Below are four strategic goals that can focus your ef forts and break down the massive project of parish renewal into more achievable steps. I call these the four keys to parish renewal, as they lay out, not a step-by-step, one-size-fits-all path for any parish, but the four main drivers that inspire and propel our efforts to renew the culture in our parishes. As we seek to build our parishes into missionary outposts of the New Evangelization, these four keys help us determine simple and actionable ways we get there.
They are as follows:
1) The vision is clear. We want ours to be a missional parish aimed at introducing parishioners and non-parishioners alike to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.
2) There is a clear path to discipleship. We want our parish to be equipped and formed to help people grow into the fullness of mature Catholicism and missionary discipleship.
3) Leaders are well-formed, empowered, and sent to bear fruit. We want our parish to form leaders who are fruitful both within the parish and in the larger community in their day-to-day lives.
4) Nothing in the parish operates in maintenance mode. We want everything our parish does to be aligned with the mission to form disciples who can make disciples.
This book is written to guide you through these four keys to parish renewal and give you practical strategies for implementing them. With the conviction that the renewal of the Church depends on the renewal of the parish, and the renewal of the parish depends on forming missionary disciples, we will be unpacking these four keys to show you how to move your parish from a culture of maintaining decline to one that is radically on mission and forming missionary disciples.
While the “meat” of this book will focus on how to implement these four keys in your parish context (chapters 4–8), we first have to pause to lay some groundwork. Before we throw up the walls of the house, we have to lay the foundation. Like we said earlier, unless we properly diagnose the problem, we will not know what the right remedies are or how to contextualize them appropriately in our parish. So first, we will look at the four types of parishes in the United States and take a moment to diagnose where your parish may be. Second, we will propose the antidote and this book’s overall vision for cultural change: forming missionary disciples.
Two Important Notes on Renewal
Before we move on, I also want to stress what we mean by “renewal.” There are two important things to note as you read this book and consider renewal in your own parish.
First: Renewal is not something we do.
Jesus is abundantly clear about this: “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).
As we are going to talk about, real parish renewal depends on changed lives and new disciples. You and I do not have the power on our own to form a single disciple. At the end of the day, it is God alone who makes this happen through his grace. The power of the Holy Spirit brings about renewal. We cooperate through what we do, but we cannot do it alone.
If we believed that truth more fully as a Church, we would pray and act differently, and we would start to see real change. If I could point to a single reason why we have not seen more wide-scale renewal in our parishes, it is because we as leaders do not really believe that God is fully in control. The best way to start renewal: pray consistently, intentionally, over time, with others for God to bring about change. We have to actually believe and act like it is God alone who can do the work that is required. Plans are great; prayers are better. We need both for renewal to happen.
Saint John of the Cross puts it better than I can:
Let those then who are singularly active, who think they can win the world with their preaching and exterior works, observe here that they would profit the Church and please God much more … were they to spend at least half of this time with God in prayer. … They would then certainly accomplish more, and with less labor, by one work than they otherwise would by a thousand. … Without prayer they would do a great deal of hammering but accomplish little, and sometimes nothing, and even at times cause harm. … However much they may appear to achieve externally, they will in substance be accomplishing nothing [without a deep life of prayer].13
You are our only hope, Lord.
Second: Authentic renewal is always authentically Catholic.
Many faithful Catholics in our time are wary of the concept of “renewal.” This is not without reason. Too many watched as the excited language about renewal following the Second Vatican Council amounted to little more than watering down the Faith and adapting to modernity. Often this left the Church looking more like the world, and it did not help the Church reach and transform the world as she is called to do. Rather than authentic renewal, the reforms following the council often looked more like revolution.
This is not what I am proposing. What I do propose is in line with the helpful hermeneutic for renewal George Weigel provides in his book, Evangelical Catholicism. He claims that authentic renewal always asks of each reality, first, “What is the truth of this thing?” Authentic renewal should never fundamentally change the objective reality of any teachings or practices of the Faith. At the same time, authentic renewal also asks, “How can this best be approached in light of mission?”14 Both of these questions need to be posed to all that we do in our parishes as we seek renewal. Authentic renewal will pull from our rich heritage as Catholics and will change nothing about the deposit of faith, but it will be bold in prioritizing mission. Authentic renewal is not just about changing the Church, it is about unleashing the Gospel.
It is the aim of this book to pose those questions with you and seek out answers together. Drawn from the experience of working with real parishes, with an acute eye and respect for the differences in the pastoral situations found within each community, we will try to propose some solutions for those of you who want to embark on cultural change in your parish but are still looking for more meat on the bones in terms of how. The purpose of this book is not just to convince you that cultural change is necessary. This is for anyone who is aware of the present difficulties in carrying forward the Church’s mission, and who wants to start wrestling with how we are going to focus our parishes on mission.
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)