Made for Mission. Tim Glemkowski

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      Chapter 2

       Diagnosing Your Parish

      In our work at L’Alto Catholic Institute, coaching dozens of parishes on disciple-making initiatives, we have come to realize that parishes in the United States today generally fit into one of four broad categories. Outlining these four types of parishes has proven to be a helpful diagnostic tool, especially for parish leaders who might have trouble convincing the rest of the parish leadership that renewal is what is required.

      I am convinced that the renewal of the Church is not a ridiculous pipe dream, but is really God’s own dream and desire for his Church. That is the destination. However, to get there, just like when we use Google Maps to get somewhere, we first have to know our current location. On the phone, that’s easy enough: there is a built-in tracking device to show where you are starting from. For parishes, unfortunately, it is not so easy. We may have a general sense of where we are at as a parish, but not everyone might be in agreement. We have tried to lay out the destination already: a parish renewed around a vision for mission. But how do we describe where we are? Hopefully, you will find the tool below helpful for determining your current situation as a parish.

       The Four Types of Parishes

      To help you diagnose your own parish’s situation, I have outlined four basic possibilities when it comes to parish health, especially within the United States. They are the:

      1) Dying Parish

      2) Declining Parish

      3) Swelling Parish

      4) Growing (Healthy) Parish

       Dying

      Dying parishes are on their last legs. An example is my dad’s childhood parish on the South Side of Chicago, once the largest archdiocese in the United States, now undergoing a process to close dozens of parishes and schools over the next few years.¹⁵ When my dad was growing up, there were three Catholic parishes within a few blocks of each other. Each parochial school was packed; my dad remembers being in a classroom of sixty kids taught by one overwhelmed religious sister. This was a Polish neighborhood, and eventually kids grew up and moved out. The newcomers who replaced them were not always Catholic. At a certain point, dad’s parish hit a tipping point: There were not enough Catholics left to sustain a community there. This is a harsh reality faced by many parishes today.

      Generally speaking, most dying parishes are in urban centers in post-Christian cities. Once, huge Catholic populations required massive infrastructure to support them. Many dioceses decided to build clusters of smaller parishes that served each different ethnic group as Catholic immigrants poured into these cities. This booming population of Catholics has not been present for a generation or more, so we are starting to see a lot of the dioceses and archdioceses with many of these dying parishes close them down to consolidate resources. This can often lead to confusion and heartbreak. If done correctly, however, this can be a catalyst for mission. Some of these communities have reached a certain point where revitalization becomes difficult, if not impossible. As painful as it is, the best option may be for a dying parish to combine with other communities to create a solid base from which to bring renewal.

      My challenge to you if you currently minister in or attend a dying parish is this: Focus on what you can control and not what you cannot. You likely are not in charge of whether your parish doors will close in the next decade or so. You are in charge of what you do with the mission territory that God has given to you.

      People in your community still need to hear the Gospel preached. Pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire renewal in your neighborhood, and get creative. Instead of giving in to discouragement about your dwindling numbers, go find the people where they are and love them. The Gospel is never irrelevant, and God can still work miracles through your efforts if you let him. Do not worry about huge outreaches; reach out to individual souls and bring them to Jesus. While you are in your area, you can love the neighbors around you, even if it is just one at a time.

       Declining

      Most parishes in the United States today are declining, whether they realize it or not. This reality might sound scary, and it should. Yet the even scarier thing about declining parishes is that often the decline is hidden. Many declining parishes still actually appear to be pretty healthy. In many cases, overall attendance has stayed about the same for the last generation or so, the weekly offertory is still about where it was twenty years ago, and everything appears to be relatively stable. Yet underneath the surface, there are cracks. While it appears to be healthy, in reality this parish is simply in maintenance mode, and we know by now (from the statistics noted in the first chapter on the rise of the nones, fallen-away Catholics, and religious practice in younger generations), maintenance mode is itself decline.

      Here is the harsh reality: In our current context, many parishes today might seem like healthy, vibrant churches that are maintaining things just fine, but they are actually declining parishes. The parish that you attend that is relatively full on Sundays, has a decent school, and is fairly busy with ministries and activities, is actually declining. Here is what I mean by that.

      Though the facade of health remains, and the parish might even have a lot of ministries, declining parishes are not driven to form disciples. This means that this parish will hit a demographic cliff in twenty years, when the core of the parish is no longer around, if something does not change. How can you tell if your parish is merely in maintenance mode? Take a look at these other areas of your parish life. Religious education classes are much smaller than they were twenty years ago. There are fewer young families in the pews, leading to a higher average age. Fewer people are engaged in the life of the parish.

      These parishes need to commit to revitalization today before they hit a point where it will become much more difficult. Thankfully, the people and the resources are still there to drive renewal, if your parish is willing to commit to doing the hard work. You, the parish leader in the declining parish, have this difficult conundrum in front of you. Your parish is at a crossroads.

       Swelling

      There are some parishes, typically in areas where there has been huge population growth over a short period СКАЧАТЬ