(Editor’s note: This is the continuation of the series on Pastoral Planning)
The next phase in the planning process is to identify the problems which the planning process needs to address. The “problems” are simply the gap between the reality that people experience on a day to day basis and the ideal that is yearned for in the vision of what the community might become.
There are two broad approaches that should be taken in this phase of planning. One approach is to identify the felt needs of the community members. Where is the lived experience of the community falling short of the vision that the community has identified? The second approach is a more objective in that it analyzes the trends that the data has revealed and applies them to the realization of the vision of the parish community. The objective approach is not better than the subjective, just different; but both perspectives are necessary.
Identifying the felt needs of the community members can be done through “focus groups”. This is jargon for getting a group of people together for a conversation. It is usually best if you have a cross- section of the parish community involved in the conversation. An easy way to do this is ask that at one meeting each of the parish groups and committees that regularly meet spend some time discussing the parish vision and in what ways the parish realizes that vision and in which ways it falls short of realizing that vision. Both the positive and negatives should be considered, as it is important to acknowledge your strengths and achievements, as well as where there is still significant room for improvement. Be sure that someone in each group is responsible for recording the conclusions of the group and passing them on to the pastor, yourself or whoever is responsible for collecting this information.
Obviously the results are going to be subjective but subjective data is fine. Humans have a pretty good grasp of when all is well and when there are problems that need attending to. The average person may not be able to attach any particular objective criteria to justify his or her perception of a problem but their subjective feel of the situation usually does a good job of weighing many of the factors at play and sensing the need for improvement.
Sometimes it helps to do a simple survey of the parishioners. A short questionnaire can be prepared and placed in the pews one weekend. Before Mass the parishioners can be asked to respond to the questionnaire and deposit it in the collection basket during the Offertory. This is particularly helpful after the focus groups have submitted reports and there is a list of perceived problems that have been identified. The survey can prioritize the identified issues and provide an opportunity to name problems that the focus groups have missed. It doesn’t need to be long or involved. It can be quite short and only have a couple of questions. It is also an opportunity to engage a larger portion of the parish community in the planning process.
If any effective response is to be made to the identified needs in the parish, it is necessary to quantify those needs in some objective manner. This is where the data mentioned earlier comes in handy. How big of a problem is it? How many people are impacted? What resources are available? What can be done to remedy the situation? What options are available? What has been tried before?
Among the problems to be addressed should be the broad Diocesan issues identified in the Diocesan Pastoral Plan. The parish is part of the Diocese and should contribute to the success of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan. This should be reflected in the parish pastoral plan. The parish pastoral plan brings these broad issues down to a practical level in that parish. Their approach to addressing these problems may be different from their neighboring parish, which is fine if it reflects their particular context.
The parish may be directly affected by some of the actions taken by the Diocese in addressing identified problems, such as the declining number of priests and demographic shifts in parishes resulting in the consolidation of parishes. If the parish is to be consolidated in some way with other parishes, there needs to be serious planning for that consolidation and that needs to be worked into the parish pastoral plan.
It is also important to address the more general problems identified in the Diocesan Pastoral Plan at the parish level. If the declining number of priests in the Diocese is identified as a serious problem in the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, how is the parish going to help address that problem?
Having generated a list of fairly detailed and documented challenges to realizing the parish vision, someone must sit down and organize these issues into a list of problems that can be prioritized and addressed. The parish pastoral council is probably the best group to take on this task.