UP FRONT
Keep Going
Gerald F. Kicanas  |  Spring 2009

The National Pastoral Life Center supplements the efforts of bishops across the United States to affirm and support those in pastoral ministry.

The history of the Catholic church in the United States includes some exhilarating moments of creativity and energy, moments when faith-filled people dared to consider fresh ways of bringing the gospel’s ageless wisdom to the circumstances of their day.

One such moment was the formation of the National Pastoral Life Center on March 1, 1983 by the Rev. Philip Murnion, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, and Harry Fagan, a married layman of the Catholic Committee on Urban Ministry.

The mission of the NPLC from its beginning was revitalization of parish life. At the time of the NPLC founding, this was a concern of the bishops of the United States, but because budget concerns limited their conference from leading the effort, the NPLC was born, an independent organization affirmed by the conference’s administrative committee to lead the way.

Central to its mission was Phil Murnion’s conviction that “the parish is for most people the single most important part of the church.” (Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati echoed this when he wrote, “Parish is where our people live.”)

This remains true twenty-five years later. Yet parish life today struggles mightily. More parishes are without pastors. Some share pastors. Some have closed because of changing demographics and limited resources. Some barely make it financially. Most serve parishioners from multiple cultures who speak multiple languages.

Pastors and pastoral staffs struggle as well. Some lack skills needed to administer or to lead or to collaborate. Some pastors find the sacramental demands of parish life overwhelming, leaving little time for pastoral initiatives to respond to new and pressing pastoral needs.

Parishes need help. Pastors and pastoral ministers need resources.

Amid all the challenges facing parishes today, people still identify with their parishes—the parish is their home. Parish helps define them. Parish is their spiritual center. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, where I am from, people still tell you where they live by naming their parish.

I experience and witness this identity connection as I travel the 43,000 square miles of the Diocese of Tucson to parishes like Immaculate Conception in Ajo, two hours from any urban center, or St. Luke’s in Douglas, on the border with Mexico, or Holy Cross in Morenci, a copper mining community. The people love their parish and take pride in its history. Their lives center around their parish. They will talk for hours about what their parish means to them.

I visit vibrant parish communities in all parts of our diocese. I admire their tireless efforts to meet the varied spiritual needs of their people. They do fabulous ministry under difficult circumstances. Their pastors never seem to rest. Their staffs work well and work together.

Yet when I talk with priests, religious, deacons, and lay people involved in parish ministry in our diocese, they express many concerns: “People are not coming to church regularly.” “Our youth seem lost, indifferent to faith. We worry about them.” “We need to hand on the faith to the next generation.” “Families need help. Marriages are under duress. Why can’t the parish help more?” “Where are the young adults?” “Our adults know little about their faith.” “Why can’t our parishes provide more spiritual guidance?” “People are going to different faith communities.”

Parishes and dioceses today face the challenges of providing even adequate resources to their priests and parish ministers; of developing creative pastoral initiatives; of responding effectively to the wide range of complex concerns that parish staffs face.

Today, in every aspect of society, we realize the importance of networking, learning best practices, effective training, and consultation. Today’s issues are so complex and daunting no one would dare confront them alone. This is true for parish ministry as well.
The NPLC was created to serve bishops, pastors, deacons, religious, and lay ecclesial ministers by responding to parish needs and by providing resources to those responsible for forming parish communities.

Priorities of the U.S. Bishops

In 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops identified five priorities to focus its work and to become more strategic in its efforts: Faith Formation and Pastoral Practice; the Life and Dignity of the Human Person; Vocations to Priesthood and Consecrated Life; Strengthening Marriage; and Multicultural Ministry with an emphasis on Hispanic Ministry in the Spirit of Encuentro. Each of these priorities pertains to parish and diocesan life. The pastoral plans developed by the conference will in part be implemented on the parish and diocesan level.

As in the formation of the NPLC, the interests and concerns of bishops help form the agenda of the NPLC as it continues to seek ways to assist bishops in realizing their pastoral plans, especially as they have an impact on dioceses and parishes.

Here are some specifics of the NPLC’s agenda as it enters its second quarter-century of service:
The NPLC looks to strengthen and enhance the quality and content of its award-winning magazine, CHURCH. Parish ministers can expect, as they have in its first twenty-four years, a journal for them that addresses their questions, provides them with resources, and helps them do their ministry more effectively.

The NPLC looks to provide affirmation for all in ministry and opportunities for dialogue.

Affirmed by Ministers

I think bishops have been most appreciative of the Center’s offerings of pastor training and specific workshops to address parish needs. Pastors and pastoral administrators face many challenges. They need and benefit from training. We ask so much of our pastors and pastoral administrators. They need to learn more effective ways of exercising their ministry. They need to be affirmed and supported for the great work they are doing. Providing these learning opportunities is a way of affirming.

People stand on all sides of the priorities identified by the bishops’ conference. There is the need for a formal dialogue and open discussion to resolve differences. The Catholic Common Ground Initiative, begun by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and Phil Murnion and now part of the Center’s mission, can be just such a forum.

The NPLC looks to strengthen the church’s defense of life, a big priority of the bishops’ conference, through the Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors. Bringing together diocesan directors of social mission and respect life programs, the Roundtable provides deeper understanding of issues and opportunities for advocacy to uphold the life and dignity of the human person.

As important as these agenda items are, the NPLC recognizes that even more needs to be done to provide resources to those serving in parish ministry.

That is why the Rev. John Hurley, CSP, the executive director of the NPLC, his staff, and the NPLC board keep discussing and exploring new ways to serve our parishes and those who staff them.

As a bishop, I am grateful that we have an organization that focuses specifically on the parish and parish ministers. I sense its mission will become even more important in the future.

What bishops and dioceses struggle to do on their own can be greatly enhanced by the efforts of the NPLC. The NPLC can be a clearinghouse for new approaches; it can provide expertise not always available on the local level; and it can create dialogue among those in the field, leading to more effective ministry.

Where will we be as church in 2034, another 25 years from now, none of us can imagine, but we are setting the direction today, believing and trusting that renewed, vibrant Catholic parishes will speak to people’s spiritual yearnings, will teach what we believe and value as Catholics, will engage people in their fundamental questions about themselves and about their lives, will attract people to Christ, and will encourage those who have left to return home to the church.

Renewed and vibrant Catholic parishes will help to bring about the “new springtime” for Christianity that Pope Benedict XVI referenced in his talk to the bishops of the United States last April: “What is needed above all, at this time in the history of the church in America, is a renewal of that apostolic zeal which inspires her shepherds actively to seek out the lost, to bind up those who have been wounded, and to bring strength to those who are languishing” (cf. Ez 34:16).

While we certainly miss Phil Murnion and Harry Fagan in this 25th anniversary year of the NPLC, I expect there is rejoicing in heaven as God expresses a “well done” to Phil and Harry for their good and faithful work.

I can hear Phil and Harry shouting to us, bellowing at the top of their lungs, “Siguen adelante! You all keep going, keep going!”

The Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas is bishop of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, vice-president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and a member of the board of directors of the National Pastoral Life Center.