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Transcript of PSM: Catalysts & Collaborators in Social Ministry
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CATALYSTS &
COLLABORATORS IN
SOCIAL MINISTRYStrategies for Parish Partnerships & Parish Social Ministry in Catholic Charities
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements iv
Foreword by Rev. Larry J. Snyder vi
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: What is Parish Social Ministry? 4
Chapter 3: Building Partnerships with Parishes 7
Chapter 4: Strategies or Parish Social Ministry Programs 19
Chapter 5: Moving Forward 29
Endnotes 33
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Acknowledgements
Te development and production o this report was made possible through the dedicated eortso many individuals. We especially want to recognize the ollowing or their eorts:
Rachel Lustig, director o parish social ministry, Catholic Charities USA, or her
leadership in instigating the project and writing the report.
Sister Brenda Hermann, MSB, or her leadership on the project and oversight o the
agency site visits, and Jean Beil, senior vice president o programs and services, Catholic
Charities USA, or providing guidance and insights on the project and report.
Members o the editorial board: Rich Fowler, Catholic Charities, Diocese o Stockton,
CA; Andy Zampini, Catholic Charities Inc., Diocese o Wilmington, DE; Kathy
Brown, Catholic Charities USA; Steve Bresnahan, Catholic Charities o the Diocese
o St. Cloud, MN; Kathleen Walsh, Catholic Charities o the Diocese o Raleigh,
NC; Robert Gorman, Catholic Social Services, Diocese o Houma-Tibodaux,
LA; Desmond Brown, Catholic Charities USA; ricia Hoyt, Catholic Charities
Community Services, Diocese o Phoenix, AZ; Esmeralda Cervantes, Queen o Peace,
Archdiocese o Galveston-Houston, X; Jane Stenson, Catholic Charities USA;
Mary Marshall, Catholic Charities, Archdiocese o New York, NY; Pat Macy, St. John
Vianney Parish, Diocese o Austin, X or their leadership and guidance during the
drating o this paper.
Te leadership and sta o our member agencies across the country, especially the
parish social ministry proessionals, who are working together with their diocesan
colleagues and parishes to be animators o social ministry in their dioceses.
Te leadership and sta o our member agencies who hosted site visits: Catholic
Charities, Diocese o Pittsburgh, PA; Catholic Charities o the Archdiocese o
Baltimore, MD; Catholic Charities o the Archdiocese o Galveston-Houston,
X; Catholic Charities, Archdiocese o Oklahoma City, OK; Catholic Charities
Community Services, Diocese o Phoenix, AZ; Catholic Charities o St. Paul and
Minneapolis, MN; Catholic Charities o the Diocese o Baton Rouge, LA; Catholic
Social Services, Diocese o Houma-Tibodaux, LA; Catholic Charities o the Diocese
iv | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
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o Rockville Centre; Catholic Charities Inc., Diocese o Wilmington, DE; Catholic
Charities o Santa Clara County, CA.
Te Leadership eam o Catholic Charities USAs Parish Social Ministry Proessional
Interest Section or creating dialogue opportunities or Catholic Charities proessionals
and parish leaders as a part o this project.
Te United States Conerence o Catholic Bishopsespecially the department o
Justice, Peace, and Human Development, including the Catholic Campaign or
Human Development Catholic Relie Services, the Roundtable Association or
Diocesan Social Action Directors and JustFaith Ministries or their partnership and
leadership in social ministry.
CCUSA sta, consultants, and volunteers or their contributions: Christina Baldera,
Brian Stevens, roy Zeigler, and Stan Fitzgerald or participation in the project and
insights on the report; Anita Blumenthal or writing support; Ruth Liljenquist or
editing the report; and Jim Canavan and Sheena Crews or creative design.
Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
(703) 549-1390
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org
Copyright 2008 by Catholic Charities USA
All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | v
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Foreword by Rev. Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
During my rst year at Catholic Charities USA, Pope Benedict XVI published his rst encyclical,Deus Caritas Est. With this encyclical, I elt that he gave a git especially to Catholic Charities. DeusCaritas Estis so relevant to our work that I am oten drawn to the vision and grounding that itprovides.
As I read through this report, Catalysts & Collaborators in Social Ministry, a passage rom DeusCaritas Est came to mind:
Love o neighbour, grounded in the love o God, is rst and oremost a responsibility or
each individual member o the aithul, but it is also a responsibility or the entire ecclesial
community at every level: rom the local community to the particular Church and to the
Church universal in its entirety. 1
As I read that passage, I couldnt help but wonder i Pope Benedict considered what it would
look like to have a diocesan entity like Catholic Charities, the parishes, and the individual aith-
ul all taking on the responsibility to act out our love o neighbor, grounded in the love o God.
I wondered i he considered how they would share this responsibility. Could their ministry
complement one another or would they grow disconnected? Would Catholic Charities increas-
ing specialization in the charitable work o the church unintentionally relieve the aithul o
their responsibility or could it call them to more active engagement in it?
Catholic Charities has struggled with these questions or decades. When we came together toproduce Te Cadre Studyand Vision 2000, we wrestled with these concerns and decided thatCatholic Charities should strive to complement the eorts o the parish and the individual
aithul in loving their neighbor and should call them to more active engagement and discern-
ment in ullling their responsibility. Tese two excerpts rom Te Cadre Studyand Vision 2000best summarize this commitment.
In Te Cadre Study, we committed to ten goals, eight o which speak to our engagement withparishes and the individual aithul. We committed:
o assist the Church and the Churches to respond more vigorously to the
Christian message o love and justice through action;
o acilitate in the Church the unolding o genuine social progress, which is the
development o a moral consciousness leading people to exercise a wider solidarity
and opening themselves reely to others and to God;
o discern and call attention to the social and historical dimensions o sin and to
develop a more conscious awareness o the need o Gospel-liberation rom them, and,
Would Catholic
Charities increasing
specialization in the
charitable work o the
church unintentionally
relieve the aithul o
their responsibility or
could it call themto more active en-
gagement in it?
vi | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
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with the Church to respond to the need or participation in the ministry
o compassion and reconciliation;
o assist people in coming together to experience one another in joy and need and
to reect prayerully upon this experience as a medium through which God makes
Himsel available to all;
o assist the people o God, peoples o various religious, cultural, age, and ethnic
backgrounds, to live in unity by pushing consciousness o the need to the deepest
level possible;
o urge the Church and the Churches with their rich tradition o social thought
and teaching to a urther involvement in the construction o a just social order;
o convene orums on various levels o Church lie by which the people o God may
perceive the social, political, and economic contradictions about them, and thereby
be motivated to work toward change; and
o promote the growing sense o unity among Christian people and all o good
will through cooperation in social action and community development on the
international, national, regional, state and local levels. 2
Vision 2000made its commitment more succinctly:
In ullling its own servant role, Catholic Charities must help the Church at large to ul-
ll its service mission. Te services provided by Catholic Charities agencies were never
intended to exonerate the aithul o the responsibilities o Christian discipleship and theneed or a community o believers to be personally involved in caring or one another. I
increased proessionalization o our agencies has caused Catholic Charities to grow urther
apart rom the mainstream o our parishes, Vision 2000calls Catholic Charities agencies tobecome more ully integrated into local parish communities, providing stimulus or leader-
ship in nurturing aith, proclaiming justice, serving people and building community. 3
As I reect on these commitments made in Te Cadre Studyand Vision 2000, I see what a pro-ound and challenging vision we have given ourselves. We have made it our goal to become an
animator and collaborator o the work o the Gospel with and through the church community
in our dioceses.
I am proud o what we have done in pursuit o this vision. As I read through Catalysts & Col-laborators in Social Ministry, I got a better sense o the magnitude o our eorts to bring thisvision to lie. I was amazed to read how many agencies are involved in parish partnerships or
parish social ministry, and I was impressed by the creativity and mutuality o the strategies that
are being used. I was also pleased to see how agencies are working to provide ormation oppor-
tunities as they help parishes start or grow their social ministry eorts.
