"Co-Responsibility" Studied By Emerging Models Project
Pastoral leaders believe the future of parish leadership is in total ministering communities.
July 4, 2009Pastoral leaders believe the future of parish leadership is in total ministering communities, in communities of practice. They believe we are moving into a recognition of the co-responsible parish called for by Pope Benedict XVI in a recent address to pastoral leaders.
From 2004 through 2007 the Emerging Models Project faciilitated a series of eight regional leadership symposiums which gathered over 500 lay and ordained pastoral leaders from across the country. These leaders, sent by their dioceses because they were considered to be some of their most creative thought leaders, talked about what is needed for vibrant parish life in the Church today. They were asked to describe what a 'total ministering parish' would look like and rated the possibility of this happening in their communities.
While 72% said it was' very important' to be total ministering communities, with another 15% naming it as 'important,' only 12% thought they were being 'very effective' in doing so, while half of the respondents (51%) named their parishes as being 'effective in being co-responsible. As a result of these studies, the concept of 'total ministering' or 'co-responsible' parishes was listed as one of the twelve sets of practices found in the emerging models of parishes.
In developing the studies, the decision was made to focus on leadership as a 'system of relationships' though which the community is led, rather than on the leader as a single person, ie. a co-responsible parish. This meant studying the leadership roles of the pastor, staff, and parishioner working together. When viewed through this lens, what was discovered is a blossoming of pastoral leadership roles that work together to stimulate vibrant and spiritually alive parish communities.
What the project found was that these emerging communities are celebrating, vibrant, and welcoming communities with a comprehensive understanding of a 'total ministering community' involving ordained, non-ordained, professional, and lay volunteers working together to achieve a comprehensive vision of the parish of the future.
The leadership symposiums were facilitated by David Ramey and Marti Jewell. They have written about their findings in a book to be published this fall by Loyola Press.
