people perform better when held accountable. It's in our fallen nature to perform more and more poorly the less we're held accountable. And it has nothing to do with how well-intentioned or skilled the person is. Right now, the average parishioner knows nothing about what their diocese is doing with *their* money and resources. Awareness is low and expectations are even lower. So, inevitably, a lot of dioceses are underperforming and are allowed to go on endlessly doing the same.
This is not at all to minimize the very difficult challenges many dioceses are facing or the good work they're doing. I think they have a uniquely tough job that most people on the outside don't fully appreciate. But the above reasons are making the job that much tougher.
But for those same reasons, I think the makings of the "diocese of the future" will be found in a, perhaps, unlikely place: Small dioceses.
Small dioceses are agile enough to come up with great ideas and then actually go *do* them. They can implement the latest and greatest technologies and then actually get them "approved" before the technology becomes obsolete! They don't have so much policy that it squelches the innovative process before it ever has a chance to start. They can quickly try new things and find new solutions...but only if they have the attitude to try in the first place.
On all three accounts above, though, small dioceses have an advantage. They can correct their attitude with less effort, are naturally agile and are more easily held accountable. And when they have the right people in there, they are finding that you can do a lot these days with very little. And they are also finding that even a small diocese has a lot more resources than they think. It just takes the right leadership to draw them out, coordinate their use, inspire people and communicate the vision.
In the business world, it is almost always small - not big - businesses that lead the way in innovation (the big businesses just copy them, aquire them or have bigger applications of it). I think it will be much the same for dioceses. I'm excited to see how many of the small dioceses out there - ones many of us haven't even heard of yet - will be showing us the way and leading us into the future.
Comments
Post a Comment
Well said! Im a conservative catholic and a strong supporter of vocations. We should be asking the important questions. We must realize that we have a vested interest in our diocese. Business as usual does not always mean good business. I support our bishops, I pray for our bishops. They need to use their resources wisely, both money and employees.
Thanks-
Joshua Gonzales
Good article. I’m curious to read about some examples of what small dioceses are doing.
How small is small?
I submit a small diocese for consideration: the Diocese of Saskatoon. Never mind I have never been there or even know how many people live within its borders. But it sounds small ... and rural ... and it’s in Canada.
While searching for miscarriage ministry resources, a priest in Saskatoon Diocese pointed me to their Miscarriage Awareness ministry as a good model. As I’ve browed their website, I am encouraged to see so many great programs/ministries they appear to offer. Nice website, too.
You might be surprised at how agile and forward-thinking a large archdiocese can be. I work for the Archdiocese of Boston. Right now we’re deep into the process of planning for the future through a massive reorganization and re-thinking of what it means to and how we do parish ministry. Check out our site at planning2012.org (The short form: clustering parishes with pastoral ministry teams with one pastor, one parochial vicar, one business manager, one DRE, etc. for the cluster, creating economies of scale, but also giving autonomy to the parishes in the cluster to determine in large part how it will work, i.e. how integrated they want to be.) We think this could be a model for many other dioceses and it’s unlike what anyone else has done.
We’re also leading the way with transparency and accountability. The archdiocese publishes an annual report that includes a breakdown of income, expenses and more. Parishes also go through an annual audit and are encouraged to provide annual reports to parishioners. The link to the annual report is on the front page of BostonCatholic.org
We’re looking to making do with less in many ways. Gone are the days of big bureaucracies and offices full of people to do every job. Now we’re sharing resources and people are stretched to the limit so we’re looking at technologies to help fill the gap like doing webinars instead of making people drive all over the archdiocese and the like.
One benefit that a large archdiocese has is that when the leadership (i.e. the bishop and his senior advisors) has the vision, we also have many lay people in business and industry who can provide the assistance, whether in money or expertise, to help us get there.
A disclaimer: I’m only speaking for myself and not as a representative of the Archdiocese of Boston in any way.