We have made it our
goal to become an
animator and collabo-rator o the work o
the Gospel with and
through the church
community in our
dioceses.
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At the same time, there is much room or improvement. Some agencies are struggling to get
started, while others have a limited vision or parish partnership, rather than one o collabora-
tion and animation. Some programs are having difculty incorporating standards o accredita-tion that other Catholic Charities programs are required to uphold. And others are challenged
by the need to educate and train new people drawn to the ministry.
When I was at Catholic Charities in St. Paul-Minneapolis, we were blessed with an established
parish social ministry program, but even then, we had our share o challenges. Our program
sta members, however, were able to connect with their peers across the country through Cath-
olic Charities USAs Parish Social Ministry Section and through the Roundtable Association o
Diocesan Social Action Directors to nd solutions to our problems. I this hadnt been the case,
I think we would have been intimidated by pursuing the ull vision o parish social ministry.
o help CCUSA member agencies meet the challenges they ace in parish social ministry, we
have produced this report, Catalysts & Collaborators in Social Ministry, which oers a collec-tion o eective strategies and valuable lessons, garnered rom the expertise and experience o
Catholic Charities directors and parish social ministry proessionals across the country. We have
analyzed their current programs, investigated how they developed and changed, and drawn
rom their successes and ailures to provide the Catholic Charities network with strategies and
resources or pursuing this critical component o our mission.
Whether your agency is starting to pursue the vision o parish partnerships and parish social
ministry or whether you are seeking to continually improve, Catalysts & Collaborators in Social
Ministrywill provide you with new and eective ideas. In addition, the Web page that accompa-nies this report will connect you to resources used by various agencies and provide you a orumor discussion with your colleagues. We hope that Catalysts & Collaborators in Social Ministry
will acilitate what Catholic Charities does best learning rom one another and growing to-
gether to usher orth the reign o God in our midst!
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CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | 1
INTRODUCTION
How can we be a catalyst or social ministry in the church?
How can our agency be connected to the parishes in our diocese?
What is parish social ministry?
Who has been successul in creating parish partnerships and parish social ministry programs?
What strategies have worked in dioceses like ours?Can we use the resources that have worked in other dioceses?
What challenges should we be aware o?
Where do we start?
How do we know that we are successul?
Tese are the questions that sta members o Catholic Charities agencies have asked o us at
the Parish Social Ministry Of ce at Catholic Charities USA. In an eort to answer these ques-
tions in a comprehensive way, we undertook a major project to gather inormation about parish
social ministry programs throughout our network. In this process, we spoke with agency sta
members and other individuals across the country, people who act as catalysts and collaborators
in social ministry in their dioceses.
Catholic Charities has a long history o connecting with parishes and supporting their eorts
to live out the Gospel. Ater Te Cadre Study in 1972, these eorts were integrated with re-newed energy into the agency in the orm o parish partnerships, agreements between parishes
and Catholic Charities to work together on social ministry, and parish social ministry pro-
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grams, leadership development programs that strengthen parish social ministry.3 As a result,
some Catholic Charities agencies have been building parish partnerships and running parish
social ministry programs or more than 30 years. Because these partnerships and programs havegrown organically within their own dioceses, one might suspect that they are quite dierent.
Weve seen, however, that there are similarities between these eorts, and that similar strategies
have proven to be eective in dierent settings.
Catholic Charities agencies interested in creating or modiying parish partnerships and parish
social ministry programs dont need to start rom scratch. Over the last two years, Catholic
Charities USA has worked in conjunction with parish social ministry proessionals, agency
executive directors and parish-based social ministers to gather together a wealth o inormation
and expertise on parish social ministry. We have compiled this wealth in this report, which pro-
vides strategies, insights, valuable lessons, and resources to guide agency executives and sta as
they direct and coordinate parish partnerships and parish social ministry programs.
We hope to achieve our goals through Catalysts & Collaborators in Social Ministry. First, wehope to provide Catholic Charities executives and sta with ideas and strategies that they can
use to develop or improve their parish partnerships and parish social ministry programs. Sec-
ond, we hope that the Web page that accompanies this report (www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/
NetCommunity/PSMatCC) will become a orum or networking and sharing resources about
building parish partnerships and supporting parish social ministry. Tird, we hope that this
report will oster discussion about why Catholic Charities is called to be a catalyst and col-
laborator in social ministry with parishes and people o good will in the diocese. And ourth,
we hope that Catholic Charities agencies, parishes, and the aithul will continue to improvecollaborative eorts so that we as a church community can better recognize the ace o Christ in
those in need and express Gods love or more people on the margins o society.
Following this introduction, Chapter 2, What is Parish Social Ministry? gives a concise de-
scription o and reection on parish social ministry. At its core, parish social ministry is quite
simple. It is a way through which the community and individual believers exercise their aith
in an imperect world. Tis chapter explores how that exercise o aith is made compassionate,
intentional, and strategic in parish social ministry.
Chapter 3, Building Partnerships with Parishes, ocuses on developing or improving partner-
ships that create synergy in caring or poor and vulnerable people and working or justice. Itlays out a vision o partnership that recognizes the unique contributions o each partner and
highlights mutually respectul, eective ways or parishes and agencies to support the eorts
o the other. Secondly, the chapter identies ways to implement the partnership through the
creation o a plan and the implementation o strategies or building and institutionalizing the
relationships between partners. Chapter 3 also explores the challenges o building partnerships
and the lessons that have been learned over the years.
2 | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
Because these
partnerships and
programs have grown
organically within their
own dioceses, one
might suspect that
they are quite dier-
ent. Weve seen, how-
ever, that there are
similarities between
these eorts, and
that similar strategies
have proven to be
eective in dierent
settings.
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Chapter 4, Strategies or Parish Social Ministry Programs ocuses on developing or improv-
ing parish social ministry programs that develop leadership in the parish to create intentional,
strategic, and compassionate parish social ministries. Tis chapter examines the responsibilitieso such parish social ministry programs, analyzes the strategies they use to accomplish them,
highlights the skills needed to run successul parish social ministry programs, and explores the
challenges and lessons learned that are unique to parish social ministry programs.
Chapter 5, Moving Forward identies the trends that will challenge parish partnerships and
parish social ministry programs in the near uture. Tis chapter reminds us that we have been
successul in dealing with challenges in the past by acing them, working together to overcome
them, and staying grounded in our mission.
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4 | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
In urban neighborhoods, in suburban communities, and in rural areas, parishes serve as
anchors o hope and communities o caring, helping amilies meet their own needs and
reach out to others, and serve as centers o community lie and networks o assistance
Across our country, parishioners oer their time, their money, and their leadership to a
wide variety o eorts to meet needs and change structures. Parishes are deeply involved inmeeting their members needs, serving the hungry and homeless, welcoming the stranger
and immigrant, reaching out to troubled amilies, advocating or just public policies, orga-
nizing or saer and better communities, and working creatively or a more peaceul world.
Our communities and ministries have been greatly enriched and nourished by the aith
and wisdom o parishioners who experience injustice and all those who work or greater
justice. 5
In these phrases rom Communities o Salt and Light: Reflections on the Social Mission o the Par-ish, the U.S. bishops powerully acknowledge and celebrate the actions that parishioners take toprotect the lie and dignity o all o our neighbors. Tese actions are expressions o aith in an
imperect world; they are examples o parish social ministry.
Parish social ministry is the action that the aith community takes to live out the Gospel we
proclaim and to grow in love with God and neighbor. Tis denition outlines the two critical
endeavors o parish social ministry. All parishes, regardless o size and resources, can use these
two endeavors to guide their parish social ministry eorts.
Parish social ministry
is the action that the
aith community takes
to live out the Gospel
we proclaim and to
grow in love with God
and neighbor.
WHAT IS PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY?
