By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor
The Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC) concluded the 2023-24 program year with a meeting on May 4 at Holy Cross Church in DeWitt.
If you are not familiar with the workings of the Council, they are explained in detail on the diocesan website (syracusediocese.org/diocesan-pastoral-council).
The Diocesan Pastoral Council, under the authority of the bishop, examines all matters pertaining to pastoral works and proposes practical conclusions about them. In plenary sessions, the Council provides representation from all parishes, allowing the Bishop and the Council to discern issues of diocesan-wide concern.
At the most recent meeting, the agenda included a review and table discussions of the seven Vicariate data and schedule reports recently published in The Catholic Sun and also available on the diocesan website (syracusediocese.org/vicariates). Council delegates were seated by vicariate to help facilitate meaningful discussions of common concerns and needs.
As a prelude to table discussions, Msgr. James Lang, the Vicar for Parishes, opened the morning with the challenging question, “What does a healthy parish look like?” Monsignor acknowledged the good work being done in many pastoral care areas and introduced “the Oneida folks” as one example of parishes embracing new concepts in the reconfigurations of a parish and serving a community.
“The Oneida folks” spoke next: the Rev. Christopher Ballard, pastor of the Spirit of Hope Community in Oneida, and Lisa Spooner, the director of Faith Formation at the parish.
Fr. Ballard said that Lisa’s work in helping to bring about positive change in the parish predated his arrival there as pastor. Six distinct parish communities have come together as one in the Spirit of Hope reconfiguration. Fr. Ballard cautioned attendees that “this is what we have found works for us.”
“It’s not really meant to be a cookie-cutter kind of thing for every parish in the Diocese, every situation of the Diocese …,” he said. “This has worked for us. And so, we tried to come up with some of the principles that we employed, that might also work in other situations.”
“But as we acknowledge these differences and embrace them, we are able to strengthen our community,” Spooner added.
The areas covered in their presentation included a discussion of balance between unity and individualism among the six parishes. “Our six parishes are very different,” Spooner said. “We have found a way by listening with intention and acknowledging when we’ve made a mistake, how to bring them together.”
Fr. Ballard reminded the gathering that this process is ongoing. “We’ve had success, we’ve had struggles so far up to this point. We’re hopeful as the name of our parish, beautiful parish, that this is going in a good direction, but the story is still being written.”
Presentation topics ranged from promoting parish unity while preserving individuality, centralizing offices and daily Mass, organizing faith formation, finances, bulletins, supplies and the overriding importance of maintaining good communication channels. The need for teamwork in building a vibrant community was also stressed.
Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s remarks following the presentation began with an echo of Msgr. Lang’s question. “What does make a viable parish?” Bishop asked. The Bishop also shared that delegates would be asked to list their top three personal priority items from the vicariate data presented and asked, “What surprised you when you first saw the data from your vicariate?” Bishop urged all to borrow from the spirit of synodality and to listen to one another as various possible approaches to addressing challenges were discussed.
After a time of discussion, a spokesperson from each table reported on their conversations to the entire group.
A slate of officers for the coming year was accepted by acclimation. DPC meets next in September.
