January 2022 Parish Vitality News

In his September letter to the faithful, Archbishop Schnurr explained that once Families of Parishes are formed, “each Family will collaborate internally to determine the best and highest use of their shared resources to radiate the love of Christ and form a strong, vital community of evangelization and service centered on the Eucharist.”

Until now, much of our focus in Beacons of Light has been on strategic planning – creating the best possible Families of Parishes to carry out Christ’s mission in our archdiocese and world. Now we turn our attention to what the Families of Parishes will do to come together as vital faith communities as Archbishop Schnurr directs.

What is Phase 0?
It's time for a warmup!

The year 2022 will be momentous in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as Families of Parishes begin to join together to envision the future as a community of faith. You will be a big part of this as a parish leader. You will hear much more about the Pastoral Planning Pathway - the support, resources, and guidance that will be provided for Families to use in creating their pastoral plan - in the future.

The first phase of the Pathway will begin July 1, 2022. But what about now? What should parish leaders do between now and July 1? We’re calling this time “Phase 0: Warmup.” This is a time in which you and all in your parish can pray, learn, and prepare for what is to come. It’s a time to look back and look ahead, a time for appreciation of your parish and to anticipate becoming part of a Family of Parishes.

Phase 0: Warmup invites us to:

Pray: There is nothing more important for us to do at this time than to pray, for our parishes, our people, and for ourselves as leaders.

Learn: This is the perfect time to reflect on the theological foundations for the Families of Parishes and become familiar with the principles, parameters, and vision for Beacons of Light.

Prepare: As we progress through the winter and spring, parish leaders will be asked to prepare for Phase 1 by taking stock of what is in place in the parish now and considering what might be beneficial in the future.

Since the Beacons of Light initiative began, we’ve been hard at work doing the first things necessary in any change process:

Creating a sense of urgency: helping everyone understand the need for change and the urgency of changing NOW, otherwise many will be tempted to maintain the status quo.

Building a guiding coalition: parish clergy, staff, and parishioner leaders have been invited to take on leadership roles in this archdiocesan effort.
Forming a strategic vision: we now have the 6 guiding principles of Beacons of Light, as well as vision points to flesh them out, and parameters to guide our work.

In the process of leading change within the Family of Parishes, we will move forward through the 8 steps but also return to some with new people, new initiatives, and new strategies. For example, Phase 1 of the Pastoral Planning Pathway will focus on vision and leadership, clarifying the vision of parish vitality and bringing the leadership of each Family of Parishes together in a guiding coalition. We will have to continue building that sense of urgency about pastoral planning to ensure vibrancy and the evangelizing mission of our parish communities.

In the coming months of Phase 0: Warmup you are invited to pray, to learn, and to prepare. Doing these things using the resources provided will enable us to move forward in the change management process, namely enlisting more parishioners into this effort and removing the barriers to change. Use this time of Phase 0 to grow as a leader, preparing yourself to lead change well, with the help of the Holy Spirit!

When the Beacons of Light process was announced, the anxiety level among priests and parish staff throughout the Archdiocese began to explode. Fear of the unknown can be contagious as rumors and the “what ifs” are spoken. At Church of the Ascension in Kettering, we were no different. We are a fairly tight-knit group that supports each other in our various ministries. One of our lunch discussions centered around the uncertainties of Beacons which led to the decision to hold a staff-led retreat at Maria Stein Retreat Center. The day-long event consisted of 3 parts; naming our gifts, naming our fears, and praying.

After opening prayer, we discussed the gifts of being in community and the gifts of our Ascension faith community. We then identified the gifts of our parish staff. After lunch we were granted 2 hours of private reflection on the beautiful grounds of Maria Stein. We were asked to identify our fears and anxieties of Beacons; how can the Lord act through us to be a beacon of light to our community and each other. We then came together as a group and shared our experience, acknowledging our fears and supporting each other. Because we all come from different experiences in our ministries, listening to each other’s concerns and praying together helped bring understanding and unity, allowing us to work better together, not only now but later with staff from other members of our parish family. We acknowledged that trust in the Holy Spirit is the key to calm our anxieties.

- Cathy Magness,
Pastoral Associate
Church of the Ascension, Kettering

Given the rollout of the new Family of Parishes on December 5th and the next steps of pastoral planning before us, I would like to take a moment to look back, remember and thank everyone who supported us with their many talents in getting us to this place in the Beacons of Light process.

It was only a little more than a year ago that we started this journey and began the strategic steps to gathering data. At that time a group of lay and priest volunteers joined with our consultants to plan out and execute a task that from the experience of our consultants has sometimes taken years to complete. With the leadership of our deans and pastors along with the determined work of many parish staff and other leaders, we completed the data gathering not in years but in months. This was a significant achievement and one that was critical in meeting the needs of our Archdiocese.

Let us not forget that we didn't only rely on data. Over the last 6 months, many groups from parishioners, to pastors, to parish staff, and principals have provided what we could not fully understand from the data alone – the lived experience of our parishes and communities. In a way this was our greatest learning and one that I am humbled to have been part of. I would like to personally thank everyone who has worked with me and the Strategic Team over the last year. We have had many challenges along the way but I can honestly say that without your faithful work and steady hands we truly wouldn’t have reached this point. Thank you!

- Rob Brock,
Director,
Office for Pastoral Planning