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CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | 5
Living Out the Gospel We Proclaim
o live out the Gospel we proclaim, we must respond as best we can to the diversity o needs andinjustice that impact our world. In other words, we must be strategic. Needs may include emergen-
cies, chronic ailments, and loss. Injustice may be ound in the norms that govern societies, including
cultural standards, government laws and policies, and international agreements. Needs and injustice
impact people in the parish community and beyond, and they disproportionately impact those who
are poor or vulnerable.
As Catholics, parishioners are called to respond in two ways: as individuals and as part o a com-
munity. As individuals, parishioners make choices in their amily, work, citizen, and consumer
roles that have the potential to impact the lie and dignity o others. While these decisions may
be made outside o the parish, the community can play a vital role in helping parishioners evalu-
ate their choices in light o their aith and their pursuit o the common good.
Te parish community is also called to work together to live out the Gospel. In Communitieso Salt and Light, the U.S. bishops identiy our ways through which parishes can do this: char-ity, solidarity, community organizing, and advocacy. 6 When there are instances o need in the
community, parishes are called to act with charity through direct service or outreach. Across
the country, parishes are doing this through intake and reerral services, grie counseling, soup
kitchens, and much more. When there are instances o need that exceed the capacity o the par-
ish to respond, the parish can act with solidarity by raising awareness o the reality o people in
poverty and vulnerable situations and by supporting organizations that are poised to respond,
such as Catholic Charities and Catholic Relie Services. Parishes also show solidarity through
activities such as selling air trade coee, responding to natural disasters, and donating to orga-
nizations whose values they share.
When there are instances o injustice in the community, parishes can get involved in commu-
nity organizing, a strategy or building leadership among low- and moderate-income people so
that they can address their own needs. Parishes can partner with or join local organizations that
promote community organizing, come together to address their own needs, or contribute to the
work o the Catholic Campaign or Human Development. When instances o injustice impact
people beyond the community, parishes can get involved in advocacy. Te most common orm
is legislative advocacy. Parishes engage in this by participating in letter-writing campaigns or
by connecting with organizations that have grassroots eorts, such as Catholic Charities USAsCampaign to Reduce Poverty in America.
Growing in Love with God and Neighbor
Te second goal o parish social ministry is to help parishioners grow in love with God and
neighbor. Tis is not a goal o parish social ministry alone. Te three essential tasks o the
churchproclamation o the word, administration o the sacraments, and provision o ser-
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viceshelp parishioners develop a deeper relationship with God and neighbor. Tese tasks
reinorce one another and help to transorm the hearts and minds o the aithul and transorm
our world into the kingdom o God on earth, characterized by love, justice, reedom, and peaceor everyone. Trough parish social ministry, the parish can integrate the provision o services
into the lie o the church.
Parish social ministry reinorces the proclamation o the word by bringing Jesus call to lie.
In the Gospels, Jesus calls on everyone to care or poor, vulnerable, and suering people and
to work or justice and peace. Trough Catholic social teaching, the church makes this call
relevant in our day by evaluating social justice issues through Gospel principles. Parish social
ministry acilitates action on the word o God by providing opportunities to respond to Jesus
call. Tis helps to bring parishioners to a deeper understanding o the word o God.
Trough the sacramental lie o the church, the aithul come into contact with God in a deeper
way and commit to bringing orth the kingdom o God on earth. Te sacramental lie o the
parish reinorces parish social ministry by commissioning us to the Gospel through baptism and
conrmation, sustaining us through the contact with Gods healing love as experienced in the
sacrament o reconciliation, and uniting us to one another through the Eucharist. Parish social
ministry reinorces the administration o sacraments by providing opportunities or parishio-
ners to act on the mission they are charged with.
Parish social ministry helps the aithul to grow in love with God and neighbor by drawing
them to the side o the most vulnerable and asking them to be the presence o Gods love. As
Catholics, we must recognize that meeting immediate needs and correcting unjust systemsalone are insufcient to live out the Gospel that we proclaim. In Deus Caritas Est, Pope BenedictXVI reminds us that greater than the physical need o people is an interior desire or a sign o
love, o concern. 7 He encourages Catholics to go beyond ullling the physical needs o the
person to becoming a sign o Christs love to the person. A parish does this on its own when its
own parishioners or community members are impacted by need or injustice. When needs and
injustice are beyond its reach, however, the parish needs to support trusted organizations to be
the sign o Christs love on its behal.
Parish social ministry is not easy, and a parish cannot leave the aithul alone in the process o
becoming a sign o Christs love. It requires leadership, intentionality, and a commitment o
time, talent, and treasure rom the parish. In addition, parishes must provide reection on theword o God and Catholic social teaching, a supportive community, the encounter with God in
the sacraments, occasions to stretch beyond ones comort zone to protect the lie and dignity o
another, and opportunities to orm and discipline ones conscience and prayer. Tis is parish lie
at its best! Bringing together the social ministry, sacramental, and prophetic tasks o the church
into parish lie creates the power to transorm hearts, minds, and the world.
6 | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
Parish social ministry
helps the aithul to
grow in love with God
and neighbor by draw-
ing them to the side
o the most vulner-
able and asking them
to be the presence o
Gods love.
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CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | 7
Trough economic boom or bust, one thing remains constantthere are more people expe-
riencing need and injustice than Catholic Charities can help. At the same time, the aithul,
parishes, and dioceses all have a responsibility to care or and stand with Christ in need in our
midst. With these two realities, the ollowing question inevitably arises: How can Catholic
Charities and parishes work together or greater eect and complement each others eorts?
Catholic Charities agencies and parishes are natural partners. First, their aith calls them to
it. Catholic Charities agencies and parishes share a aith tradition that, as the U.S. bishops
state, place[s] our service to the poor and vulnerable and our work or justice at the center o
Christian witness.8 Second, need exceeds capacity. Te reality o poverty and injustice in our
communities is greater than either the parish or agency can assume responsibility or alone. And
third, Catholic Charities agencies and parishes bring unique and complementary strengths to
the eort o caring or poor and vulnerable people and working or justice. For these reasons, it
makes sense or parishes and agencies to work together to have a greater positive impact on the
lives o people in need.
Parishes and Catholic Charities agencies have been working together or over a century. Tey
create partnerships that create synergy to care or poor and vulnerable people and work or jus-
tice. Over 85 percent o Catholic Charities agencies are engaged in eorts to build partnerships
with parishes. According to the 2007 CCUSA survey, o the 171 responding agencies, 155 are
involved in building partnerships with the parishes in their diocese, and they currently have
established active relationships with 44 percent o the parishes. 9
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS WITH PARISHES
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Tis chapter will assist Catholic Charities agencies interested in building partnerships o mutual
respect with parishes by providing a vision or a synergistic partnership and strategies to help
achieve that vision. o acilitate the creation o a vision or a parish-agency partnership in yourdiocese, we will outline what is possible by drawing rom the initiatives utilized in the Cath-
olic Charities network. By identiying existing partnership strategies, we hope that Catholic
Charities proessionals will be better able to identiy partnership opportunities in their diocese,
understand the potential o a partnership, and seek mutuality in it. We will then outline two
critical steps or implementing a partnership with parishes and review the challenges and lessons
learned in creating and sustaining parish-agency partnerships.
A Vision for Partnership
Te purpose o a parish-agency partnership is to create synergy by working together to care or
more poor and vulnerable people and better advocate or justice, while helping the aithul growin love with God and neighbor. o develop the most comprehensive vision, potential partners
must start with a clear understanding o the value o each others unique contribution to care
or poor and vulnerable people and work or justice.
Unique ContributionCatholic Charities agencies and parishes both have independent eorts that directly address
poverty, promote lie and dignity, and inspire the aithul to a deeper relationship with God.
Depending upon the agency, Catholic Charities is involved in service, advocacy, and convening.
