Pastoral Planning Will Be Implemented According To
General Directives
 

As Parish and Cluster Implementation Teams begin their work, they will be following Bishop Martino’s General Directives for the implementation of Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Scranton.

Every parish and cluster will follow these directives as the implementation proceeds. Each cluster must submit an Annual Cluster Implementation Plan to the Diocesan Implementation Commission by May 15 of this year, and by that date in succeeding years as well.

Each cluster must also submit an Annual Cluster Evaluation Report to the Diocesan Implementation Commission by May 15 of 2010, and by that date in succeeding years as well.

Following are the General Directives and an explanation of each one:
 

1. The cluster is to develop and implement effective evangelization plans to be welcoming communities, providing engaging adult formation programs and inviting active participation in the liturgical life and mission of the Church.

The Church is an evangelizing mission sent by Jesus to proclaim and witness to the Good News of reconciliation and God’s love. Evangelization is a call to turn away from sin and to be faithful to the Gospel. Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation on evangelization stated:

“For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: ‘Now I am making the whole of creation new.’ [46] But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism [47] and by lives lived according to the Gospel.[48] The purpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert,[49] solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs.”

Evangelization is the primary purpose of the parish. Every activity of the parish must be evaluated in the light of its evangelizing mission.

To help people understand the mission of the parish and their responsibility to share in the mission of the parish requires life-long spiritual learning and continuing adult faith formation so that people will understand the responsibility of active internal and external participation in the liturgy and in the mission of the parish. To be a Christian is to be a witness, a disciple, a steward of the gifts that God gives for the common good for the living of the Gospel. The church universal, the diocesan church and the people of the parish community are challenged to listen to the Good News and to become good news for others, leading them to communion with the Blessed Trinity.

The parish is an evangelizing mission. When we understand this, we understand why a parish is located in an area, and why it is invited to partner with other parishes as good stewards of the various gifts and resources that God gives.

2. The cluster is to respond to the command of Jesus to serve by proclaiming in word and action the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and call to social justice.

The spiritual and corporal works of mercy were inspired by the parable of the last judgment in Saint Matthew’s Gospel. These 14 examples were meant to inspire us to see various other opportunities to express the love of God, and are not confined to these 14 illustrations.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches: “The Church’s social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry.” It quotes the late Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Centesimus Annus: “The Church’s social teaching is itself a valid instrument of evangelization. As such, it proclaims God and his mystery of salvation in Christ to every human being, and for that very reason reveals man to himself. In this light, and only in this light, does it concern itself with everything else: the human rights of the individual, and in particular of the ‘working class,’ the family and education, the duties of the State, the ordering of national and international society, economic life, culture, war and peace, and respect for life from the moment of conception until death.”

Every parish shares in the evangelizing mission, and by itself, in partnership with other parishes and in collaboration with diocesan efforts, must put into practice the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and the social doctrine of the Church if it is to be true to its evangelizing mission. The challenge for each parish is to determine how best to evangelize, communicate and put into practice the social doctrine of the Church.

3. Parishioners are to be encouraged to cultivate a culture of vocation, or “calling,” be educated to “live their lives as a vocation” to holiness and mission, and support vocations to priesthood, diaconate, religious life and the lay apostolate.

Every person needs to grow in the awareness of their personal vocation and come to an appreciation of the various vocations that God gives to members of the Christian community. We are called to life and holiness, to communion with the Blessed Trinity and to live our lives in solidarity with other members of the human family. We are called to communion with the Church through Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. At every age there needs to be formation in the Christian vocation and how to live the promises of our Baptism that are renewed solemnly at Easter and each Sunday when we renew our Christian commitment with the profession of the faith, as we join in the recitation of the creed.

We are called to various states of life: single or married, to the priesthood, diaconate, consecrated life of the religious and as Christian lay faithful. We are called to recognize our gifts and talents to see our work as a part of our vocation and responsibility to God. We are called each day to love of God and neighbor, and at the end of our life through the passage of death, to enter the fullness of life.

If we see our life as a vocation, a calling and a responsibility, it gives us a different outlook on life. Likewise each parish and parishioner is challenged to pray for and encourage vocations to priesthood, diaconate and religious life. A parish has the responsibility to educate and form all age groups in the meaning of the Christian vocation. A good starting place is the Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World (Christifideles Laici).

