The following story first appeared in the Spring 1999 Glenmary Challenge.
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Same Dream, New Challenges
By Liz Dudas

New lay leaders gathered in the summer of 1998 with Father Frank Ruff (right), director of Glenmary’s effort to establish mission Churches with lay leaders. From left to right: Bob Laremore, Gene and Mary Helen Grabbe, Danny and Polly DuncanCollum (and Maggie), Jay Gilchrist, Amy Giorgio (and Katie).

More than 10 years ago, Glenmary recognized the unique opportunity hidden within an unprecedented challenge. The challenge: the decreasing number of priests available to pastor existing Glenmary missions—not to mention start new ones. The opportunity: attracting professionally trained and experienced lay people to share more deeply in Glenmary’s mission. 

When revisions in Church law allowed lay persons to be designated canonical administrators, Glenmary began inviting lay people to serve in this role. Glenmary calls such persons “pastoral coordinators” or PCs. PCs have assumed the leadership of an “established church”—that is, a congregation that previously had a resident priest as its full-time pastor. Others began new congregations in counties where there was no official Catholic presence. In both situations, the PC is, effectively, the “pastor,” making arrangements with a priest to preside at Eucharist and other sacraments on a regular basis.  

With the advent of lay pastoral coordinators, the “face” of Glenmary has begun to change. So has Glenmary’s reach.

In the past six years, PCs have gathered five new Catholic congregations in eastern Tennessee, northern Alabama and Mississippi. (To read about one of these new churches in Mississippi, click here). 

PCs have also served in established Glenmary churches in Amory, Mississippi, and in the Kentucky communities of Vanceburg, Franklin and Scottsville, and Morehead. (Morehead was returned to the Diocese of Lexington in 1994—one of Glenmary’s many  success stories.)

Sisters Pave the Way          

The first pastoral coordinators were women religious who took over established churches. They had to deal with a ready-made congregation with its traditions, its experience of previous pastors and its expectations regarding the level of pastoral care. Parishioners in such parishes now frequently remark that once the PC arrived their parish received even more pastoral care, and they report that women “do ministry” differently than men.

As with any change of pastors, some losses and gains were noticed in the number of parishioners when lay pastoral coordinators arrived. But, overall, these churches have reflected the growth of the area.

Sister of Charity Marie Gilligan, the PC at St. Helen’s in Amory, Mississippi, notes that within the first two years of her becoming pastoral coordinator “…the church began to grow and eventually almost doubled in the number of parishioners attending.” This growth made it necessary to build a new church.

“The oldest to the youngest worked together at yard sales, cake sales and tree sales to fulfill the obligation of paying for the new church building,” Sister Marie reports. She proudly adds, “The building was completely paid for by the day of dedication, June 1, 1997.” 

Franciscan Sister Lene Rubly, after her arrival as pastoral coordinator, likewise led the parishioners of St. Mary’s in Franklin, Kentucky, in raising funds and finalizing plans for a new church. It will be completed in the near future. (Sister Lene now works in a parish in Water-loo, Iowa; Glenmary’s Father Dennis Holly now pastors St. Mary’s.)

At Glenmary’s Department of Pastoral Services in Nashville, we have learned over the years how to assist parishes as they move from a priest-pastor to a lay-pastor. In working with parish transition teams, our Department has noted two interesting phenomena that occur during the shift in leadership.

First, parishioners’ image of Church changes. It shifts from one that is hierarchical to one that encourages participation in communication and decision-making. Second, parishioners begin to relate less to Church as “Mother” and more to Church as the “People of God” for which they share a deep responsibility.

Lay ‘Pastors’ Establish Legitimacy, Gain Acceptance

When starting a Church from scratch, lay pastoral coordinators are freed from a number of “it’s always been done this way” issues. Still, challenges unique to “birthing” a church are met at every turn: getting to know the local people and their culture; visiting them and listening to their stories; locating a place to gather for worship; searching out inactive Catholics and inviting them to consider reconnecting with the Church.

Bob Laremore, a pastoral coordinator in Moulton, Alabama, went from administering a 2,000-family parish in the Dallas  area to becoming a missionary in the woods of Alabama; from an office to streets and front porches. “The energy and enthusiasm needed to move people to commit to gathering as a new faith community is phenomenal,” he emphasizes. “But the continued growth and outreach of these communities testifies to the depth of their Christian commitment.”