Catholic Charities makes proessional social services available to poor, vulnerable, and suer-
ing people in the community. Tese services help to alleviate temporary suering and acilitatepeoples transition to stability. Furthermore, Catholic Charities analyzes its experience o work-
ing with people in poverty through the lens o Catholic social teaching and uses this analysis
to advocate or the rights o low-income people in order to ensure that morality and the real-
ity o the most vulnerable are considered when policy decisions are made. Finally, the agency
convenes the community to identiy unmet needs and discuss the best solutions to achieve the
common good.
A parish cares or people and work or justice through its social ministry. Depending upon the
parish, its social ministry may include direct service, advocacy, solidarity, community organiz-
ing, and ormation, as discussed in the previous chapter. Because parishes cover a geographic
region within the diocese and are spread throughout the diocese (based on considerations likepopulation density and the number o Catholics), they are able to provide direct services to
people in locations convenient to their homes.
8 | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
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Diagram I depicts the contributions that Catholic Charities and parishes make to ulfll the Catholic social missiono caring or poor and vulnerable people and working or justice. Catholic Charities contributes through service,
advocacy, and convening. The parish contributes through its social ministry.
Recognizing the value o each others unique contribution helps to build respect between Cath-
olic Charities and parishes and create a relationship o mutuality. It also acilitates the processo designing a partnership that will create synergy so that more people are cared or and the
prophetic voice or justice is amplied.
Supporting the Eorts o the OtherCatholic Charities agencies and parishes can support each others eorts whey they each recog-
nize the strategic advantage potential that each partner has. When one organization is better
at something or has access to resources, it utilizes that strategic advantage in the partnership.
Catholic Charities has strategic advantages in its ability to provide service to people who
live in the parish community, to acilitate a parishs engagement in advocacy, and to create a
orum or parishes to share insights about the reality o poverty in their community. Catholic
Charities can support parishes through each o these strategic advantages, as illustrated in the
examples below.
Catholic Charities helps to provide service to people who live in the parish by:
Providing unding to parishes to provide emergency services in areas where Catholic
Charities is unable to oer services;
CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | 9
Th
eCatho
licSocialMis
sio
n
Parish
Service
Advocacy
Convening
Direct Service
Solidarity
Advocacy
Community
Organizing
Formation
Diagram I: Unique Contribution to the Social Mission
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aking reerrals or people with needs greater than the parish is capable o meeting
or providing reerrals to other services in the community when Catholic Charities is
unable to meet their needs; and
Holding itsel accountable to the parish by providing services in the parish community
and reporting on the number o people served in the area to parish leadership.
Catholic Charities agencies acilitate a parishs engagement in advocacy by:
Creating a legislative network to disseminate action alerts and policy analysis rom
trusted organizations like Catholic Charities USA, the U.S. Conerence o Catholic
Bishops, or the state Catholic Conerence; and
Analyzing current social justice issues, especially those related to poverty, through the
principles o Catholic social teaching and disseminating this analysis.
Catholic Charities agencies create a orum or parishes to share insights into the reality o
poverty in their parish by:
Reserving positions on the board o trustees or parish leadership;
Convening pastors or parish leaders around issues o poverty; and
Inviting parishes to attend community convenings.
Tese are not the only strategic advantages that Catholic Charities can bring to the partnership.
Parish Social Ministry: A Vision and Resourcerecognizes that Catholic Charities can be a resource
to the parishs social ministry.
During their long history o ullling the Churchs social mission by providing services,
calling together people o good will and advocating or a just social order, Catholic Chari-
ties agencies gained a wealth o knowledge and expertise which is available to assist parishes
in pursuing the social mission o the Church.10
Tis expertise is channeled to the aithul through agency parish social ministry programs that
provide leadership development and ormation opportunities to strengthen the parishs capacity
to do social ministry. Pat Macy, a parish social minister rom St. John Vianney Catholic Parish
in the Diocese o Austin, explained how Catholic Charities has played a vital role in helping her
parishs social ministry, I dont need to be connected to Catholic Charities to do parish social
ministry. However, i I want to improve, to get better, to network, to be connected to conven-
ings, to have access to ormation and to learn how to integrate, I need Catholic Charities to
keep learning, to grow and to be challenged.11 o meet the needs that Ms. Macy identies,
Catholic Charities parish social ministry programs:
Promote ormation on the Catholic social mission (e.g., supporting the JustFaith
program in the diocese or giving presentations on Catholic social teaching);
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Donating goods and services or agency programs; and
Creating a unied voice on behal o the poor and vulnerable people in the community
by participating together with Catholic Charities legislative advocacy eorts.
Finally, parishes are located in communities throughout the diocese, and people are drawn to a
place o worship or the communal experience. Parishes, especially through their pastors, oten
know the struggles o the people in their aith community and in the geographic region o the
parish. Parishes can bring their insights about these struggles to the work o caring or the poor
and reducing poverty in the diocese.
Diagram II illustrates how Catholic Charities supports the social ministry eorts o the parish through service, advo-
cacy, convening, and a parish social ministry program. It also shows how the parish supports the service, advocacy
and convening work o Catholic Charities through its reach, support, and insight.
As this diagram illustrates, by working in partnership, Catholic Charities agencies and parishes
can create a synergy that makes it possible to care or more people in need, work or justice, andprovide opportunities or the aithul to grow in love with God and neighbor.
Implementing the Partnership
In 2003, Catholic Charities USA sat down with more than 100 pastors rom nine dioceses,
in what was called the Pastor Project, to uncover strategies or building and sustaining ruitul
relationships with pastors. We learned the ollowing:
12 | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
Th
eCatho
licSocialMis
sio
n
Parish
Service
Advocacy
Convening
Direct Service
Solidarity
Advocacy
Community
Organizing
Formation
Service
Advocacy
Convening
Direct Service
Solidarity
Advocacy
Community
Organizing
Formation
Diagram II: Creating Synergy in
Our Shared Mission Through Partnership
(ELPINGTOPROVIDESERVICEs3UPPORTINGADVOCACYEFFORTS
#ONVENINGCOMMUNITYs2UNNINGAPARISHSOCIALMINISTRYPROGRAM
0ROVIDINGVOLUNTEERSPIRITUALANDFINANCIALSUPPORT
,ENDINGINSIGHTSABOUTTHECOMMUNITYs"EINGPRESENTACROSSTHEDIOCESE
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Ultimately, the pastors who responded to the Pastor Project expressed a desire to have
Catholic Charities see them as partners in the mission o Jesus in the world. Because o
their lack o training in the social teaching o the Church and its implementation, pastorsexpressed a desire that Catholic Charities provide guidance and organizational support or
such a partnership.12
o engage parishes as partners in the ministry and to have an inrastructure that will support
the partnership, two things must occur: relationships must be built and a plan or collaboration
must be created.
Building RelationshipsTe purpose o relationship building is to give each partner the opportunity to learn about the
otherto become amiliar with its realities and prioritiesand to create a orum or commu-
nication and accountability over the course o the partnership. A good relationship will help
ensure that respect and mutuality are preserved in the partnership.
Te relationship needs to be organizational, that is, between the Catholic Charities agency and
the parish, as opposed to a relationship between a Catholic Charities program sta member and
an individual at the parish, even i that individual is the pastor. People come and go at agencies
and at parishes. Organizational relationships are oten reinorced by multiple representatives o
both organizations. One person may act as a liaison or each organization, but many people or
committees at both organizations participate in the partnership. o maintain this type o orga-
nizational relationship, the partners must create a systematic approach to building relationships.
Te most eective, albeit time-intensive, approach is to designate a liaison to build relation-
ships with the parishes in the diocese. Tis liaison uses the one-on-one meetinga community
organizing strategyto develop the relationship by listening to the concerns, priorities, and
successes o the parish and by sharing those o the agency. As the relationship develops, a liaison
rom the parish is designated to take responsibility or coordinating joint activities and acilitat-
ing communication between the two organizations. In most cases, the liaison or the parish will
not be the pastor, nor will the agency representative be the executive director. However, it is
important or both the Catholic Charities executive director and the pastor to be involved in
the partnership in some way.
