__September 30, 1994 The Message for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
I
Church leaders meet on future of ministry
into the 21st century.
The National Center for Pas-
toral Leadership convened the
Sept. 22-24 meeting. It was
closed to the press, except for a
bri'ef segment before a press
conference on the final day.
(James Corr, director of reli-
gious education for the Diocese
of Evansville, is a member of
the Operations Board of the
National Center for Pastoral
Leadership, and served as a
member of the staff for the
three-day session.)
"We are dealing with ques-
tions of the shortage of priests,
the credibility of our ministers,
the training of our ministers,
where they will come from, and
how ministry will best serve the
church of the future," said Timo-
thy B. Ragan, founder and presi-
dent of the center, in summariz-
ing the meeting's focus.
Among participants were
By JERRY FILTEAU
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) --
"Yot cannot ignore this
church. What happens to the
Catholic ministerial system is
going to affect everyone in this
nation," the president emeritus
of Catholic Charities USA told
Some 200 Catholic leaders
Sept. 24.
Father Thomas J. Harvey, a
pastor, addressed a
national meeting in Washing-
ton on the future of ministry.
The result of two years of plan-
the meeting set the stage
for a national grass-roots con-
on needs, directions
and the shape of Catholic min-
m years to come.
leaders plan to recon-
Vene in 1995 and to make con-
crete recommendations by
for models of ministry in
U.S. Catholic Church going bishops, superiors of religious
Domestic violence:
Education/awareness seminar is
r 10 at Holy Redeemer
A Workshop, focusing pri-
ly on domestic violence,
held Oct. 10, from 6:30
P.m. at Holy Redeemer
Evansville.
of the workshop
about domestic vi-
and to inform abo
Various r- ut the
eSOurces which
vailable, are
kTe;::::shop will open with
=uaress given bv
e Daraell with the YMC,.
address is titled "Histor
Statistics. Th- " . y
Cycle.;' uomestic
ts will then have
OpPortunity to listen to one
three guest speakers:
hens, the coordi-
diana Coalition
for South-
western Indiana Mental
Health Center, Domestic
Abuse Intervention Program.
He will be speaking on "The
Violence Within Us."
• Cecilia Phillips, private
practice counsellor. She will
speak on "Emotional and Spiri-
tual Support for the Victim."
• Susie Mattingly, Victim's
Assistance Program with the
Vanderburgh County Prosecu-
tor's Office. She will focus on
"Legal Procedures."
The workshop is sponsored
by Holy Redeemer's Family
Life Commission. For addi-
tional information, contact
Rita Rummel at (812) 867-0399
or Julie Phillips at 867-0538.
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orders, college and university
officials, theologians, diocesan
department directors, catechet-
ical directors, ministry forma-
tion leaders, pastoral planners,
pastors, campus ministry lead-
ers and heads of Catholic hos-
pitals, publishing houses, so-
cial ministries and national
organizations.
"We. are a sampling of
church leaders. We don't want
it to look like we think we are
the church," Father Harvey
said at the press conference.
The group intentionally
avoided trying to produce mod-
els of ministry at the meeting,
saying a broader national con-
sultation and reflection are
needed first.
Ministry is changing in the
U.S. church already, he said,
but largely at the local level
and as a response to need
rather than by planning. "I've
got to believe," he said, "that
between expediency, which
seems to be where the creative
breakthroughs are taking
place, and the recognition of a
common need there is no game
plan yet."
"What is the product (of the
future of ministry project)
going to be? We don't know
yet," he said.
But "some kind of national
dialogue" is needed, he said,
and "this is an extremely inclu-
sive list of people" to get that
kind of dialogue going.
He said the question of min-
istry is not just a matter of an
internal debate in the church,
but something that affects
American society as a whole.
As' one example, he said, "if
our parishes aren't open (in
inner cities) over the weekend,
people starve and people freeze."
He cited Catholic health care
and higher education -- both
by far the largest private sys-
tems in the nation -- as other
indicators of the impact
Catholic ministry has on the
larger society.
"As a bishop I welcome this
process. It gives me hope," said
Bishop Raymond A. Lucker of
New Ulm, Minn., a member of
the center's advisory board and
one of three bishops at the
meeting. "This is a group of re-
sponsible, established institu-
tional leaders grappling with
the tough issues facing both
our church and our society."
"I am convinced, as I'm sure
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everyone at this conference is,
that there is a renewal going
on in this church and that
there's no stopping it," Bishop
Lucker told reporters.
"There is a renewal going on
in Scripture studies, in theol-
ogy, in social action and social
justice work, in the involve-
ment of the laity in the life and
ministry of the church, in
liturgy, in all aspects of church
life," he said. "And this re-
newal is not just on the top. It
affects grass-roots people."
Ragan said the most impor-
tant issues identified by the
participants were the need for
development of:
-- A new model of shared de-
cision-making in the church.
-- A recognition and utiliza-
tion of the gifts and abilities of
women "at every level of deci-
sion-making, administration and
ministry without exception."
Creative ministerial re-
sponses to the needs of youth
and young adults.
-- Deeper reverence for and
ownership of a multicultural
church that values both its
unity and its diversity.
• On the question of valuing
diversity, Diana L. Hayes, an
associate professor of theology
at Georgetown University, told
reporters, "In gatherings like
this ... I am usually one of only
one or two or, if we're really on
a roll, three persons of color in
the room."
While that was also true of
the ministry planning meeting,
she said, "one of the things
about this group here is its
overwhelming recognition of
and enthusiasm for making
change .... This consultation is
very much engaged in attempt-
ing to recognize the contribu-
tions of blacks and Hispanics
and Asians and Native Ameri-
cans .... This diversity needs to
be recognized, and in this
group I believe it has been."
Other bishops at the three-
day session were Auxiliary
Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan of
Brooklyn, N.Y., and Auxiliary
Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton
of Detroit.
The National Center for Pas-
toral Leadership was formed in
1992 by Ragan and a diverse
group of Catholic institutional
leaders concerned about build-
ing new visions and models of
ministry and collaboration in
the church.
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853-7141
I
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Hwy. 62 and N. Welnbach Ave.
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425-4422
11
An estimated 3 million
