Sample Projects

These samples are intended as illustrations to stimulate creativity for what is possible in your parish on the pathway to parish vitality.  The illustrations include urban, suburban and rural parishes.

URBAN SETTING - St. Teresa of the Streets and St. Vincent de Paul Parishes

St. Teresa and St. Vincent Parishes are linked city parishes that survived two rounds of diocesan consolidation on the East Side.  The church buildings are majestic but aging.  Most of the parishioners can recall belonging to two or three other parishes over the last ten or more years.  Some drive in on Sunday from homes in the suburbs.  The large empty buildings on the property serve as regular reminders of ‘what once was’.  At the same time the neighborhood is beginning to experience signs of resurgence.  Young professionals are purchasing the larger elegant homes in the area and many immigrants and refugees are renting in the neighborhoods around these two churches which are less than three miles apart.  

Occasionally a young Catholic might check out the church but there is little to sustain their interest.  Immigrant newcomers start showing up to Mass despite the language barrier on Sunday but no one on staff is capable of communicating effectively with them.  Parishioners give a smile but can offer little else.  Attempts to discover the pastoral and sacramental needs of immigrants are slow and halting due to myriad linguistic and cultural differences.  The pastor hopes that once the children learn English they can serve as translators between the parishes and the immigrant parents.  It is also becoming evident that the families have many material needs about which the parishes can help.  As the more English speaking immigrants come forward, the pastor starts involving them in (primarily non-verbal) leadership roles at Mass.

Upon entering the project the pastor elects a plan that utilizes the following strategies:

• Consult community leaders in each ethnic community about spiritual and pastoral needs of their population and conduct a congregation vitality survey
• Create a relationship of trust with families from each ethnic community
• Arrange for visits of bi-lingual priests from the largest ethnic communities for celebrating sacraments of initiation ($1800 travel and stipend)
• Equip community leaders from ethnic communities to gather as small groups/families in homes to consider the challenges of life in this country in light of their faith ($1800 for training, published materials and translation work)
• Gather and train young  leaders from each community to build a inter-ethnic youth community ($2700 for leadership training program, event materials, community building events and a retreat)
• Establish an inter-ethnic task force from both parishes for re-imaging a multi-ethnic Catholic parish, and evaluate the capacity of various ministries to welcome newcomers
• Inform the congregation at-large about the evangelizing purpose of the Catholic parish and invite them to participate in a Lenten process of community suppers, and small groups to consider the realities of the neighborhood and the mission of the parish as ambassadors of Good News ($1200)
• Provide stipends to coordinators in the absence of multi-lingual staff ($10,000)
• Resurvey and assess progress toward benchmarks

Cost:  $16,500

Rural Illustration

Contact:

Office of Parish Life - Dennis Mahaney

795 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203

Phone: 716-847-5531

Fax: 716-847-2206

Department of Lifelong Faith Formation - Mary Beth Coates

795 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203

Phone: 716-847-5501

Fax: 716-847-5593