Te Catholic Charities liaison responsible or building relationships with the parishes will need to:
Be assertive in seeking out and nurturing relationships with pastors and parish leaders
in the diocese.
Be eective in one-on-one meetings, so that both participants create ellowship where
they can express their organizations concerns, strengths, and priorities in common
language and learn those o the other organization.
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Create or utilize a system to acilitate ollow up on the partnership.
Be knowledgeable in Catholic social teaching and Catholic Church structure.
Tis approach can be applied regionally, with multiple Catholic Charities liaisons taking re-
sponsibility or a region o the diocese. Te parish social ministry program o Catholic Chari-
ties o the Diocese o Rockville Centre has developed a regional liaison structure. (o learn
more, see the Spotlight on Rockville Centre at www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1284).
A second approach to building relationships is to convene groups o parish leaders, which pro-
vides an opportunity or Catholic Charities parish social ministry sta to listen to their shared
concerns, priorities, and successes and to share those o Catholic Charities. Te agency may
convene the pastors as key stakeholders or ask that parishes designate a representative to attend
the parish convenings. Tis designee takes responsibility or representing the interests o the
parish and communicating the inormation gained at the convening with parish leadership.
Catholic Charities o the Diocese o Arlington takes this approach and convenes parish lead-
ers through its Parish Liaison Network. Tese convenings have a dual purpose: to engage the
parishes as key stakeholders in the conversation about the work o Catholic Charities and to
provide networking opportunities or the liaisons, who are oten the parish social ministry lead-
ers in their parishes.
Another relationship building strategy is or Catholic Charities to create a position (or positions)
on the board o directors or pastors or parish leaders who represent the interests o parishes and
acilitate communication with the parishes. Additionally, several agencies utilize a newsletter tokeep parishes inormed. While this is not an eective strategy on its own, it complements the
other strategies quite well.
Te advantage o these approaches is that they ocus on creating a win-win situation or both
the parish and the agency, and ultimately or the poor and vulnerable, by starting with a mutu-
ally benecial relationship. Furthermore, these approaches ensure that the program that is cre-
ated is based on both the priorities and the realities within the diocese.
Te challenge o relationship building is that it is never complete. It begins at the outset o the
partnership and continues indenitely. Strong relationships that aim at institutionalizing a part-
nership are necessary i the program is to weather changes. Tis is especially important because
people in the relationship change and new relationships are in constant need o nurturing.
Creating a Plano develop a plan or a parish-agency partnership, the partners must work rom a common
understanding. One o the criticisms outlined in ogether in the Work or Justicewas that pastorsound Catholic Charities initiatives irrelevant to the lives o their people. At the root o this
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problem was a disconnect between the vision o Catholic Charities and the vision o the parish.
Author Samuel Hose explains, Many Catholic Charities agency personnel take their vision
rom a broad view o Catholic social teaching. Pastors tend to build their visions upon the reali-ties o the lives o the people in their parishes. Between these two visions there oten lies a gul
o lack o connection and misunderstanding.13 Tat gul can only be overcome when eort is
given by both parties to understand the others vision and to develop a plan together rom that
understanding. Hose suggests the ollowing:
Start where [pastors] are. Te parish vision must come rom them. alk to them. Listen to them.
ry to learn what they see as important or the people o their parishes. All pastors have hearts
or charity and justice. Let the pastor tell you how he would like to see those things developing
within his parish community and start there in support o his vision.14
Ater starting with the vision o the pastor or parish, the partners should then consider the ol-
lowing in developing a plan:
Te agency mission. Does it articulate Catholic Charities role to be a catalyst in the
community or social ministry? Does it identiy a connection to the Church or
parishes?
Te vision o key players. Tis includes the vision o the bishop, pastors, executive
director, and board. What are their visions or the partnership? How do these visions
come together?
Te needs, resources, and capabilities o the parishes and Catholic Charities in the diocese. Have you thought creatively and comprehensively about the strategic advantages o
parishes and agencies? Have the right parish people been consulted to determine their
strategic advantages?
Te role o other diocesan ofces in social ministry. In some dioceses, there are several
ofces or organizations that support parishes in doing social ministry (e.g. Respect
Lie, St. Vincent de Paul, or the Catholic Campaign or Human Development)
and have an interest in getting support and engagement rom the parishes. Are they
potential partners? Can we all partner in meaningul ways that help advance the
Catholic social mission?Te input and capabilities o sta. I the person who will be responsible or
coordinating the partnership and/or directing the parish social ministry program is
already on sta, what are his or her perspectives and strengths?
Inrastructure to support the partnership. Catholic Charities agencies, parishes, and other
diocesan ofces may unction very dierently. What inrastructure (e.g. procedures,
opportunities and written agreements) will make it possible to partner in meaningul,
respectul ways?
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Seeking these answers will provide direction to the process o creating a plan or a unique par-
ish-agency partnership in your diocese. Dont underestimate the importance o seeking input
and buy-in rom parish leadership, clerical and lay, rom the beginning.
I building a ormal partnership between the parishes and the agencies is new, the two steps
o relationship building and creating the plan should happen simultaneously. In initial con-
versations, the Catholic Charities agency should expect to spend time listening to the current
initiatives and concerns o the parish related to its social mission and educating the parish on
its initiatives and priorities. At the same time, Catholic Charities should be very clear about
the process that they are going through to create a plan to ormalize a partnership between the
parishes and agency or to establish a parish social ministry program.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Building partnerships with parishes is not without its challenges. Meaningul, eective collabo-
ration is difcult. Tere are ve main challenges to building parish-agency partnerships:
Resource limitations. While resource limitations are a reality or all Catholic Charities programs,the lack o adequate unding is a particular concern or parish partnerships. Te vast major-
ity o parish partnerships are nanced through unds that Catholic Charities receives rom
diocesan and church support. Tat contribution is precious because it is generally unrestricted
unding, and unrestricted unding is oten needed to supplement grants or other programs.
Furthermore, diocesan and church support accounts or only a small percentage o the total
agency budget, only our percent o total income in 2007.15
With so little unding availableor parish partnerships or parish social ministry programs, Catholic Charities agencies have
creatively responded by successully seeking unding rom Catholic oundations to support e-
orts like establishing a parish social ministry program, as is the case with Catholic Charities o
Little Rock, or through government grants made available through the Faith-Based Initiative to
provide services in partnership with parishes, as was the case with Catholic Charities o Central
New Mexico.
Number o parishes and geographic size o the diocese. No matter the size o the diocese, size isalways mentioned as a challenge. While Catholic Charities o Idaho garners sympathy, size isnt
the only challenge. Others include the number o parishes; the diversity among the parishes; the
combination o rural, urban, and suburban parishes; the terrain, and so orth. Te underlyingconcern is that building relationship takes time and a personal touch, and this is made more o
a challenge when parishes are numerous, spread out, and diverse. Te agencies who have made
the most headway in building partnerships have taken a number o years to do so, and they have
sought out the most receptive parishes rst in order to build momentum.
Organizational interest. Both parishes and agencies are predisposed to meeting their own orga-nizations needs, though the concerns that pull agencies and parishes away rom a partnership
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o mutuality are oten legitimate. Parishes are responsible or the provision o sacraments, the
proclamation o the word o God, and the communal lie o the church in addition to parish
social ministry. Catholic Charities agencies are responsible to clients, unders, government andsocial work proessional standards, the bishop and a board o directors. rying to balance all o
these responsibilities can cause parishes and agencies to pull back on the partnership or to ocus
solely on how the other partner can help their eorts. Tis causes parishes and agencies to seek
quick alternatives to collaboration. Hose noticed the impact o organizational interest rom
both parishes and agencies:
Many pastors report only an indistinct understanding o what Catholic Charities does in
their dioceses. In addition, as with all diocesan ofces, pastors see Catholic Charities as
being there to support them in their work with parishes. However, as was reported almost
universally, pastors perceive diocesan and Catholic Charities ofces as seeking primarily
to bring them into conormity, support and participation in their programs programs
mostly devised and implemented without input rom or consultation with the very pastors
who are expected to buy into them.16
Tis comment accentuates the difculty o establishing partnerships o mutuality. Tey are
time-intensive and need to be built on relationships and shared vision. Only when these things
come together can the partnership support the organizational interest o both entities.
