Last week, priests of the diocese gathered to review the next steps in parish mergers, including the formation of Core Teams that will help guide parishes toward merger.
The Core Team will include an equal number of members appointed from each of the parishes that are merging. In configurations where two parishes will merge, the Core Team will be composed of four members from each merging parish, in addition to the Priest Convener. In configurations where three or more parishes will merge, the Core Team will be composed of three members from each merging parish, in addition to the Priest Convener.
Nomination of Core Team members
Core Team members will be selected from a pool of nominated parishioners. This month, each current pastor of the parishes that will be merged will nominate six lay persons from his parish who meet key leadership criteria.
This month, all Core Team nominees are asked to take a web-based assessment tool (ICHANGE) to determine their attitude toward change. The nominees will forward the results of the assessment to their pastor.
The Priest Convener and the current pastors will meet by Oct. 1 to review the nominees, their leadership and experience, their capacity for assuming the responsibilities, their attitude toward change, and their receptivity to the work ahead (see side bar).
Selection of the Core Team
The Priest Convener will interview the nominees and will choose the parish’s Core Team from the pool of nominated parishioners. The Priest Convener and existing pastors will consult before the public announcement is made at weekend Masses regarding the selection of the Core Team members.
Given the responsibilities and mission before each Priest Convener with his Core Team for the work of developing the new parish, Bishop Joseph Galante will recognize and bless the Core Teams at a special commissioning rite Oct. 19 at St. Agnes Church, Blackwood.
Because Core Team members will be focused on the work of developing the new parish, they may not simultaneously hold other offices in the current parish, such as trustees or members of the finance or pastoral council. To avoid potential conflicts of interest, employees of the parish or the diocese, or their immediate relatives, or relatives of pastors or Priest Conveners will not be selected for the Core Team.
Also, no parish in the merger will have an advantage, as the nomination and selection process for the Core Teams will be the same for each parish.
Information sessions to be held
Core Team members and the Priest Conveners will attend one of six information sessions that will be offered throughout the diocese in October to review Core Team roles and responsibilities. They also will receive the merger manual that has been prepared to assist them.
Meanwhile, existing pastors, administrators and two to three key personnel from parishes will attend one of three information meetings in September and October to review pertinent sections of the merger manual and the steps that must occur before the new parishes can be established.
Meetings begin in October
Beginning in October, the Priest Conveners and Core Teams will begin to meet. Priest Conveners have been given broad outlines for 14 suggested meetings that provide a pathway to merging. However, the actual number of meetings, the timing of meetings and the projected date to complete the merger will depend on each local situation, since there is a broad range of pastoral, administrative, civil and canonical matters related to merger.
According to Sister Marilyn Vollmer, director of planning for the diocese, the selection of the Core Teams and the work they will do with the Priest Conveners will be of fundamental importance to bringing about the new parish configurations recommended by deanery planners and announced by Bishop Galante last April.
“Each Core Team will need a diversity of experience and skills,” she said. “The lay men and women who will be selected for the Core Teams will be important collaborators with Priest Conveners in a great mission to bring parish communities together, to help build new communities of faith, and to ready the parishes for new life and growth.”
Criteria for core team selection
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Holds a positive vision of what a new parish could be like
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Is committed to cooperation and collaboration as the best way to work with others
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Comes to this role with no personal agenda or grievance
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Has time available, and enthusiasm and energy to work to establish the new parish
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Is able to let go of his/her present parish reality in order to develop the new parish
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Accepts and acts on the fact that he/she is not a representative or lobbyist for his/her present parish, cultural, or ethnic group, but a builder of something new
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Brings community building skills and/or professional skills to the task
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Is an active, practicing Catholic and a member of the parish
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Is willing to take the ICHANGE assessment to learn how he/she reacts to change and to make that information available to the Priest Convener and current pastor.
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Diversity within the group, so that there is a mix of gender, (an age span from youthfulness to seniority), experience, and skills
- Inclusion of persons from various cultures, if the parish is multicultural