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Four Summit County Catholic parishes building relationships, planning for future
Church cluster initiative is coming together

Each church in cluster picks 5 representatives

By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer

Published on Thursday, Jan 03, 2008

Four churches in Akron, Green, and Coventry and Springfield townships are building a relationship by tearing down their parochial walls.

''Every decision made is probably not going to please everyone,'' acknowledged Bill Bertsch, who chairs the 20-member team planning for the future of St. Paul, Queen of Heaven, St. Francis de Sales and Nativity of the Lord Jesus.

''But I'm very optimistic about how this is going to play out, because we're talking about taking advantage of the talents and skills we have in four churches and utilizing them for the entire cluster of churches.''

The relationship-building exercise among the four churches started with a directive from Cleveland Bishop Richard G. Lennon in May as part of the Vibrant Parish Life initiative.

The plan, launched in 2001, called for parishes to determine how to develop and strengthen ministries by working together to address a decreasing number of parish priests, suburban sprawl and its demand for parish growth, and the decline of urban areas and the ethnic parish ministry.

''Historically, parishes tended to be closed in and among themselves. Now, we're encouraged to open up and see the broader view of our faith. It's a very healthy thing,'' said the Rev. Ralph Thomas, pastor at St. Paul's in Akron. ''Our church is in a stage of renewal, and we're inviting everyone to take an active part.''

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Continued from Page A1

Phase II of the initiative called for forming clusters like the one with St. Paul, Queen of Heaven, St. Francis de Sales and Nativity of the Lord Jesus. Each cluster was established in May, after parishes submitted long-term partnership plans to the bishop.

Diocesan officials say almost every parish was partnered with at least one of the parishes named in its proposal. The cluster assignments, finalized by the bishop, were based on other factors as well, including sacramental and neighborhood needs, common history, proximity, and shared mission. Each of the 69 clusters in the eight-county Cleveland Diocese were given specific areas to focus on.

While a third of the 69 clusters in the diocese were directed to downsize by closing schools or parishes, that is not the case for these four parishes, known as Summit South No. 6 Cluster. Its mandate from the bishop is to:

• Continue to explore collaborative possibilities to strengthen pastoral care in an equitable manner.

• Strengthen evangelization and the social and community services that serve the poor and the surrounding neighborhoods.

• Engage all of our faithful in regularly attending and participating in the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy.

Since receiving the bishop's directive, each church in the cluster selected five representatives. They completed a training session in June, including a presentation by the diocese on the format and expectations of cluster planning.

Planning team

The team for the Summit South No. 6 Cluster began meeting in July and selected Bertsch, a parishioner at St. Francis in Coventry Township, as its chairman. Deacon Dennis Smith from Nativity in Springfield Township was named vice chairman, the secretary is Terry Nesline from St. Paul in Akron, and the team's communications liaison is Kay Metzler from Queen of Heaven in Green.

''We want to make sure people know they have a voice in this process. We are simply representing them, so we need feedback from the people in the parishes,'' Metzler said. ''While we have been discussing ideas, we want and need those who have been involved and know the histories in this cluster. And we need new, fresh voices in the discussion as decisions are made.''

Members of the cluster team emphasized that the ideas discussed so far are merely initial thoughts. They are now asking parishioners to join volunteer committees.

For example, to strengthen pastoral care, the team has posed the question: ''What can we, the laity, do to help with some of our priests' and deacons' daily responsibilities?'' So the team is looking for a committee to focus on pastoral care of the sick and dying and on improving services for marriage preparation, divorce and annulment.

Other committees may focus on five-minute Catholic refresher courses before Mass, marketing, a neighborhood network and a review of current and new groups for outreach ministry.

''This process is allowing us to empower our people to be what they should be,'' said the Rev. David Halaiko, pastor at Nativity. ''In light of the shortage of priests, it makes sense to explore options that will allow our laity to share in meeting the needs of our parishioners and the community.''

What's ahead

Diocesan projections indicate that 271 priests will be available in 2010, down from 299 in 2005. Currently, parishes with 500 or fewer families are not assigned a full-time pastor, and parishes must have 2,800 households to be assigned an associate pastor.

The team already has planned some cluster events, including penance services that took place before Christmas at Nativity, St. Paul and St. Francis.

In January, the priests and deacons from the four parishes will officially begin rotating pulpits to help parishioners become familiar with the cluster's four pastors, two associate pastors and five deacons.

The cluster also has two parochial schools: St. Francis and St. Paul.

Although each parish will keep its own identity, the cluster will explore collaborative efforts, such as buying school and office supplies together. Representatives from each parish finance councils will begin meeting to determine ways the parishes can save money by collaborating.

A plan is due to the diocese by December. Plans should be approved in early 2009.

''We can always improve in trying to do our best for the Lord and this process is giving us an opportunity to do just that,'' said the Rev. David Durkee, pastor of Queen of Heaven. ''By sharing the workload, we can be not only more efficient but more effective. We're doing some trailblazing, and we are optimistic about the outcome.''

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.

Four churches in Akron, Green, and Coventry and Springfield townships are building a relationship by tearing down their parochial walls.

Get the full article here.


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