Diering standard operating procedures. Te diering standard operating procedures o CatholicCharities agencies and o parishes can create challenges. Caring or each other and working
or justice are becoming increasingly proessionalized in Catholic Charities at a much asterrate than in parishes. Catholic Charities agencies are being held to increasingly tighter stan-
dards through improving social work practice and by meeting oundation, government, or
accreditation requirements. Catholic Charities agencies receive, on average, 65 percent o their
total income rom government revenue.17 Tis revenue comes with stipulations and require-
ments. In addition, oundation grants and accreditation standards are placing restrictions on
how Catholic Charities agencies unction. Parishes are also coming under increased scrutiny,
especially related to nancial management, but there continues to be more reedom or parishes
than Catholic Charities. Further, parishes are looking to make meaningul contributions to
the work o Catholic Charities, but as service delivery changes and as more agencies engage in
advocacy, short-term, well-respected volunteer opportunities like helping in a soup kitchen are
being replaced with long-term or complex opportunities like being a reugee sponsor amily ora legislative advocate. Getting parish volunteers or the second category requires more recruit-
ment and organization.
Multiple diocesan social ministry organizations. Tere are several diocesan ministries that derivetheir mission rom the Catholic social mission, e.g. Respect Lie, Peace & Justice, Catholic
Campaign or Human Development, Catholic Relie Services, and St. Vincent de Paul. Each o
these ministries needs support and engagement o parishioners or their programs. Tese min-
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istries may be run by Catholic Charities or by other organizations, such as the chancery. When
the social ministry eorts are run by dierent organizations, competition or parish support and
engagement can occur.
Trough experience gained over decades, Catholic Charities agencies have learned the ollowing
valuable lessons or dealing with these challenges:
Keep grounded in the shared mission.
Manage expectations by committing to only what you can complete and be exible
enough to accommodate legitimate requests rom pastors or parishes.
Make a long-term commitmentrelationships are undamental to success and take
time and a personal touch to build.
Seek a relationship with pastors, even though they will probably not be the liaison to
the partnership.
Write up an agreement which lays out the expectations o the partnership to ensure
mutuality and accountability.
Collaborate at the diocesan level with organizations that have similar missions so
that eorts dont compete or parish time, talent, and treasure, but complement one
another and help the parish to pursue its parish social ministry vision.
When possible, separate the responsibility o building the relationship rom other
Catholic Charities unctions (e.g. running a parish social ministry program, recruiting
volunteers or Catholic Charities programs, raising money or Catholic Charities). It
is difcult to stay true to the mutuality o the partnership while being responsible to
specic program outcomes.
Every parish partnership or parish social ministry program is dierent, so these strategies need
to be adapted to t each situation.
In creating a parish partnership, it is important to remember that parishes are making a contri-
bution to caring or the poor and working or justice in their own right, and that these eorts
need respect and nurturing. Further, parishes have a vision or social ministry and this vision
will need to be taken into special consideration while developing a plan or the partnership.And last, when partnerships between Catholic Charities and parishes are strategic, respectul,
and systematic, they can be powerul agents or creating synergy that can protect the lie and
dignity o more people.
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CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | 19
As we talked with parish social ministry proessionals across the country, we ound an abun-
dance o successul parish social ministry eorts. In the Houma-Tibodaux Diocese in Loui-
siana, parish disaster response teams are critical partners in hurricane disaster response and
recovery eorts. In New Hampshire, the Diocese o Manchester has kept hurricane victims in
the hearts and minds o parishioners by organizing volunteer group trips to help in the demoli-tion and reconstruction in the wake o the disaster. In the Archdiocese o Miami, parishioners,
enlivened by the JustFaith program, support the eorts o the tomato pickers o Immokalee,
who have carried out a successul national organizing campaign to gain better wages and work-
ing conditions or arm workers. In the Diocese o Rockville Centre, in New York, Catholic
Charities was able to turn to parishes when a police bust uncovered several human traf cking
victims in desperate need o solace. Parish social ministers rom across the state o exas came
together with Catholic Charities to take angel ood cakes to the state legislators with a simple
message, Be an angel, be mindul o those living in poverty. Some parishes with sophisticated
social ministry programs are providing in-take services to people in the community, while
others are hosting dif cult discussions and encouraging action on some o the most polarizing
social justice issues o our time: abortion, immigration, war, racism, and health care.
One thing that each o these parish eorts has in common is the support o a Catholic Chari-
ties parish social ministry program. In this chapter, we will ocus on what parish social ministry
programs do and how they do it. We begin by looking at the responsibilities o parish social
ministry programs. In the 2007 Catholic Charities Annual Survey, Catholic Charities agen-
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cies identied the responsibilities o their parish social ministry programs. Te ollowing dia-
gram is a list o those responsibilities and the number o parish social ministry programs that
do them.
Diagram III: Responsibilities o a Parish Social Ministry Program
Responsibilities Agencies
Build partnerships with parishes in your diocese 155
Promote ormation on the Catholic social mission 112
Raise awareness o parish social ministry (e.g., educating pastorsand parish leadership on what parish social ministry is and why it is
important)
109
Coordinate Catholic Campaign or Human Development eorts or
promote community organizing and economic development96
Build capacity or parish social ministry (e.g., training or consultation
on how to structure social ministry in the parish and engage the parish
community)
94
Facilitate networking between parish-based social ministry sta and
volunteers or best practices sharing and problem solving 94
Collaborate with the St. Vincent de Paul Society 94
Coordinate a reerrals line or social services, specifcally or people in
need who come to parishes93
Coordinate volunteer recruitment between Catholic Charities and parishes 88
Coordinate Catholic Relie Services eorts or promote global solidarity 7418
Managing these responsibilities can be very challenging or parish social ministry programs,
especially when they have additional responsibilities, such as running the Justice or Immigrants
campaign, or are responsible or managing several components o the parish-agency partner-
ship: recruiting volunteers or raising unds rom the parishes. It can also be quite challenging
when the sta members o parish social ministry programs are the directors o diocesan pro-
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grams like the Catholic Campaign or Human Development or Catholic Relie Services. Each
o these programs brings unique responsibilities and makes the program accountable to other
constituencies.
Parish social ministry programs have ound ways to deal with these challenges by creating strat-
egies that enable them to accomplish several responsibilities through one approach. In our
analysis o agency PSM programs, we ound that there are our general strategies: education,
mobilization, consultation, and convening. In some dioceses, the agency ocuses on one strat-
egy, while in others, the agency melds multiple strategies within an overall program.
Education Strategy
Te education strategy ocuses on the ormation, training, and development o parish sta and
volunteers. A standardized curriculum is developed to educate parish sta and volunteers aboutthe Catholic aith traditions call to action on behal o the vulnerable, the structure or parish
social ministry within the parish, and the skills necessary or an eective social ministry. Ater
completing the curriculum, parish sta and volunteers are encouraged to become the leaders o
their parishs social ministry eorts.
Catholic Charities agencies utilizing the education strategy uses two principal approaches. In
a ormal approach, the parish social ministry program teaches a course open to all parishes. In
some cases, the course is oered in conjunction with a local university or college, and those
completing it become certied parish social ministers. In a more inormal approach, Catho-
lic Charities parish social ministry programs make available a course o study or small aith-sharing groups to utilize in a parish. For example, the Building Communities o Salt and Light
program developed by Peggy Prevoznik Heins has been used or this purpose. Tese courses
orm parish sta and volunteers on the oundational Catholic teaching that provides the basis
or parish social ministry and instruct participants on a vision or parish social ministry, a model
or organizing parish social ministry, and the skills needed to be a parish social ministry leader.