4. The rich ethnic heritage of the people in the area is to be honored and celebrated whenever appropriate.

People are justly proud of their ethnic roots, but many people today do not express their ethnicity the way it might have been expressed in the past. Our ancestors who came here from other countries needed to hear the Word of God in their native tongues, and so national (ethnic) parishes were established to meet this need. There is a similar need today for the Latinos who have settled here. Thus we provide Masses in Spanish and other services.

But we are now several generations removed from the period when thousands of immigrants arrived here from Europe. The great majority of people do not speak the language of their ancestors. Especially through marriage among people of different ethnic backgrounds, parish membership is more blended, and younger people do not seem to be as connected to a church because of ethnicity.

Although the observance of ethnic traditions in parishes is not as widespread as it once was, it is still meaningful for those who have maintained certain customs. It varies from parish to parish. Nevertheless, Called to Holiness and Mission does recommend that parishes honor and celebrate the rich ethnic heritage of the people “whenever appropriate.”

The Diocese itself will not mandate how this will be done and what traditions should be observed. These are details that will be addressed by the Implementation Teams in the parishes. It will depend on what traditions the parishioners have been observing, and what they would like to maintain and support going forward.

5. A new Mass schedule is to be developed that reflects good stewardship of priestly resources and maximizes opportunities for larger assemblies to provide a more robust celebration of the liturgy.

The Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery issued on May 25, 1967, sets the standard: “As regards the time and number of Masses to be celebrated in parishes, the good of the parish community should be kept in mind and the number of Masses should not be so multiplied as to weaken the effectiveness of the pastoral effort;  for example: if through the great number of Masses, only small groups of the faithful were to come to each of the Masses in a church that can hold a great number of people. Another example would be if, for the same reason, the priests were so overburdened by their work as to make it difficult for them to fulfill their ministry adequately.”

Bishop Martino, mindful of this directive, has recently reinforced it. Gathering people together unites a parish, while the practice of maintaining multiple Masses with modest or poor attendance divides a parish community and should be avoided.

6. Each parish in the cluster is to study its facility assessment report and build into its annual budget funding for ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.

Good stewardship involves regular maintenance of buildings before problems arise. If a parish is unable to maintain a structure or if most of its financial resources must be used for maintenance of buildings rather than in support of the parish mission, there is a problem that needs to be corrected.

Parishes must evaluate how many buildings are necessary and useful and whether the parish can properly maintain them. Likewise, with changing demographics the evaluation of the number and location of parishes and their structures needs to be an ongoing and regular part of the life of the parish. Pastoral planning needs to become a part of parish culture.

7. Parishes with debt (assessments and loans) to the Diocese and other entities are to meet with the Diocesan Director of Finance and the Director of Called to Holiness and Mission to set up a realistic payment schedule.

Part of good stewardship is concerned with the availability and use of resources. The Parish Finance Council and the Parish Pastoral Council have been established in each parish in accordance with Canon Law and the directive of Bishop Martino for the necessary consultation and collaboration for the stewardship of parish resources and to ensure the ongoing support for the mission of the parish.

These councils will ensure that the goals of pastoral planning and the mission of the parish will be supported and focused through a deeper understanding and practice of good stewardship.

Stewardship of human, financial and facility resources is essential for quality parish, regional and diocesan life.

8. Upon reception of the Bishop’s directives for their cluster, a Cluster Implementation Team is to be established to design ways to fulfill the directives.

The Cluster Implementation Teams have been established and they are beginning their work, which is primarily to ensure that the Bishop’s directives for the cluster are implemented. These teams will also pray and collaborate together to evaluate how they can enter into partnership, make better use of resources, and more effectively exercise the evangelizing mission of the parishes in their area.

Each cluster must submit an Annual Cluster Implementation Plan to the Diocesan Implementation Commission by May 15 of this year, and by that date in succeeding years as well.  Each cluster must submit an Annual Cluster Evaluation to the Diocesan Implementation Commission by May 15 of 2010, and by that date in succeeding years as well.