Eliminating a Catholic youth ministry

[commenter]

The Columbian Squires is a program for boys 10 - 18 developed in 1925 for the Knights of Columbus. It is organized into Squires Circles. A Circle is usually sponsored by a local K of C Council. The Council provides adult leadership but the Squires Circles develop leadership among the boys.

They follow a structure and format similar to the K of C in general. They meet in regional gatherings with other Squires Circles, and have State Squires conventions, similar to the K of C itself. They follow a particular model of Catholic youth development, similar to the adult development in the K of C.

Historically Supreme K of C did not care if councils were in a parish, or freestanding. Freestanding Councils have a priest chaplain. In recent years Supreme has been pushing all councils to move completely into parishes. As part of that push, Supreme is eliminating/discouraging/phasing out most Squires Circles, with the notion that individual knights should help out more in parishes and assist youth ministry there.

To me this seems like a bad idea. You don’t throw out one proven tool unless the replacement tool is up and running, and you can see if it is effective. Parishes vary widely - some have no youth ministry, others have very different ideas what “youth ministry” is. Probably none of the existing models replaces the highly structured, male ministry provided by the Squires. Where I live, most councils serve men from many parishes, so the K of C (name removed by moderator)ut would be scattered.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

This sounds like a move to squelch cult-worship around individual priests.

 

[Cruciferi]

How so?
(10 characters)

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Historically Supreme K of C did not care if councils were in a parish, or freestanding. Freestanding Councils have a priest chaplain. In recent years Supreme has been pushing all councils to move completely into parishes. As part of that push, Supreme is eliminating/discouraging/phasing out most Squires Circles, with the notion that individual knights should help out more in parishes and assist youth ministry there.

Knights should be a part of a Parish, not simply beholden to one priest.

It is very dangerous to pin an entire ministry to the approval of one man. It likely goes against diocesan safe-environment standards. My guess is the structure was previously grandfathered in.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Frankly, it sounds like there is a possible concern about liability. If the K of C is operating within a parish, the parish likely already has the structure and mechanisms in place to protect kids from abuse and adults from any sort of questionable accusation. I’m not positive that the more loosely organized K of C chapters I’ve seen have any sort of structures or mechanisms in place for this.

I’m not seeing a problem given that the K of C members still have a viable avenue to work with youth via their parish.

 

[commenter]

Frankly, it sounds like there is a possible concern about liability. If the K of C is operating within a parish, the parish likely already has the structure and mechanisms in place to protect kids from abuse and adults from any sort of questionable accusation. I’m not positive that the more loosely organized K of C chapters I’ve seen have any sort of structures or mechanisms in place for this.

I’m not seeing a problem given that the K of C members still have a viable avenue to work with youth via their parish.

K of C programs that have any contact with youth have equivalent safeguards in place that parishes have. Some free standing K of C councils have been open for over a century, so their “structure” is not that “loose”. We have many Catholic high schools, none of which are connected to a parish.

I am not against the larger movement to (eventually) incorporate councils into parishes, and all new councils are in parishes, or other Catholic institution. But it is not practical everywhere. Where I live, no one parish has more than 25% of the members in our council. Our current chaplain is a pastor, but few of our members are in his parish.
He personally supports the Knights, but who knows about his successor in that parish.
There is no logical parish we can “move into”.

You don’t throw out an existing successful ministry in the hopes that maybe, perhaps, down the road, some uncoordinated actions by (scattered) knights in various parishes might assist somethings.

 

[KathleenT]

Perhaps you can ask your diocese for help. Explain the situation. Maybe you can keep your current Chaplin but be linked to your biggest two or three parishes. It sounds like they are trying to streamline the oversight for these groups.

You can keep the “group” you might not be able to keep the same structure or name which is unfortunate. Go up the chain of both the KoC and the Church until you find a solution.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

OK, if I accept what you say as true and assume that this move is to avoid duplication/ strengthen a parish rather than for other reasons, then when the K of C members of a chapter come from multiple parishes, why does the fact that only 25 percent of members attend one parish preclude the whole K of C chapter being active in it? I should think you’d go work with the parish where the pastor is most supportive of K of C and/or where there is the biggest and strongest youth program already in place.

And the risk that some future pastor might not support K of C seems like a weird concern. Even if that happened, I’m sure out of four parishes, one of the other three pastors would be supportive.

 

[commenter]

Some good ideas on this thread. I suspect there is no solution that can keep the Squires really intact, if the plan is to move councils themselves into parishes. Our Council draws from at least 20 parishes. Most are half empty, some will surely be closed, but I do not know which ones.

It just is frustrating that a good, almost century old proven youth ministry is being phased out, while Knights are urged to simply support whatever is out there, with no plan. Local youth ministries I suspect have nothing like a century of experience, they are almost always coed. Something of value is being lost. (Besides the Squires, there also are some equivalent K of C programs for girls in some places, which may disappear also).

It is hard to sell your PERMANENT council building, move into a parish - now as a subordinate entity - most council members do not belong to, and get them to focus on that parish youth programs, which likely are much different from the K of C. Then prepare to change, or move on to another parish, if a non compatible pastor gets appointed, or the parish closes. There is so much impermanence now.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Tis_Bearself:

Frankly, it sounds like there is a possible concern about liability. If the K of C is operating within a parish, the parish likely already has the structure and mechanisms in place to protect kids from abuse and adults from any sort of questionable accusation. I’m not positive that the more loosely organized K of C chapters I’ve seen have any sort of structures or mechanisms in place for this.

I’m not seeing a problem given that the K of C members still have a viable avenue to work with youth via their parish.

K of C programs that have any contact with youth have equivalent safeguards in place that parishes have. Some free standing K of C councils have been open for over a century, so their “structure” is not that “loose”. We have many Catholic high schools, none of which are connected to a parish.

I am not against the larger movement to (eventually) incorporate councils into parishes, and all new councils are in parishes, or other Catholic institution. But it is not practical everywhere. Where I live, no one parish has more than 25% of the members in our council. Our current chaplain is a pastor, but few of our members are in his parish.
He personally supports the Knights, but who knows about his successor in that parish.
There is no logical parish we can “move into”.

You don’t throw out an existing successful ministry in the hopes that maybe, perhaps, down the road, some uncoordinated actions by (scattered) knights in various parishes might assist somethings.

It appears that you have a good case for an exemption.

OR

You can appeal to the dioceses to perhaps build the new parish around your Knights ministry. Consolidation is hard and you already have a large number of men working together. If the dioceses is unaware of this, they cannot work with it.