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  • Pastoral Teams and Parish Collaboratives:A Case Study of Diocesan Reorganization
  • Robert W. Oliver (bio)

Over 70% of dioceses in the United States made significant structural changes from 1995-2000. These reorganization efforts addressed a series of challenges identified by diocesan pastoral planners, principally a continuing decline in the participation by Catholics in their parishes, fewer priests and religious available for parochial service, and a widening gap between existing resources and the costs of pastoral services.1

The reorganization model most f requently used included large-scale closings and merging of parishes.2 Planning studies soon demonstrated, however, that these changes were often insufficient. During the decade from 2000-2010, U.S. dioceses further reduced the total number of parishes by 7.1%.3 [End Page 334]

A recent report from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University concluded that, despite these reconfiguration efforts, the decline in regular Sunday participation has continued in many dioceses, the total number of diocesan priests dropped 11% in the first decade of the new century, and the gap between resources and costs widened. Nearly one in three parishes in the United States is presently unable to meet expenses with revenue (30%).4

As a result, many dioceses have recently begun new rounds of reorganization, some for the third time in less than twenty years. This article examines one such effort. The Archdiocese of Boston closed more than 125 parishes between 1994 and 2004, but by 2007 a blue-ribbon panel of clergy and laity concluded that the resulting structure was unsustainable. In 2010-2011, a professional planning team drafted a new pastoral plan and presented it to a newly appointed Archdiocesan Planning Commission. According to the planning office's estimates, the archdiocese would need to reduce the present number of 288 parishes to 130 parishes in order to achieve a sustainable structure for any significant period of time.5

Following 18 months of study, the Planning Commission submitted a new plan to the Archbishop.6 Their plan, called Disciples in Mission, clearly [End Page 335] recognized the grave needs for reorganization. Rather than recommending large-scale mergers of parishes and closings of churches, however, the commission proposed a new and innovative approach to pastoral planning.

The central focus of this approach is a revitalization of the Church through a new evangelization. With new structures like "pastoral teams" and "parish collaboratives," their recommendations present new ideas for re-engaging the participation of the Catholic faithful in their parishes, distributing parochial and archdiocesan resources more equitably and efficiently, and strengthening Catholic parishes for the mission of evangelization. As such, the commission's proposals offer insight into pastoral planning efforts and represent important opportunities, not only for Boston, but for other dioceses faced with the complex task of reorganization.

This study presents an analysis of this contemporary instance of pastoral planning, highlighting the theological and canonical foundations of the commission's work, their studies of best practices in other dioceses, and the methods of analysis which underlie their conclusions and recommendations. The first section, "Strengthening Parishes for Evangelization," explores their reasons for avoiding the closing of parishes and the ways in which they developed recommendations which allows parishes to maintain their identity and focus their resources on the mission of evangelization. The second and third sections evaluate the potential impact of the two primary structures in the pastoral plan, the "Pastoral Teams" and "Parish Collaboratives."7

Strengthening Parishes for Evangelization

The members of the Planning Commission began their work by systematically studying the extensive data gathered by the Archdiocesan Planning Office.8 Cardinal O'Malley gave the commission a mandate "to collect and [End Page 336] analyze data and to propose strategies for meeting future needs and emerging pastoral planning challenges in the archdiocese." In the letter of appointment, the Cardinal told the members that "the particular work of the commission will be to develop a recommendation for a pastoral plan for the Archdiocese that identifies the resources available for the foreseeable future and allocates these in a manner that will allow the mission of Christ and his Church to grow stronger in our Catholic community."9

The first issue they noted...

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