The Emerging Parish:
Barta, Russell
THE PARISH: A BENCHMARK SURVEY THE EMERGING PARISH The Notre Dame Study of Catholic Life Since Vatican II Joseph Gremillion and Jim Castelli Harper & Row, $16.95, 222 pp. Russell Barta During...
...Many of the experiments proved to be short-lived religious fads...
...They attend their territorial parish because they want to, not because they feel obligated to do so...
...62 percent, youth ministry...
...This exaggerates the homogeneity of the urban parish today...
...For example, they describe the Saturday evening Mass in some parishes as "a ghetto where uninterested priests lead dull services for bored people...
...Gremillion and Castelli report that the Catholics in the Notre Dame sample expressed high levels of satisfaction with their parishes...
...The data came from a number of sources...
...Russell Barta During the late sixties and into the seventies, the American Catholic par-ish, that traditional hub of Catholic religious life, didn't seem to have much of a future...
...Like its pre-Vatican II predecessor, today's parish, according to Gremillion and Castelli, is more than a way-station for the reception of the sacraments...
...Besides, the phrase "pioneer ventures" could equally be applied to those parishes attempting to fashion a unique ministry to the new immigrants, in particular to Hispanics and Asians, who are changing the ethnic face of American cities and of the church...
...The neighborhood parish has shown its staying power...
...The role of the pastor is still central but the parish is no longer a "one-man" operation...
...Between 1984 and 1987 the results were published in eleven technical reports, ten of which are summarized in The Emerging Parish, making the results available in readable and engaging prose to a wider audience...
...Catholics in the Notre Dame sample differ significantly from Catholics at large...
...They report significant gaps in perception among pastor, staff, and volunteers about who really calls the shots in parish life...
...Seventy-two percent attend weekend Mass every week (a figure much higher than other surveys indicate...
...What makes it difficult to project the future is not -knowing what are short-term and long-term trends...
...They are older, more affluent, and considerably better educated...
...Questionnaires were sent to a sample of the Catholics registered at those parishes with a return rate of 59 percent or 2,667 non-Hispanic individuals who were sufficiently motivated to answer a lengthy questionnaire...
...At the same time many Catholics were bent on seeking alternatives to their neighborhood parish...
...Incidentally, I found it surprising that in comparing parishes no attempt was made to compare working-class parishes, whether urban or suburban, with middle-class parishes...
...The lowly parish has done an extraordinary job of mediating and reflecting the great changes since Vatican II...
...Experimental groups, "floating parishes," began to surface along with "underground" liturgical groups...
...In 64 percent of the parishes, leadership involves a combination of pastor, religious, and < laity who function more or less as a ministerial team...
...Among the paid staff with responsibility for key programs, 57 percent are lay...
...All future surveys of Catholic life in the United States will undoubtedly use it as a benchmark...
...It was, therefore, disappointing to find no data on the attitudes of core Catholics toward work or any information on the efforts of parishes to help Catholics work out the connections between faith and work...
...They regard them as "pioneer ventures" because they are successful in developing a sense of community without the glue of a homogeneous population...
...Today the situation and mood are quite different...
...A questionnaire was sent to the pastors/administrators of 10 percent of the 18,500 parishes in the U.S...
...Thirty-six parishes were then chosen as "representative...
...These figures are amazing...
...They point out the chasm between rhetoric and reality when only 2 percent of core Catholics are involved in evangelization programs, and only 4 percent in the social service and peace and justice programs of the parish...
...The Emerging Parish sheds enough light on the dynamics of parish life today to keep anyone interested in the church busy for a long time trying to piece together all the information and their interpretation...
...As Joseph Gremillion and Jim Castelli show the story is more than one of mere survival...
...Twenty-three percent of core Catholics had a family income above $40,000 a year, about one-third higher than the national average...
...Parishes report that their best attended program is bingo...
...Are there no non-Hispanic working-class parishes...
...The Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life was originally conceived by Reverend Philip Murnion and Monsig-nor John Egan and was conducted by the Institute for Pastoral and Social Ministry and the Center for the Study of Contemporary Society of the University of Notre Dame...
...Beyond the pastor, 83 percent of those identified as the leadership within the parish are lay persons...
...Although enthusiastic about lay initiatives in the parish, they detect signs of a "lay clericalism" developing among lay leaders...
...The Emerging Parish documents the historic shift since Vatican II in the relationship of laity to their parish...
...In addition to presenting the findings of the Notre Dame study, Gremillion and Castelli provide two informative chapters-one on the regional history of the parish, the other on Hispanics and the parish community...