Te JustFaith program is a variation o this inormal approach. It ocuses primarily on orming
participants by helping them evaluate reality through the lens o Catholic social teaching.
Te advantage o utilizing the education strategy is that it oers a consistent model o parish so-
cial ministry within the diocese, which promotes a common understanding and acilitates com-
munication, coordination, and growth throughout the diocese. Te courses oered through thediocese provide parish social ministers with an intense level o training, connect them with peers
across the diocese, and give them resources or the uture. Te accreditation given or complet-
ing the course adds a level o proessionalization that garners respect or the ministry. Also, the
small group approaches have the advantage o uniting a group o people within the parish who
have a common understanding o parish social ministry and a shared experience. It is rom these
groups that the leaders o parish social ministry oten emerge.
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Tere are two disadvantages o the education strategy. Te course requires a large amount o
time and resources to train relatively ew people in the diocese, and the small groups dont al-
ways get sufcient direction needed to organize a parish social ministry.
See the Spotlight on Galveston-Houston or a vibrant example o the education strategy at www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1280.
Mobilization Strategy
Te mobilization strategy ocuses on channeling the Catholic voice into addressing social is-
sues and advocating or justice. Te strategys rst step is to educate the laity in Catholic social
teaching and help people to understand how it relates to current social justice issues. Te mo-
bilization strategy acilitates opportunities or collective action and provides instruction on how
to advocate. Tis process amplies the churchs position on important issues in the legislativeprocess or in community organizing.
Te principal ways that Catholic Charities parish social ministry programs mobilize parishio-
ners are by:
Creating a legislative network consisting o leaders throughout the diocese. At times,
these networks will promote creation o afnity groups that ocus on mobilizing
around a particular issue.
Coordinating events or parishioners to learn about and discuss how Catholic social
teaching relates to current events and social justice issues.
Hosting a lobby day, during which parishioners learn about issues relevant to the
church and then visit legislative representatives to discuss those issues.
Te advantage o this approach is that it engages the laity in social change by ocusing on the
development o skills that individuals need in the public sphere. Signicant attention can be
given to helping people understand the implications o action and inaction, developing advo-
cacy skills, and preparing or conict.
Te disadvantage o this approach is that it does not help develop a complete picture o social
ministry in the parish community. It does not help a parish organize to meet the needs o peoplethrough direct service or global solidarity. Tis strategy is good to use when there is other sup-
port or charitable work or i parishes are doing a good job creating these eorts on their own.
Further, orms o social ministry that engage people in social action, like legislative advocacy
or community organizing, tend to engage ewer people in the work because o their political
nature and the advocacy skills they require.
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For an example o the eective use o the mobilization strategy, see Spotlight on St. Paul-Minne-apolisat www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1283.
Consultation Strategy
Te consultation strategy ocuses on providing assistance and resources to individual parishes
or a parish cluster to develop social ministry. Te result is a parish social ministry that is tailored
to the parishs priorities and unique situation. ypically, the parish requests the assistance o the
agencys parish social ministry sta members, who then meet with the pastor, parish council, or
parish social ministry committee. During this meeting, or series o meetings, the parish social
ministry sta members listen to the concerns, needs, and resources o the parish and then help
parish leadership create a parish social ministry that reects those concerns, needs, and resourc-
es. Te PSM sta also connects the parish leadership to resources that can be used to help theparish meet its social ministry goals.
Te consultation strategy is common where there are ew parish social ministry program sta
members or where there is a wide range o diversity among the parishes in the diocese. Te
consulting process requires that the parish social ministry program sta provide a clear and
concise picture o parish social ministry, depict its purpose and centrality, acilitate a process
to design a parish social ministry eort, and connect parishioners with inormation, programs,
and resources that can help them meet their goals.
Te advantage o this approach is that the parish determines its own priorities and structure,
which leads to greater ownership o the eort.
Te disadvantage o this approach is that there is no consistent model o parish social ministry
within the diocese. A consistent model would promote common understanding, communica-
tion, coordination, and growth throughout the diocese.
For an example o the consultation strategy at work, see Spotlight on Wilmington at www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1282.
Convening Strategy
Te convening strategy ocuses on bringing together the social ministry leaders in the diocese
who are both parish and diocesan sta and volunteers. Te parish leaders come together to:
Develop skills or parish social ministry,
Learn about resources available to them,
Network and share best practices with other parish leaders and the diocesan social
ministry sta who are able to support their ministry,
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Do social analysis on current events and social justice issues and learn how to create an
environment or the parish community to have a similar dialogue, and
Create a community o support and prayer.
Te parishioners are sent back to their parishes better equipped and rejuvenated to be social
ministry leaders. Te convening strategy can be very eective as a collaborative eort between
several diocesan social ministry ofces. Diocesan leaders can create an opportunity to discuss
with parish leaders their organizational initiatives and invite people to evaluate, join, and recruit
or them. Te diocesan leaders also gain a better understanding o the needs and capabilities o
the parish social ministry eorts in the diocese.
Parish social ministry leaders can be convened in numerous ways. Some dioceses sponsor social
ministry gatherings, which are targeted at parish social ministry leaders and people who areinterested in learning more about parish social ministry. Tese gatherings oten strive to meet
all o the purposes listed above.
Te Catholic Charities USA Parish Social Ministry Regional raining program subsidizes such
gatherings or Catholic Charities agencies that work together with neighboring dioceses to
sponsor a training o this type on the regional level. Diocesan leaders have ound that consis-
tency in these gatherings can be very helpul, and so many are holding these gatherings on an
annual basis. For example, Catholic Charities in the Diocese o Wilmington conducts an an-
nual social concerns and networking day.
Such gatherings can stand alone or work in conjunction with smaller meetings that are heldmore requently and ocus on one or two o the purposes. For example, the topic o one gather-
ing might be Faithul Citizenship, while the topic o another might be dealing with emergency
services as the weather turns colder and heating bills become a concern. Generally, these smaller
meetings target a smaller audience, e.g. the parish social ministry leader o each parish in a spe-
cic diocese or deanery.
Te convening strategy has three principal advantages. First, it helps to build a community
through which people support and assist one another in the ministry. Second, the parish social
ministry program director at Catholic Charities can rely on the expertise o the group or o an
expert who is brought in to help meet the challenges o parish social ministry. Tird, it acilitates
collaboration between diocesan social ministry ofces.
Te disadvantage o this approach is that the convening becomes more eective only when
there are multiple opportunities to come together; skill development is reinorced, community
building is strengthened, and steep learning curves level as the group continues to come to-
gether. Tis is a challenge because many social ministry leaders are volunteers and are not able
to attend as many unctions as sta.
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For examples o multiple convening activities, see Spotlight on renton at www.catholiccharitie-susa.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1281.
Multiple Strategies
Most o the Catholic Charities agencies we visited used several strategies in their parish social
ministry program. In that way, the program provides multiple opportunities or the parishes
to engage in parish social ministry. Furthermore, modeling several strategies at the agency level
may encourage parishes to pursue multiple strategies.
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INTRODUCTION
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Te ollowing diagram summarizes and analyzes the strategies used by parish social ministry
programs.
