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Friday, March 29, 2024

Panel explores role of laity in advancing mission of the Church

Giving Insights

Asked during a panel discussion for his greatest hope for the role of laity in the revitalization and future of the Church, Father John Bauer, pastor and rector at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, said people need to recognize that no one person has the gifts, talents and abilities to be and do all the things that are part of parish life.

“So, my greatest hope is that laypeople won’t give up, that they’re going to stay in the Church,” he said, and be the kind of Church that they want it to be.

As a pastor, he has learned that he doesn’t have to have all the answers. “In fact, I need help discerning answers and setting priorities,” he said. “Parishioners, particularly members of parish leadership teams, really are essential to that.”

The Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota sponsored the online discussion April 29 as part of its Giving Insights series on community challenges and opportunities, ministries and organizations, and ways Catholic philanthropy can impact them.

When CCF recently assessed the local Church’s most urgent needs, supporting parish vitality rose to the top. The foundation recognizes that parishes need funding and lay leadership to build up youth, multicultural and lay ecclesial ministries, said CCF President Anne Cullen Miller.
“We wanted to have a community conversation to inspire and entice the laity to engage in the Church by answering their baptismal call to revitalize parishes and to deepen their sense of co-responsibility in the mission of the Church,” she said.

Father Bauer was joined in the discussion by panelists Mary Kennedy, parish administrator at St. Olaf in Minneapolis, and Kim Smolik, a partner at Washington, D.C.-based Leadership Roundtable, an organization of laity, religious and clergy that promotes best practices and accountability in the Church, including greater use of expertise among the laity.

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“Each one of us has the opportunity to connect our baptismal call to our individual gifts, our charisms,” said Alexia Kelley, the evening’s moderator and president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA).

“And we also have the opportunity to collaborate by connecting our gifts with those of our fellow Catholics, ordained and lay,” Kelley said. Each has a role, she said, and the Church grows when people live their gifts to the full.

Kennedy addressed the importance of stewardship as it relates to concepts like shared ministry, or “co-responsibility,” and how she has worked to expand lay leadership and stewardship. Parishioners can help figure out how to engage their gifts, she said.

“The parish environment, as the fabric of stewardship, should involve the entire parish,” she said. “The gifts shared in the ministries of the parish are opportunities for each of us to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the community, in the parish, in our families, our work relationships, the greater world.”

Smolik said co-responsibility helps instill pride in one’s home parish and place of worship, creating a virtuous cycle of increased involvement, attendance and community. “And when there’s belonging and pride in a parish, it retains and attracts new members,” she said.

At that point, parishes can look not just inward but outward, said Smolik, a St. Paul native who holds a doctorate in education from the University of St. Thomas.

“The model of co-responsibility reduces feelings of isolation and leadership loneliness among all leaders, but especially our pastors,” she said.

A co-responsible parish is naturally more transparent and accountable, core values for a healthy parish, she added.

The way many parishes responded to the COVID-19 pandemic provides examples of parish leaders uniting toward a common goal, Kennedy said.

“I don’t know what we would have done without our lay leadership councils, our advisory board and our financial advisory board to call on them and say, ‘How are we going to get through this?’ ‘What are the next steps?’ ‘Let’s collaborate on how we can handle that.’ That proved to be incredibly helpful,” she said.

It also showed lay leaders that they had a voice, made a difference and had ownership, Kennedy said. Having a strong and understood mission helped, she said, and knowing that one person can’t be all things to all people.

Kelley asked Father Bauer where he has seen areas of shared responsibility between himself and parishioners, and how that has impacted the Basilica community.

As he approaches the 42nd anniversary of his ordination, Father Bauer said he has seen an evolution in how leadership operates in parishes.

“When I was first ordained, particularly the parish council, they were what I call ‘order keepers,’” he said, making sure the lawn was mowed and rooms were cleaned. That’s good and important, he said, but he sees parish leadership today, especially parish council members, as keepers of the parish vision and mission.

“The question they always need to keep in front of them is, ‘Is this what we should be doing as a parish community? Is this what we should be involved in?’ he said. “Keep the big picture in mind.”

The discussion can be seen in its entirety at the CCF website.

 


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