Why are some Catholic parishes stuck in “maintenance mode”? Matthew Warner posted on this recently at NCR. He characterized maintenance mode parishes as inwardly focused and unconcerned with reaching out or with increasing attendance. I’m constantly struggling to figure out why it is and what to do about it. I think at least part of the problem is a lack of vision. On the local level, we are not inspiring and moving people to view the parish as being outwardly focused.
Vision is that goal of an organization that fills a gaping hole in the world. It’s the view of an alternate reality that should be, and if it’s not, the world becomes a darker place. Leadership must work constantly at communicating vision in order to inspire people to greatness and align them towards accomplishing that goal. Without a clearly communicated vision, members of an organization don’t know what to do in order to succeed.
What is the Church’s mission? The message of the Universal Church is clear…evangelization. Jesus told the apostles to go and make disciples! We are to extend the Kingdom of Christ on earth and push back the kingdom of Satan. In doing so we bring increasing numbers of people (and consequently the culture) into union with God and his life-giving Spirit. Now that is a vision that calls you to sacrifice! It’s large, it’s bold, it can (and will) change the world!
That’s not the mission message I got recently from my diocese, though. At the latest annual diocesan development appeal, we saw a video highlighting the diocesan services our money provides. These are maintenance services. The message? Our mission is taking care of your needs, not mobilizing you for mission. The video was well made. But it didn’t communicate a vision that inspires greatness. It was inward, not outward focused.
The Church is either outwardly focused or it is stagnating. For many years now, Church leaders have concentrated on those within the flock. It’s logical with limited resources to take care of those you know as opposed to those you don’t know. However, Christ’s mandate of evangelization defies logic. Not being outwardly focused means death for the Catholic parish and for the Church in general. It is the mission and life of the Church to evangelize.
I think we need to learn better how to proclaim the gospel in a contemporary and authentically Catholic way. This is something I want to post on in the future. And, we need to have a clarity of mission. The Universal Church understands exactly what she’s about. However, I think this gets muddied a bit at the diocesan and parish level.
What do you think are some reasons why Catholic parishes are predominately in “maintenance mode” and not outwardly focused?
Marc – so happy to discover your blog! I can’t tell you how much it gets my adrenaline pumping simply to hear somebody ACKNOWLEDGE that all we seem to be doing is maintenance! I continually find myself crying out interiorly, “What are we doing?!?!” I would love to go on CatholicJobs.com and find a posting that says, “Wanted: someone who is PASSIONATE for evangelization.” I wish I had an answer as to why things are the way they are. It seems that every parish is just checking things off their list: DRE? Check. Youth Minister? Check. Janitor? Check. Heck, even church bulletins are virtually identical anywhere you go in the country! I think everybody is looking around, trying to take cues from what everyone else is doing and being satisfied with being just like all the rest. The elephant in the room is the simple fact that IT’S NOT WORKING! “The Church exists to evangelize.” In other words, if you’re not evangelizing, you might as well not exist!nnI generally don’t like posting things if I’m just complaining, but I wanted to let you know that there are others out there who feel this weight in the pit of their stomachs! Looking forward to sharing ideas (and perhaps solutions! 🙂 in the future. Oh, and for the record, you starting the blog that I wanted to start! 🙂
Hi Jim! Glad you found me! And glad to hear you like it. I love this line, “Heck, even church bulletins are virtually identical anywhere you go in the country! I think everybody is looking around, trying to take cues from what everyone else is doing and being satisfied with being just like all the rest.” So true! And, yes, the fact that it’s not working is what I’m on about. It seems silly to me that we just keep doing the same stuff (the same things everyone else is doing) and then complain that people don’t care. We blame bad attitudes and lack of faith but maybe the problem is us! Maybe we’re not doing something right. Really look forward to sharing ideas and solutions in the future! And, you know what? If you start the blog that I have started, maybe we can share even more ideas!