Peg Garvey-Mitchell has facilitated a series of meetings for Priest Conveners with their Core Teams focusing on leadership and communication skills related to the work of preparing the parishes that will join together through merger. She facilitated the Synod in the Metuchen Diocese and was a consultant to the National Pastoral Life Center and Common Ground Initiative. She also has conducted workshops and trainings in numerous parishes in New York and New Jersey. The following are excerpts from an interview with Ms. Garvey-Mitchell following recent meetings in the Diocese of Camden.
What have you found as you have met with Priest Conveners and their Core Teams?
The trainings I have been doing in the diocese have offered me a glimpse of how God is afoot in the lives and work of the Core Teams. I’ve discovered that the Priest Conveners with their Core Teams care deeply about their faith, their parishes and the life of the Church.
How do you know that?
I’ve been spending time with them. In their faces and voices I see so much openness to accepting the challenge of building the Church, openness to each other and to the Lord. There’s so much willingness to offer their time and talent and to receive the time and talent of their fellow Core Team members and parishioners.
I also have seen how gifted and humble they are. They are so generous with their time, their attention, their engaged participation. There’s so much speaking, listening, learning. Actually, there’s so much faith being shared.
What has your own experience been in working with the Priest Conveners and Core Teams?
I am excited and grateful to have had the privilege of working with the Priest Conveners and their Core Teams. I do a lot of consulting and facilitating and come with a prepared agenda. Yet, while I do provide input and direction, it is the response of the participants that brings the agenda to life. It is so gratifying to watch peoples’ faces, sense their willingness to reflect, learn and share. It is gratifying to hear their questions and their desire to make an important contribution.
What kind of contribution do you think the teams want to make?
I think they want to give what they have to help in building strong Catholic communities of faith that worship and live in a way faithful to Gospel values.
I think they want to attend to their brothers and sisters during these transition times and in the days ahead.
What gives you this sense?
I experienced the hospitality of the host parishes. I watched the care and competence of the diocesan staff. I heard the hopes and concerns of the Priest Conveners and Core Team members. I appreciated the genuine commitment and generous spirit of all involved. I would also add there was a sense of being blessed.
What was the blessing?
The blessing is that priest and people join together for the sake of the reign of God. The blessing is that even in cases where people might have been a bit shy or hesitant, they came and gave what they had to give. The blessing is that people bring their hopes to this time. Their hopes go far beyond what they wish for their teams. Their hopes are for a better Church, for their brothers and sisters throughout the diocese, for cooperation, collaboration and unity.
What challenges do you see and hear?
This grand endeavor is not a walk in the park. It asks for hard work and a commitment that needs to be sustained in prayer and nourished in the Eucharist. There are so many ways to respond to the call of this time. People could step back and not involve themselves. Yet that’s not the case. On the contrary, I see Priest Conveners and Core Teams rolling up their sleeves and giving their best efforts. What is meaningful and inspirational to me is how much those involved are giving witness to building a Church that is pulsing with life. The people I have had the privilege of working with reveal the face, the voice and the heart of Christ.
What are your hopes for the Church of Camden?
My prayer is that Bishop, diocesan staff, Priest Conveners, Core Teams and People of God would through this process be bread for each other in new and deeper ways.