...Core Catholics have more education than Catholics generally-in fact, 50 percent greater than Catholics nationally...
...the large number of core Catholics who see salvation coming directly through Jesus apparently without the mediation of the church...
...government on nuclear weapons development...
...The Emerging Parish is loaded with fascinating information on the social attitudes of core Catholics...
...yielding 1,099 usable responses (a 59 percent return...
...It is, after all, through their work that Catholics can have the greatest leverage on the mores and structures of American economic life...
...20 percent, peace and justice committees...
...In their concluding chapter, the authors describe today's parish as a "vehicle both for experiencing the faith and for motivating Catholics to relate to the broader community and to shape it according to gospel values...
...Though always involved in parish life, laity today, or at least some of them, are involved in a qualitatively different way...
...There are other tantalizing findings in The Emerging Parish: the melting away of traditional Catholic devotions...
...However, anyone responsible for parish life-pastor, staff, or lay volunteers-will find this book usefulin strategizing for the future...
...Fifty-six percent responded that their parish meets their social "needs" completely or "very well...
...Mass attendance has stabilized...
...A flood-tide of lay persons has penetrated the rectory establishment as evidenced by their active and responsible presence in liturgy, governance, and programming...
...46 percent, prayer/reflection groups...
...When Gremillion and Castelli look to the future, it is the suburban parishes they single out as being on the cutting edge of change in the church...
...John Coleman, S.J., recently pointed out in his perceptive overview (Church, Spring, 1988) how bullish national surveys of Catholic attitudes are on the future of the U.S...
...The Emerging Parish makes fascinating reading and it will provoke, not only because of its findings but also because of some of the authors' interpretations...
...They give poor marks to rural parishes, finding them laggard in liturgical reform and program development...
...Eighty-five percent say their parish meets their spiritual needs "completely" or "very well...
...The total picture may elude, but all the elements are here...
...During this period of ecclesial turmoil and confusion the parish experienced a dramatic drop in Mass attendance...
...Throughout the book they are referred to as "core" Catholics, that is, parish-connected Catholics...
...Core Catholics report that they took part in at least one parish activity beyond religious rites...
...The peace and justice committees in which Gremillion and Castelli put so much stock may have their place but they are no substitute for programs geared to support Catholics- in their vocations in the marketplace...
...They point to stability and potential growth-not decline...
...Many parishes were rocked by "polarization...
...Obviously the unique nature of the Notre Dame sample would seem to call for some caution in generalizing about all Catholic parishioners...
...Readers will find in their book plenty of critical analysis, sometimes trenchant, always perceptive...
...Relying on data gathered by the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Life, conducted between 1982 and 1984, Gremillion and Castelli paint an upbeat profile of the parish and its parishioners...
...They are enthusiastic about the liturgical reforms introduced since Vatican II...
...They are not alone in their positive assessment of Catholic life today...
...Two-thirds of core Catholics reject church teachings on birth control and divorce...
...Seventy-six percent of the parishes in the survey report having a parish council...
...It offers a wide variety of programs and services...
...According to the authors of The Emerging Parish, the parish, though different in many ways from its pre-Vatican II predecessor, is basically healthy...
...and the large number of core Catholics who continue to hold to what Gremillion and Castelli regard as highly individualistic notions of their religion...
...is a sand castle about to be washed away by a powerful tide of dissent...
...63 percent, adult religious education programs...
...It deserves widespread discussion throughout the entire Catholic community...
...72 percent, a liturgy planning group...
...Although generally opposed to abortion, they approve of if in cases of rape and incest...
...Their average age is 49.3 years, compared to the average of 42.6 years of the general Catholic population...
...Joseph Fichter, S.J., well known for his earlier work on the Catholic parish, describes the Notre Dame study as "unquestionably the most solid piece of research ever done on both priests and people at the parish level...
...another 13 percent, two or three times a month...
...church...
...Needless to say, such optimistic readings of the pulse of Catholic life differ sharply from the view often presented in the media that the Catholic church in the U.S...
...In the opinion of some the familiar neighborhood parish was an old, traditional wineskin that could not possibly hold the new wine of Vatican II...
...On the other hand, 65 percent of core Catholics support the death penalty for persons convicted of murder...
...Gremillion and Castelli are more than cheerleaders of the emerging Catholic parish...
...For example, 92 percent support a bilateral nuclear freeze, and 35 percent favor a unilateral freeze by the U.S...
...29 percent, parish renewal groups...
...in the eighties it continues to be the center of Catholic life...
Vol. 115 • October 1988 • No. 17
