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IN PRINT: BOOK REVIEW LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD: Closing, Rebuilding, and Revitalizing Parishes Reviewed by Robert Choiniere, director of pastoral planning, Diocese of Brooklyn, New York.
In this slim volume, Robert Miller and Charles Zech consider the landscape of the current American church, the challenges we face, and the methods dioceses are employing to address such challenges, namely the restructuring of Catholic parishes in the United States. The authors begin their overview of the landscape by telling us that 72% of U.S. dioceses reported making structural changes to parishes between 1995 and 2000, and yet this book joins only a few other works available to pastoral ministers to navigate the often difficult task of parish restructuring. As such, this is a welcome addition to the body of knowledge that bishops, pastors, diocesan planners, and parish leaders can access as we all move forward in these efforts. The book itself is split into three sections: a primer on parish restructuring, external models to elucidate the restructuring experience, and the results of a survey of lay leaders on the experience of restructuring. The primer on parish restructuring is concise, yet immensely helpful to parish leaders and parishioners who need to know the rules of the game when their parish is being considered for structural change. In these introductory chapters the authors not only provide an overview on the canons around the subject, but also give the framework, based on Vatican II and post-conciliar documents, for a participative and collaborative approach to addressing church problems and situations. It is the lived experience of this vision that is truly tested by the end of the book, and, unfortunately, bishops and diocesan offices do not pass with flying colors. The second section of the book explores lessons from other aspects of society that can inform parish restructuring. The first comparison, corporate mergers, seems obvious. The lessons are straightforward, yet the authors recognize the nuances of parish life that do not quite match. The second comparison is fascinating and unique: blended families. Miller and Zech look at stepfamilies, a sort of Brady Bunch analysis, as a metaphor for merging parishes. Parishes are more like families than they are like corporations. The combining of two parishes is like the blending of two families into one. Many of the issues of blended families play themselves out in parish mergers and seem much more appropriate than the corporate language that has been used. Much more could be said regarding this metaphor. The most poignant part of this book, though, is the final section: the results of the parish leader survey. Miller and Zech, both exceptional researchers, do their best to present the facts. In fact, they become almost transparent as the stories, thoughts, and feelings of parish pastoral council members come to the surface as they comment on and confront the current practices of diocesan and parish leadership. The many charts are impressive, but most impressive are the actual written comments of the survey responders which the authors have selected. It is here that we see the overwhelming reception of the participative and collaborative vision of ecclesial governance. This vision is not only accepted by the faithful but firmly desired when it was missing. In both the planning and implementation of parish closures and mergers, parish leaders desired consultation with the bishop and more support from diocesan agencies. In many cases this was not present. Local leadership was praised when pastors acted in a truly pastoral manner, but hierarchical leadership is all but lambasted for not providing appropriate consultative processes and pastoral care. In the end, as a diocesan planner myself, the voices of these parish leaders ring in my ears. They make me stand at attention, recognizing that my responsibility and primary service to the people of God is to provide processes that truly reflect the most deeply held values of our church, that give those most affected some ownership over decisions, and to know deeply that, while necessary, the changes we implement have an impact on the faith lives of others. Our steps must be taken with care, with tenderness, and with concern for those we seek to support. For when God and history judge our actions, it will be not just what we did that will matter, but how we did it. |
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It is in the living out of our experience together as church that our values are tested and tried. It is in the moments of change and tension, decision and action that we have the opportunity to embody the goals of Vatican II and the values of the gospel or to demonstrate the disparity between our words and our deeds. The merging and closing of parishes in many dioceses of the United States is just such an opportunity to demonstrate our values as church in the midst of less than ideal conditions. The lesson of Listening to the People of God seems to be that the way we do things is much more important than what we do, and in the end makes what we do even possible.