Diagram IV: Analysis o Parish Social Ministry Program Strategies
Strategy Purpose Advantage Disadvantage
Education Forms and trains
leaders in Catholic
social teaching and
a standard model o
parish social ministry
Oers a consistent
model o parish social
ministry in the diocese
Requires a lot o
time and resources
to train a ew people
and may result in
participants not
getting sufcient
direction
Mobilization Channels the Catholicvoice to address social
issues and advocate
or justice
Engages the laityin social change by
ocusing on developing
skills and social
analysis
Neglects the directservice and global
solidarity unctions o
parish social ministry
Consultation Facilitates the process
o a parish or parish
cluster as they develop
parish social ministry
Results in a program
that meets the parishs
own priorities and
structure
Produces no
consistent model o
parish social ministry
within the diocese
Convening Brings togetherthe social ministry
leaders or training,
spiritual development,
networking, and
community building
Builds community andacilitates collaboration
Can provide leaderswith insufcient
direction without
ongoing support
Multiple
Strategies
Utilizes multiple
approaches to
ocus on dierent
responsibilities
Builds community and
acilitates collaboration
Can cause a program
to overreach by
pursuing too many
strategies
Parish Social Ministry Program StaffSkills and Knowledge
Despite high expectations or building relationships and implementing program strategies, ew
programs have many parish social ministry sta. Catholic Charities agencies have a mean av-
erage o 4.6 PSM sta members and a median average o one sta person doing parish social
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ministry per agency. Tere are a ew programs with several sta; they are some o the networks
most sophisticated and longest running programs.
Given this reality, it is critical that each sta member have the skills and knowledge necessary
to build and maintain partnerships with parishes. It is also critical that they have the additional
skills required by the dierent program strategies. Te ollowing are designed to spark ideas or
Catholic Charities agencies looking to ll parish social ministry program positions.
All parish social ministry program sta need:
Extensive knowledge o parish social ministry and the ability to promote and articulate
its vision and theology in language that can be understood by multiple audiences.
Knowledge o Catholic social teaching and Catholic Church structure.
Te ability to build partnerships within the agency, diocese, and community to
support parish social ministry.
Because each o the parish social ministry program strategies requires a dierent set o addi-
tional skills, an agency must consider rst which type o strategies it will pursue or dene the
specic role o the parish social ministry program sta person.
Agency PSM programs using the Education Strategy should look or sta members
that can:
Create, modiy, commission, and/or update curriculum or parish social ministry
pertinent to the diocesan reality.
In the case o a course, coordinate recruitment, speakers, integration o learning styles,
and logistics o training.
In case o a small group process, coordinate recruitment, distribution, and acilitator
training and assistance.
Agency PSM programs using the Mobilization Strategy should look or sta members
that have:
Extensive knowledge o the legislative process and Catholic Church teaching on
social issues.Knowledge o partner organizations that do legislative analysis and are supported by
your local ordinary, e.g. Catholic Charities USA, the U.S. Conerence o Catholic
Bishops.
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Agency PSM programs using the Consultation Strategy should look or sta members that can:
Market training opportunities and best practices and resources.
Assess the parish situation and support a process wherein the parish recognizes the
most eective strategies it can take to promote parish social ministry.
Agency PSM programs using the Convening Strategy should look or sta members that can:
Organize events that engage parish social ministers and assist in their work.
rain parish social ministers on skill development and Catholic social teaching
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Just as there are challenges in building partnerships with parishes, as addressed in the previouschapter, there are challenges in running parish social ministry programs. First, there isnt broad-
based understanding or acceptance o Catholic Charities role to be a catalyst o social ministry
in the diocese. Some Catholic Charities executives, boards, and employees nd it difcult to
understand why Catholic Charities is involved in a program that works with parishes rather than
doing social service or advocacy. Others think the purpose o the parish social ministry program
is to acilitate the partnership between parishes and agencies. Secondly, parish social ministry
programs are leadership development programs. As such, they train parishes to develop their own
priorities or parish social ministry, priorities that may not match those o the agency. Finally,
with many responsibilities and limited sta and resources, parish social ministry programs run
the risk o stretching too ar to be eective.
Catholic Charities agencies have learned the ollowing valuable lessons or dealing with these
challenges:
Ground the program in Catholic identity and teach employees, volunteers, and the
board about the Catholic aith tradition to explain that caring or one another and
working or justice are primarily a responsibility o the individual aithul. As a part o
the church, Catholic Charities needs to support parishes and individuals in their eort
to live out this mission, rather than to take on the responsibility or them or to act on
the mission in isolation rom them.Reinorce the importance o keeping a parish-agency partnership based on mutuality
to the Catholic Charities sta person responsible or building the relationship and
evaluate the person on outcomes that reinorce mutuality.
Educate parishes on issues o importance to the church and acilitate opportunities or
parishes to make a meaningul impact in those areas.
Prioritize the parish social ministry program responsibilities and utilize ewer strategies
that help the program meet the most important responsibilities most eectively.
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CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA | 29
Catholic Charities will always be needed as a catalyst and collaborator in social ministry in the
local church. Te challenge or us will be to collaborate with people o good will and the par-
ish in ways that recognize the unique contribution o each partner and that complement one
another. Catholic Charities must continue to take care that it doesnt unintentionally relieve
the aithul o their baptismal responsibility to stand with Christ in need. We will need to seekconnections with one another continually and to reect on our shared mission to live out the
Gospel in continually changing circumstances. As we move orward, parish partnerships and
parish social ministry programs can continue to be successul i we ace the challenges that come
our way, rely on one another or help, and stay grounded in our mission.
wo important trends are already beginning to impact Catholic Charities and parishes as they
work together. Te rst trend relates to the sweeping changes in leadership and membership
taking place today in the Catholic Church in the United States. Te number o priests and
religious is decreasing, even as the number o Catholics is increasing. Since 1965, the number
o priests has decreased by 31 percent.19 Te number o religious is decreasing at even a more
rapid rate. And there is no sign that this trend will slow. In act, there were less than hal the
number o priestly ordinations in 2008 as there was in 1965.20 During this same period, the
Catholic population has grown 41 percent.21 Tis signicant growth can be explained in large
part by immigration. Tus, as the Catholic population grows, it is diversiying. Te impact o
this trend is already being elt by most dioceses, with parish clustering and multi-parish pastor-
ing becoming commonplace. Dioceses are adjusting to meet the sacramental needs o diverse
populations by, or example, oering the sacraments in multiple languages each week.
As we move orward,
parish partnerships
and parish social
ministry programs
can continue to be
successul i we ace
the challenges that
come our way, rely on
one another or help,
and stay grounded in
our mission.
MOVING FORWARD
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30 | PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY REPORT
How these sweeping changes in leadership and membership will aect the relationships be-
tween parishes and agencies is as yet unknown. We do know that the eects o these changes
have been experienced within Catholic Charities or some time. With a declining number opriest and religious leaders, it has been more difcult to nd leaders with the same level o theo-
logical ormation. Tat being said, ormation is not enough. A leader must also be trained or
the role. Furthermore, in light o a diverse Catholic population and a young adult population
that isnt as connected to the church, the leader must also create a welcoming space in which
dierent ideas may be shared and in which people may develop.
Securing ormed, trained, and welcoming leaders is a challenge that all church organizations
share. Catholic Charities agencies, though, have decades o experience in empowering lay min-
isters to the work o the church. Tese leaders have taken on proessional positions o authority
and leadership and are leading some o the most diverse organizations in the church. With this
experience, Catholic Charities has something extremely valuable to bring to the conversation
about what it means to have the laity take on leadership roles within the church.
Catholic Charities does not, however, have broad experience with all o the implications o the
change in leadership and membership in the church. Few parish partnerships and parish social
ministry programs have experience with parish clusters, parish lie coordinators, and multi-
parish pastors. Progress has been slow in engaging minorities in leadership positions in parish
social ministry and motivating youth and young adults in a way that inspires commitment to
the aith. Tese are challenges that we will need to work on together.
Te second trend relates to outcome measurements or parish social ministry. Parish partner-ships and parish social ministry programs are increasingly being held to outcome based peror-
mance measurement requirements. Gone are the days when people donated without asking or
results. oday, people invest their donations in an idea or a program that they believe will bring
about the results that they want. Ten they want evidence that these programs really work.
Measuring the perormance o programs by assessing outcomes is not new to Catholic Chari-