Next generation parish?

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JC_Nixon

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I am not sure this is in the correct category, but what does anyone know about "Next Generation Parish’?
About a year or so ago, our Diocese introduced this program and designated our parish to participate in this program. Information about what, exactly, this program is and it’s intention has been VERY slow in coming. They did hold a general ‘informational’ meeting early last December, but it was still very sketchy as to what is program is about. They did talk about how to engage younger Catholics and get them ‘excited’ about coming to Mass. My comment was ‘perhaps if they truly understood and believed in the Eucharist as Jesus Body and Blood, that should be more than enough excitement’. As you can imagine my comment was pretty much just brushed off. If they were more forthcoming with a legitimate synopsis of the program and the goals, maybe I wouldn’t be so skeptical. But we keep hearing this talk about ‘keeping the old, but embracing the new’. New what?
 
I’m with you. Embrace the old, and the True teachings of the Church, and the Church in it’s entirety, and they will come by the flocks. We don’t need gimmicks, gimmicks seem vain.
 
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JC_Nixon said:
get them ‘excited’ about coming to Mass.
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That is demeaning. Children benefit from this (and parents who are glad their little ones aren’t dragging heels) but once you are in your teens excitements are limitless and addictive (onto the next thrill!). The holy, pure and innocent Mysteries - MYSTERY - is something that attracts and nothing else can offer/compete with. Mystery is inexhaustible (it does not grow boring). If they are thinking in terms of excitement then quite frankly I would question their intelligence/competence in this matter. The Church cannot compete with the world in terms of ‘excitements’ or thrills: it’s just ridiculous to suggest. Of course, I am assuming you are giving an accurate representation or summary of what was proposed or suggested to boost Mass attendance among younger folks.
 
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yes, it is an accurate description. It has been said more than once that we need to ‘excite’ the younger generation. So I question what is this ‘new’ that they want us to embrace?
 
JC_Nixon said:
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phil19034:
The Next Generation Parish Experience | Catholic Leadership Institute

Here it is.

NOTE: the Catholic Leadership Institute (who runs this program) is an orthodox organization in suburban Philadelphia.
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Thank you. I have seen this information, it still is pretty vague, but thank you for the information regards them being an ‘orthodox organization’. I guess I have to just wait and see where this goes.
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they are fine.

Now, whether or not their programs work or not is a different story. Just like leadership consulting programs for the secular world, they only work if their client truly embraces the program and the people are willing to alter the community culture.

So their program might work well for your parish or be a waste of money. It will totally depend on your pastor, parish staff, and members of the parish.

God Bless
 
The fact it’s a 4-year plan that focus on discipleship in Jesus then moves outward to evangelization actually gives me some confidence in their seriousness. But I agree it appears vague. Does it have the bishop’s blessing? If so, I would consider it.
 
SeraficLeo said:
But I agree it appears vague. Does it have the bishop’s blessing? If so, I would consider it.
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Yes, it was sanctioned by the Diocese, but that doesn’t give me warm fuzzies. Our Bishop isn’t the most staunch supporter of ‘orthodoxy’. I don’t know how many other parishes in the Diocese have been asked to implement this program. Our parish is also involved with ‘Christ Renews His Parish’, they do a lot of ‘Dynamic Catholic’ programs.
 
JC_Nixon said:
About a year or so ago, our Diocese introduced this program and designated our parish to participate in this program. Information about what, exactly, this program is and it’s intention has been VERY slow in coming. They did hold a general ‘informational’ meeting early last December, but it was still very sketchy as to what is program is about.
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Perhaps we are in the same diocese, because the same thing happened in my parish. I’m on the parish council, and any requests for specific, concrete information were invariably met with vague sloganeering. It seems to be a form of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic just for the sake of doing anything, useful or not.

We were targeted because we are a college town, and the bishop is apparently disappointed that our parish draws in very few students or young academics. I don’t see how the program is supposed to improve our outreach.

All we get is vague assurances that it will if we stick with it for four years, even though we don’t have the foggiest clue what “it” is supposed to be.

I suspect at this point that it is all a load of hot air and hogwash. Like the old Wendy’s commercial, our parish keeps asking “Where’s the beef?”, and we haven’t got a satisfying answer yet. Rather frustrating.

I would like to hear from someone whose parish did stick it out for four years and experienced some concrete and quantifiable improvements.
 
JC_Nixon said:
ur Bishop isn’t the most staunch supporter of ‘orthodoxy’. I don’t know how many other parishes in the Diocese have been asked to implement this program. Our parish is also involved with ‘Christ Renews His Parish’, they do a lot of ‘Dynamic Catholic’ programs.
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Personally, I think ALL leadership programs are typically hogwash. Whether they are in the business world or church world; many of them are not worth the cost.

