One of the essential aspects of any parish is building relationships.  Peter Block emphasizes this in  Community, the Structure of Belonging (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2008.)  It is centered around inviting people of all ages and backgrounds into conversations about possibilities, gifts and commitment.  It is best done in groups small enough that all can contribute to the conversation and experience a sense of ownership.  Gather people into small groups, ask them questions that spark their interest and relate to their concerns; then let the wisdom flow.  What follows are suggestions about how this could happen in a Catholic parish.

Interactions During Liturgy
The weekend Masses offer a number of occasions for people to interact in smaller groupings.  One is during the petitions.  Instead of responding to a list of intentions, consider once and awhile asking people to turn to the person next to them and ask the question: “Who or what needs prayers in your life right now?”  One person asks the question of the other and then promises to pray for this intention throughout the week.  When this happens people tend to look around for their prayer partner at the next weekend liturgies to find out what happened.  Another option is to have a monthly “Nametag Weekend.” People put on a nametag as they come into church and then greet one another at the start of Mass.  They might also be encouraged to sit in a different place so they could meet new people.  Invite them to attend a different liturgy so they could discover other parishioners they might never have seen, even a Mass celebrated in another language.

Lenten Formation
A monthly intergenerational gathering is one way of inviting people, both young and old, into small group discussions, but this takes a great deal of planning and marketing to make it successful.  While a worthwhile objective, a simpler model might be to invite 8 to 10 parishioners to sign up for a weekly gathering during Lent.  They would have a choice of reflecting on the weekend Scriptures, different methods of prayer, studying a book or movie together, discussing current issues, learning about church history, dealing with questions related to parenting, care-giving or health issues.  Each session would begin with a question, such as: “What grabbed you in reading next Sunday’s Gospel?”  “How and when do you pray?”  “What moved you in that movie we all saw (or that chapter of the book we read)?”

Connecting With Inactive Parishioners
Once a month set up 12 to 15 card tables that seat four people each.  A telephoning committee calls parishioners at random which will automatically include both active and inactive members.  Invite them to attend this “select” gathering to discuss how the parish could be more attractive and welcoming to those of various ages, old and young alike.  The inviting continues until the target number is reached, usually 50 to 60 in all.  Twelve to fifteen people are trained beforehand to act as a “host/hostess” for each table.  When participants arrive they choose a table and for 15 minutes are asked to respond to the question: “What is one thing that would make this parish more inviting to someone who doesn’t attend church very often?”  They think about this for a moment individually and then share their ideas around the table.  When time is called, the host/hostess asks for a summary of the discussion and then all but that person get up and find another table of four, no one going to the same table.  A second question is then asked:  “What is one thing I could do to make this parish more welcoming or inviting?”  The same process takes place and when time is called, all but the host/hostess move to a third table for the final 15 minute conversation.  The question is:  “What is one action we could do to connect with our inactive parishioners?”  Ideas are shared as a whole at the end.

Tom Sweetser, SJ & Peg Bishop, OSF
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(www.pepparish.org)


Parish Newsletter - February, 2009
A Service of the Parish Evaluation Project
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Reproduced on the OPRFM website with permission