Oth er boo ks i n th e Em erg i n g Mo d els o f Pasto r al Le a d ersh i p seri es
The Changing Face of Church: Emerging Models of Parish Leadership by Marti R. Jewell and David A. Ramey Parish Life Coordinators: Profile of an Emerging Ministry by Kathy Hendricks Pastoring Multiple Parishes: An Emerging Model of Pastoral Leadership by Mark Mogilka and Kate Wiskus Shaping Catholic Parishes: Pastoral Leaders in the 21st Century edited by Carole Ganim
Contents Preface Introduction 1 State of the Church in the Twenty-first Century 2 Interest in Lay Ecclesial Ministry
ix xiii 1 11
3 Interest in Ministry as a Priest, Brother, Sister,
or Deacon
43
4 The Future of Priests and Lay Ministers
75
5 Experiences of Young Lay Ministers
89
6 Recommendations: The Future of the Catholic
Church
117
Commentary Edward P. Hahnenberg
147
Commentary Rachel Hart Winter
159
Commentary Paul E. Jarzembowski
167
Appendix Research Methods
175
References
183
About the Project
185
About the Authors
187
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Introduction The American Catholic Church is re-Âevaluating some institutional practices. This is necessary because of recent social changes and trends. Above all, Catholics in America are more educated and affluent than ever in history, and they are now fully integrated into American society. They are growing in numbers at the same time that the priesthood is declining. Under these circumstances, automatic continuation of all past institutional practices is not the most hopeful plan for the future. Rather, we need to reflect on the mission of the Church, how we can serve that mission, and what innovations in policies would serve that mission. In a 2003 survey of American Catholics, they were asked what are the most important problems now facing the Catholic Church. From a list of twelve problems drawn from Catholic media, the respondents picked their priorities. The top three were the crisis of sexual abuse by priests, the shortage of priests and sisters, and the absence of young adults in parish life. This book sheds light on the second and third—the shortage of pastoral leaders and the attitudes of young adults. In 2005, a coalition of six Catholic organizations asked the Lilly Endowment for a grant to plan for the future of parish life. The six were the National Association for Lay Ministry, the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development, the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators, the National Association of Diaconate Directors, the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association, and the National x iii
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Federation of Priests Councils. The Lilly Endowment made a significant grant to support research, consultations, and meetings in a program called Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership. Marti Jewell was named project director. The collaborating organizations of the project felt a need for new surveys of young adults to assess their attitudes about serving the Church in ministry positions in the future. In particular they wanted to hear young adults tell what encouraged them or discouraged them when they thought about becoming lay ministers, priests, sisters, or deacons. The Emerging Models Project asked Dean Hoge if he would help carry out new research, and he suggested a Hoge-Jewell collaboration. Work began in summer 2006. We recruited an advisory committee to make initial decisions about the most useful research. The committee met in September and recommended two surveys, one of Catholic college students and one of young adults not currently college students. The surveys were to be supplemented by numerous personal interviews and focus groups, all of which were about the opinions of young adults about future ministry and the Church. In spring 2007 we carried out an online survey of Catholic college students and of young adults known to diocesan offices. By design, this survey was not a random sample of all Catholic college students, but only those students known to Catholic campus ministries and Newman Centers in a random sample of colleges—including Catholic, public, and private nonCatholic colleges and universities. The result was a survey of Catholic college students who were at least minimally involved in Church life or in campus ministry in some way. The survey of nonstudents was sent to young adults twenty to thirty-nine years old known to diocesan offices, usually
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offices of young adult ministry or parish life. We wanted to survey persons not attending college, either those who never attended or who were now alumni. To do the survey, we phoned a random sample of American dioceses, one in each episcopal region, and inquired about what kind of e-mail lists they had available or could compile. The resulting survey was mainly of persons in their late twenties or thirties, most of whom were college alumni. While it had been hoped that there would be data from young adults who had not attended college, this did not prove to be the case; these young adults were not reached by or did not respond to the surveys. Information needed about their interest is left to further study. Ninety-three percent of the respondents in the diocesan sample and 96 percent of the college sample were raised as Catholics. The college students (98 percent) were not married, while onethird of the diocesan sample were married. Twelve percent of the college sample and 6 percent of the diocesan sample described themselves as Latino/a. Where responses differed significantly, based on any of these factors, it is noted in the text. We also interviewed 55 in person or by phone, asking them about their views about possible future ministry and more broadly about their attitudes about Church life and the future of American Catholicism. In this group were thirteen people already working in lay ministry. All the interviews were taped and transcribed. We also carried out four focus groups. Details of the research method are given in the appendix. This book summarizes our findings. We have tried to be as exact and reliable as possible, preferring not to voice our own viewpoints on the many findings and the issues they raised. Our purpose was to describe the situation in the year 2007 as reliably
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and as free of bias as possible. Whether the news is good or bad in each instance is for others to decide. We asked three people to read our report and write their own commentaries about our findings and implications for the future. Their reflections are included here at the end of the book. What has caused young adults to answer the way they do or what the Church will do because of their viewpoints is left to the reader to decide. Acknowledgments
We benefited from good help from many people. Our advisory committee was composed of Kate DeVries, Erin Duffy, Kimberly Greenburg, Ken Johnson-Mondragon, Lucien Roy, Kathy Schmitt, Jared Suire, and Sr. Eileen McCann. Kate, Erin, Kimberly, and Sr. Eileen carried out interviews and focus groups. Our online surveys were set up by Community IT Innovators. Claudia Penn and Janel Bakker transcribed interviews. We thank the commentators who reflected on our findings and thought through their implications: Edward Hahnenberg, Paul Jarzembowski, and Rachel Hart Winter. An invitation to young adults to participate in the survey was provided by the Most Reverend Blase Cupich, bishop of the Diocese of Rapid City. Finally, we thank the nineteen campus ministers and twelve diocesan offices who helped us with the online survey samples. Their names are listed in the appendix. We hope that this book is of genuine service to the American Catholic community in planning for its future. Dean Hoge Marti Jewell