Father Pat Griffin, left, pastor of St. Anne in Minneapolis, and Father Jim Ngo Khoi, pastor of nearby St. Joseph Hien, worked together to bring about a merger of the two parishes, which was marked by a July 3, 2005, Mass at St. Anne. St. Anne has seen its attendance dwindle, while the Vietnamese parish numbers have doubled in the past 18 years. CNS photo by Dave Hrbacek, Catholic Spirit

From two communities, one

How to work through a merger to create a viable parish with a sense of vision and mission

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It has been well over a decade since an official merger had taken place between two ethnic parishes somewhere in the Midwest of our beautiful country. I was a newly appointed pastor, and the expectation was to accomplish a merger that had been talked about for over 30 years and had never been finalized. However, the memories of bringing these two ethnically diverse and, at times, deeply divided church communities remain quite vivid in my mind.

At first, it seemed like an impossible task. I remember our first combined meeting of the parish councils. With about two-dozen people who gathered on that first night when we were asked to talk about a merger, there was so much tension and distrust that you could hang a hatchet in the air. Everything came out that night including the decades-old stories about inflicted hurts and humiliations, ongoing division and unwillingness to give an inch to the other parish.

Voices were raised and harsh words were exchanged. I remember coming back to my room at the rectory that night and saying to God: “Sweet Jesus, we are going to need your intervention and a miracle to bring these two parishes together.” However, as I look back, and with the perspective of time, I believe that this is exactly what happened.

An Intervention and Miracle

First, we developed a survey to gather honest data from all parishioners regarding parish vitality, quality of worship, existing ministries and parish outreach to a larger community, and the condition of existing parish buildings, which included two churches, a social hall and a parish school that was in debt. Once we gathered the survey data and put it into charts — along with information concerning parish demographics, the celebration of sacraments, parish finances (including income and expenses, as well as the debt) — we shared it with both parish communities in a form of a PowerPoint presentation during our weekend Masses.

About 30% of all parishioners responded to the survey. Based on the responses, the combined parish councils made a final recommendation, which included the closure of the smaller of the two parishes, which at that time had only 100 parishioners left. No church can survive when your membership is continually declining and income barely covers 30% of expenses. The merger was absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, it was one of the most difficult and emotionally draining decisions that I, as a pastor, was tasked to bring to completion.

It was the most logical and life-giving decision for both church communities. However, at the time, when everything was changing, it was not an easy decision to embrace and implement. Pastors who have been involved in mergers, closures or collaborations understand well what a challenging task it is for all parties involved in the process.

Second, we organized dinners, social get-togethers, picnics, summer outdoor Masses celebrated on both church properties and other events and initiatives aimed at bringing people together from the two parishes. Getting to know one another and breaking bread together allowed us to break barriers and take down walls of distrust. Slowly but surely, church members realized there was far more that united them than divided them.

We also started new ministries and committees such as a bereavement ministry, a parish environment committee and a parish activities committee. To boost our outreach to the larger community where the parishes were located, we opened a food pantry that helped hundreds of families who had fallen on difficult financial times. The food pantry offered help to all people in the community regardless of religious affiliation, skin color, nationality, marital status or political convictions. Parishioners from both church communities were working together side-by-side, and they made the food pantry a huge success.

Change Is Difficult

Blending two church communities requires good planning, specific timelines, patience and having an open mind toward possible alterations of the original plan. When churches close their doors, there are no winners or losers. There is, however, a lot of tears, painful emotions, hurts and fears of the unknown. Change is always difficult, even if a change has a possibility of breathing new life into the church communities that have been stagnant for a long time.

The hardest part about bringing church communities together, especially when one or sometimes two or three church buildings ought to be closed and often sold, is a personal and emotional attachment to those buildings. Attachment to a church building can be, at times, much stronger than the undeniable facts about a dying church community and the diminishing parish ministries. This reality is true in ethnic parishes as well as in multinational American melting-pot parishes.

Many Europeans who came to the United States in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century shed their blood, sweat and tears and made many sacrifices to build, often with their own hands, beautiful church buildings. These churches have been a part of their national identity, culture, tradition and stability in uncertain times. For many parishioners, they also become centers of their life and faith. In other words, they have become sacred places that sustained and protected the lives of many immigrants who were centered around their parish church and guided by their strong Catholic Faith.

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SURVEY RESOURCES

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) can help communities with surveys, focus groups, interviews, demographics and more. Visit cara.georgetown.edu for information. SurveyMonkey is another resource that offers survey templates to target parishioners.