Whether taking on the leadership of an established church or beginning a new church, lay pastoral coordinators face similar challenges. First of all, they need to gain acceptance as pastoral leaders by Catholics as well as by the larger community. An official appointment by the bishop is only the first step in establishing their legitimacy.

“The ministers of the mainline churches received me with open arms,” reports Sister Marie from Mississippi. “In the African-American Churches, I was escorted to sit in the pulpit area among the other ministers whenever I attended funerals or other church services.”

Other challenges include establishing personal credibility and pastoral authority through dedication, leadership and ecumenical community involvement; nurturing the faith formation of their communities through preaching and teaching, Bible study and RCIA programs; and, most of all, learning to trust God’s strength and faithfulness, especially when ministry demands seem overwhelming.

New Role Raises Questions

That the efforts of lay pastoral coordinators have extended Glenmary’s presence—and that of the Church—is unquestioned. But because this new role is an evolving one in our Catholic tradition, it does raise other important issues and questions.

Traditionally, a parish’s pastoral care and sacramental ministry have been combined in one role, one person: that of the priest. In a parish led by a pastoral coordinator, these roles are divided. The PC provides for the day-to-day pastoral care of the community while a priest provides sacramental ministry.

When a priest is not available to preside at Eucharist, the pastoral coordinator leads the congregation in the Church-approved “Sunday Worship in the Absence of a Priest.”  This includes the Liturgy of the Word, preaching as permitted by diocesan guidelines and a Communion Service.

But Catholic identity is deeply rooted in the Eucharist. Eucharistic worship, the Mass, is essential to being Catholic. So what if a community cannot celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday because a priest is not available?  Is it any less Catholic? And how often must Mass be celebrated for a community to keep its identity as Catholic?

Last September Glenmary’s Department of Pastoral Services coordinated a meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, which brought together Glenmary leadership, lay pastoral coordinators, Glenmary priests who serve as mentors and sacramental ministers, and two bishops to discuss these and other questions. The outcome was an affirmation of the style of collaborative ministry Glenmary is developing. The message to Glenmary: “Keep on keeping on”—with the realization that the new role of pastoral coordinators is an evolving one. 

Parishioners realize that the pastoral coordinator is not a priest and cannot celebrate Mass. And while they would like to have Eucharist every Sunday, they recognize and appreciate the importance of gathering as a community for some form of Sunday worship even without the celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Is this confusing to parishioners?  Not really. Even though one sometimes hears remarks about “Sister’s Mass,” people know the difference between the Eucharistic action and a Communion Service.

“If no priest is available for Sunday liturgy, it is essential that the people gather...,” insists Sister Marie. “The Catholic community in this circumstance should be nourished with both the Liturgy of the Word and a Communion Service each Sunday.”

Our experience teaches us that Catholics value the opportunity to receive Communion. Pastoral coordinators see great value in not limiting reception of Communion to the celebration of the Mass.

Such limits could be seen as a kind of “denying” of the Eucharist to those Catholics not fortunate enough to have a priest-pastor. Some fear it could also lead to a repeat of history, particularly in the South: fewer Catholic churches and fewer Catholics.

Providing access to Eucharist—or at least Communion—is a struggle; no doubt about it. But we must continue to serve the so-called “neglected” in the home missions.

Both Ordained and Lay Gifts Needed

Working closely with the committed lay women and men serving as Glenmary’s pastoral coordinators confirms that the challenge facing the Church is very complex. There are no easy answers, and no one group has the answer as the Church struggles to provide pastoral leadership and sacramental ministry for its members. But it is clear that we need to acknowledge the gifts for ministry with which God is blessing the Church. Glenmary is certainly doing this in its involvement of lay pastoral coordinators.

We do not know what the future holds, but of one thing the staff at the Department of Pastoral Services is convinced: If the dream of Glenmary’s founder is to be realized, greater collaboration between ordained and lay ministers is needed now as never before. Glenmary’s founder, Father William Howard Bishop, wanted to witness to the Reign of God by establishing the Catholic Church, with its unique gifts, in rural America. Without both priests and lay pastoral coordinators, the proclamation of the Gospel and growth of the Church will be severely hampered. ?

Liz Dudas, a ministry consultant with Glenmary’s Department of Pastoral Services in Nashville since 1994, previously served  as a pastoral associate at Glenmary’s St. Mark Church in Eastman, Georgia.