Creating Small Church Communities

by Baranowski, Arthur R.; O'Reilly, Kathleen M.; Piro, Carrie M.

• ISBN13: 9780867162752
• ISBN10: 0867162759
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-10-01
• Publisher: Franciscan Media

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Introduction: Why Change Your Parish?	1	(1)
Why Restructure?	1	(1)
The Why of a Parish	2	(3)
RCIA---A Model for Being Catholic	5	(3)
Being Who We Are Better	8	(2)
Looking to Our Past	10	(3)
A New Way to Be Church	13	(10)
Levels of Belonging	14	(1)
A Total Approach to Parish	15	(2)
The Pastoral Bridge	17	(1)
`You Brought Us Together'	18	(3)
Summing Up	21	(2)
From Vision to Reality in Your Parish	23	(18)
A Three-Phase Process	24	(3)
A Long-Term Commitment	27	(1)
First Steps	28	(1)
Identifying Key People/Forming a Core Team	28	(2)
Assessing Your Parish	30	(2)
Starting With The Experience	32	(1)
Including Several Area Parishes	33	(1)
Starting Small and Setting Realistic Goals	34	(2)
Coloring the Parish	36	(2)
leading Consistently	38	(3)
From Small Groups Toward Small Church Communities	41	(12)
Groups: Getting Started	41	(2)
Motivating Parishioners	43	(2)
Phase One: Focus on Belonging	45	(3)
Phase Two: Praying Alone and Together	48	(2)
The Pastoral Link	50	(3)
Pastoring the `Pastors'	53	(12)
Keeping Pastoral Facilitators a Top Priority	54	(2)
A Word to Priests	56	(2)
Selecting Pastoral Facilitators	58	(3)
Formation of PFs	61	(1)
Summing Up	62	(1)
A Caution	63	(2)
Being Church for the Long Haul	65	(22)
Phase Three: Owning the Church's Story	65	(4)
Getting Good Focus Questions	69	(4)
Getting Even Smaller	73	(1)
Naming the Experience, Evaluating the Progress	74	(1)
The Two-Hour Format for the Small Church Community	75	(2)
Hand-Holding or Out-Reaching	77	(1)
Ordinary Life and Everyday Care	78	(2)
Large Church/Small Church	80	(3)
Why Some Communities Disband	83	(4)
The Other 75 percent	87	(12)
A Balancing Act	87	(2)
An Investment in the Future	89	(2)
The Discipline of Priorities	91	(3)
What About the Children?	94	(5)
Conclusion: Where Do We Go From Here?	99	(2)
How to Begin	99	(2)
Appendices	101	(1)
A: Bibliography	101	(4)
B: Basic Principles for a Small-Group Agreement or Contract	105	(1)
C: Sample Evaluations	106	(1)
D: Review of Life	107	(1)
E: Stages of Group Development (Psychological)	108