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Ireland's Marie Collins addresses top bishops and religious at anti-abuse symposium in Rome
Marie Collins (pictured) yesterday addressed bishops and religious from around the world who ....
72-year old parish priest retires and is replaced by ... 71-year old.
A 72-year old Co Wexford parish priest who has just retired has been replaced by a man who is ....
British more tolerant of cheating than 10 years ago: study
British people are more likely to say that dishonesty and other forms of wrongdoing is more ....
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Whether it is producing a parish pastoral plan, preparing for a special parish or family jubilee or organising the Easter ceremonies we can help...
Whether its planning an enrichment day for married couples, forming a baptism team, fundraising, preparing the Holy Week ceremonies or considering ways to reach out to new parishioners, the key to success is going to be partnership – people working together to plan, decide, act and review. Meetings are an essential part of pastoral leadership. As someone said, "Pentecost happened at a meeting." Of course there are various kinds of meetings. There are those that achieve something and has everyone on board and then there are the other types. The Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry is available to parishes, pastoral councils, committees and families to facilitate partnership. We offer facilitation in four ways, based on the Technology of Participation methods developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA). 1. The Focused Conversation ICA's Focused Conversation Method can help people reflect on just about any subject. It can help people resolve a quarrel, develop a pastoral strategy, share reflections on a first Communion ceremony or reflect on the Sunday readings. The focused conversation is a relatively simple process in four levels. The conversation is led by a facilitator who asks a series of questions to elicit responses that take a group form the surface of a topic to its depth implications for their life and work. Possible conversations could include: Reviewing the year; reviewing a parish mission; reviewing a pre-confirmation meeting, evaluating a parish event, reviewing a family fun day, preparing the agenda for a meeting, getting input for a homily, selecting a topic for an upcoming conference, redesigning the sanctuary, planning a family reunion, meditating on a difficult situation, reflecting on a pastoral incident, parishioners reflecting together on their ministry, deciding pastoral priorities, musing on a frustrating meeting, learning from a life event, celebrating a family birthday, considering a family problem, planning a family outing, reflecting on a transition, planning clerical moves. 2. The Consensus Workshop The consensus workshop is a five-step process, which leads a group to a consensus on the way forward for the group. Consensus does not mean that everyone agrees. It means that there is a common understanding in the group that enables them to move forward together. Consensus is reached when all the participants are willing to move forward together, even when they do not agree on all the details. The consensus workshop enables people to think together, plan together and to work together as a team. The workshop always begins with a focus question. Some of the possible focus questions that would be of interest to parish and family are: • What do we want to see in place in the parish three years from now? • What are all the things we need to do to accomplish this project? • What are the elements of a successful…. Parish pastoral council / baptism team / confirmation programme? • What are all the things we need to include in our overall parish plan? • What do we have to do to make our conference really successful? • What are the things we need to consider in approaching this topic? • What are all the things we need to include in the work of our family life team? 3. Action Planning Action planning applies the consensus workshop to developing an action plan for one off events. So, for example if a parish was celebrating a fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the parish church, school etc, or organising a celebration to mark a person's anniversary or planning some community building event the action planning process would outline a detailed plan for action, a timetable for action and identify who would be responsible for what part of the plan. Families could use the process to organise significant family events such as significant birthday parties or anniversaries etc. 4. The Participative Strategic Planning Process The participative strategic planning process is available to parishes and diocesan commissions that wish to set out a strategic plan. Participants will be led through a four step process moving from articulating the group's desired future, through analysing the contradictions, identifying the broad strategic directions and building the first implementing steps to achieving the desired future outcome. To read an example of strategic planning in action click here. If you would like a conversation as to how any of the above four processes may be helpful to you in your parish and family ministry please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
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