About that clustering, we have “shared” our pastor for years with neighboring towns. One town a time, with a parochial vicar, and up until this summer, each parish had its own “daily” staff. Then Father got a administrator, who decided we need to cluster and they are looking for a DRE for both parishes. School starts next week, and there are many families who have already decided that they won’t be participating in the RE programs. My husband, who started teaching RE 3 years ago when he came into the Church, won’t return to that this year. Our kids are growing, and we don’t have time to sit around waiting for decisions to be made because so-and-so is in the other town half the week. I have two sons who have thought about the priesthood as a vocation, but they don’t have a solid relationship with a priest to help them see it a positive, fulfilling, vocation. They aren’t even sure who the celebrant is each week, as the regular rotation gets switched up to meet the needs of our pastors.
I think the only solution is more good priests, and that may take a few more years, unless something shakes up some of our youth NOW.
@Lisa Schmidt
Imet bishop Bolen when he was here in Rome and he seems like a great bishop. He even asked me the favour of helping a disabled man from his diocese who was passing through Rome a month later.
That’s a great point, Dom! And the Archdiocese of Boston is certainly an exception when it comes to much of this and a lot can be learned from them. Thanks for all your good work there!
And Danielle - I completely agree.
The only successful dioceses of the future or of any time are those with many priests and religious openly practicing and rigorously preaching the whole content of faith, this falling most of all to the bishop. Large or small, without this, a diocese will be on the decline. Most everything else is somewhat accidental IMO.
Great article! I am fortunate to live in and work for the Diocese of Raleigh. Much of what you talked about I get to see in practice. It helps that we have a great Bishop!
The diocese of the future must have religious communities, men and women. We need to see sisters and brothers. We need their prayers especially and we need their help! Bishops would be wise to invite solid religious communities into their diocese. That being said, they would also be wise to kindly ask those that are doing so much dmage, like RC, to leave.
Matt: Excellent! I’ve worked for a large IT company for 15 years and I understand the need for agility to keep up with the fast paced world. We’ve outsourced to India, we have resources on-shore, off-shore, near-shore and in-shore! As the seer W. Edwards Deming observed, “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”
In many ways our Church organizational structure is truly feudal. Archdioceses, dioceses and parishes are territorial, with tithes and contributions flowing in a Byzantine labyrinth of assessments, targets and diocesan funding. In many ways the problem is worse in the older northeast with its immigrant heritage. I grew up in the Archdiocese of New York, and now live in the Archdiocese of Newark. Here, we hang onto outdated institutions, mostly just the brick and mortar. Oh, some of it is beautiful and very sentimental brick and mortar, but often the mission and function of the institution are long beyond its prime.
My own inner city elementary school, St. Mary’s, was finally closed by Cardinal Dolan last year. It had been running a deficit for over 30 years. Even bingo three nights a week could not make up the costs. The brothers and sisters were long gone, replaced by newbie teachers not fully bought into the magesterium, but keeping quiet for their first low-paid new job. The students were over 50% non-Catholic. So parishioners were funding education with little chance of seeing these faces in the pews to replace us. Worse, every year the pastor would go to the chancellery requesting to close the school. If the deficit was $60K, they would give him $30K to keep the place open. In reality the chancellery didn’t give the pastor a $30K gift, they gave him $30K bill.
Yet, we all hear that sentimental voice of Sister Benedict (Ingrid Bergman) asking Father O’Malley (Bing Crosby), “You actually considered closing St. Mary’s and sending our children to St. Victor’s?” (as if that were purgatory!). So Sister Benedict and the sisters pray for a miracle. Yet, my own St. Mary’s hung on for 30 years past its prime and lost so much of its character as a Catholic school with the mission “to teach the faith to the next generation of Catholics”.
Agility is painful, and we have to let go of sentimental institutions that hold us back. Yes, it takes forward vision and attitude and some sense of mission accountability. I’m not suggesting strict financial ROI, but spending thousands of dollars a year to supplement private school education where religion is only partially embraced will not save souls or fulfill the Gospel of Christ.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.