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When a church building is closed or put for sale, in many cases it causes a lot of pain and emotional distress in the life of that parish community. That is why a pastor and a functional parish council need to communicate to parishioners the reasons why such a change must take place. Furthermore, it is equally important to present a plan for the future that focuses on new opportunities and provides a sense of hope and growth for the upcoming days, months and years.

Pastors who attentively listen to the people in the pews understand well that parishioners deserve, and expect, honesty and transparency. Additionally, they also need to be given enough time to mourn the loss of their parish church. Undeniably, sacred objects such as statues, stations of the cross, chalices, paintings, icons and many other things that are close and dear to the hearts of the parish members must be treated with tremendous respect and placed in places of honor in their new location.

I remember vividly the celebration of our first Christmas holiday as a merged church community. To make everyone happy we ended up having representations of six wise men instead of the usual three. Probably, for some of our guests and visitors, it seemed a little weird when they were viewing our Nativity set. However, for us, it was a visible sign that we have become a blended family professing the same faith and respecting years-old traditions and sentimental objects that have become a part of our Catholic identity.

It is also important to ritualize the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament from one church to another. Preferably, it should be done in a form of a procession involving all interested parishioners and with a spirit of profound respect. These rites of passage are extremely important. All church members need to be educated that a parish cannot be confined to just a church building.

On the contrary, a Catholic parish is present first and foremost in her church community, in the members of a parish who create a unique family that in the Roman Catholic tradition we call a church — from Latin ecclesia — those who have been called out to carry the mission of Jesus and to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.

Transitional Tasks

As parish leaders, we have been tasked to help our parishioners make a transition from being attached to a building and to create an authentic and engaging church community that should truly become a parish family. To create a parish community with a sense of vision and mission for the future may take a lot of time and effort. However, nobody has ever promised us as priests and administrators that our ministry is going to be all peaches and cream. Furthermore, we also need to make sure that we will not bite off more than we can chew.

Some of us may find ourselves not having enough experience, energy or ability to get involved in such a task. Should this be the case, it is always wise to discuss it with the diocesan planning committee as well as a bishop or a superior. The message that is being sent on the diocesan and parish levels must always be consistent. Conflicted messages can create unnecessary and sometimes very painful overreaction, anxiety and suspicion from the other people involved in the process.

By educating parishioners and creating a program aimed at the formation of intentional disciples, we actively revitalize the life of a church community. The creation of intentional disciples who are being evangelized and who become evangelizers themselves fertilizes the ground for the spreading of the Good News.

Teaching the Faith and implementing it in our daily lives through witness to the Gospel are the most effective ways to ensure parish vitality and outreach to a larger community. Creating grass-root parish groups, which offer support to parishioners and non-parishioners when they deal with life’s trials and tribulations, as well as moments of transition, should be a starting point in bringing parishioners together who often face the same challenges. Creating support groups and starting new ministries that respond to the needs of a parish community can bring people together and address their needs in the spirit of the New Evangelization. If we want to be alive in Christ, we need to learn how to see Christ in others.

Inquiring parishioners’ input regarding the vision for the future of a parish and the most pressing current issues that need to be addressed are also extremely important. It never hurts for a pastor and the parish council, or a pastor and a transition team, to have town-hall meetings and provide listening sessions in person or via social media outlets. In-person meetings are most effective because they can provide an opportunity to connect with a person or a group of people who otherwise might have not been as open to such encounters and discussions online.

As Catholic Christians, we ought to rekindle our love for God and one another, especially nowadays when so many church communities are facing numerous changes and challenges. If we truly and fully accept and embrace our call to become intentional disciples, we will be able to realize that a church community is not confined to the four walls of a church building. On the contrary, it is a living and breathing family of believers who carry one another’s burdens and who walk humbly with God. No family is perfect, which reminds us that we are a work in progress. God is not done with us just yet. Finally, at all times, we need to remember that the will of God will never take us where the love of God can not sustain us. 

FATHER MACIEJ MANKOWSKI, D.Min., is pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Alliance, Ohio.

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Right Approach Makes All Things Possible

Father Maciej Mankowski’s book, “Catholic Parishes in Transition. Creating Viable Parishes Through Mergers, Closures and Collaborations” ($14.99), provides more information and specific ideas and plans regarding parish closures, collaborations and mergers.

Written for priests, pastors, parish administrators and lay parish leaders who are tasked with overseeing the implementation of parish structural changes, Father Mankowski reminds us: “As ministers of God’s love, mercy and compassion, may we always remember the words of St. John Paul II: ‘Be Not Afraid!’ Indeed, with God at our side, and as committed disciples and active parishioners, all things are possible.”

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