Yes, some of them provide interesting information, but generally speaking, they are usually not worth the money.

HOWEVER, to me, these kinds of programs are really good for one thing and one thing only: convincing the pastor and/or staff that they need to change their approach when they have been stuck in their ways for a long time by providing measurable data.
 
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Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut, you stated it much better than I did. I don’t have a clue why our Parish was selected, I am in the Orlando (FL) Diocese and we are on the coast, the Parish has a fair number of young families, but the bulk are empty nesters, retirees and snowbirds. All that said, it is a pretty active Parish and our Pastor (a very good man, from Ghana, hands and and tries to bridge the ‘divide’ if you will between the traditionalists and more ‘modern’ if you will) is a favorite of the Bishop, so perhaps those are the reasons why. This just came to us maybe 18 months ago, and as I said there has been very little concrete information given.
 
JC_Nixon said:
Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut, you stated it much better than I did. I don’t have a clue why our Parish was selected, I am in the Orlando (FL) Diocese and we are on the coast, the Parish has a fair number of young families, but the bulk are empty nesters, retirees and snowbirds. All that said, it is a pretty active Parish and our Pastor (a very good man, from Ghana, hands and and tries to bridge the ‘divide’ if you will between the traditionalists and more ‘modern’ if you will) is a favorite of the Bishop, so perhaps those are the reasons why. This just came to us maybe 18 months ago, and as I said there has been very little concrete information given.
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Sometimes it’s an optional suggestion that the Bishop makes to all of his parishes. Perhaps that’s what’s happening here. Bishop or member of the local curia made the suggestion and your pastor said ok. 🤷‍♂️
 
These programs are to make sure that not just management but the people in the pews do what they can to keep their faith alive and to pass it on to the next generation. Fragmentation in communities creates a disconnect, with references to current culture, which is heavily marketed, as the default belief/lifestyle source/direction for some. Catholics need to be Catholic every day. Evangelization needs to be ongoing.

https://www.buffalodiocese.org/enrich-the-faithful/how-a-catholic-parish-evangelizes
 
GordonP said:
All we get is vague assurances that it will if we stick with it for four years, even though we don’t have the foggiest clue what “it” is supposed to be.

I suspect at this point that it is all a load of hot air and hogwash. Like the old Wendy’s commercial, our parish keeps asking “Where’s the beef?”, and we haven’t got a satisfying answer yet. Rather frustrating.

I would like to hear from someone whose parish did stick it out for four years and experienced some concrete and quantifiable improvements.
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Honestly, I doubt you will find many people who give glowing reviews other than those the CLI give you.

Reason, many parishes are frankly not organized and motivated enough to complete a 4 year program exactly as they are supposed to do it.

I have often found it extremely difficult to get a parish to properly implement a 4 week program, let alone a 4 year one.
 
phil19034 said:
Reason, many parishes are frankly not organized and motivated enough to complete a 4 year program exactly as they are supposed to do it.
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Actually, I’m going to call Emperor’s New Clothes here and say that there is nothing in the program that could motivate a parish to complete the four year program exactly as they are supposed to do it (whatever “it” is supposed to be).

Of course, when they fail, they will blame the parish.

It’s going to take a lot more than vague sloganeering and even vaguer assurances of success to motivate me and my fellow parishioners to take this program seriously. If it were for our bishop, we would have politely shown them the door after the first meeting.

Really, believe me, any request for specific, concrete information is aggressively stonewalled with vague platitudes and assurances. Never, ever with anything even remotely useful.
 
GordonP said:
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phil19034:
Reason, many parishes are frankly not organized and motivated enough to complete a 4 year program exactly as they are supposed to do it.
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Actually, I’m going to call Emperor’s New Clothes here and say that there is nothing in the program that could motivate a parish to complete the four year program exactly as they are supposed to do it (whatever “it” is supposed to be).

Of course, when they fail, they will blame the parish.

It’s going to take a lot more than vague sloganeering and even vaguer assurances of success to motivate me and my fellow parishioners to take this program seriously. If it were for our bishop, we would have politely shown them the door after the first meeting.

Really, believe me, any request for specific, concrete information is aggressively stonewalled with vague platitudes and assurances. Never, ever with anything even remotely useful.
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Yeah, that’s typically of almost ALL leadership consultants, in all industries.

Leadership consultants are almost always filled with platitudes & sometimes I actually think they believe that “motivational” platitudes are keys to success 🙂
 
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Then individuals in the parish community need to create a plan, present it to their pastor and be willing to carry it out.

No need for consultants.
 
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