Project: Building Learning Faith Communities (LFCs)
By Frances Forde Plude
Introduction
People of a certain age can remember when church congregations and other faith communities were full and the spirit of these groups was expansive, energized and caring. Many things have changed.
There’s competition for our time and focus. Individualization and competition have increased. A secular culture competes with belief. Education has made many wiser (or more cynical). The second Vatican Council liberated many while disturbing others. And sexual abuse.
For more than 15 years The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University has conducted research and offered planning studies for various strands of Catholic institutions including parishes. They have focused on a cross-section of the population so their data probe the faith community in depth [See Catholic Parishes of the 21st Century, Oxford University Press, 2017].
In comparing numbers among Catholics between 1965 and 2016 CARA found:
Priest numbers dropped from 58,632 to 37,192
Parishes with no resident pastor = 549; now it is 3,499
Active diocesan priests per parish have dropped in half
Adult baptisms were 126,209; in 2016 they were 37, 953
Mass attendance: in 1965 = 55%; in 2016 = 22%
In 2016 over 30 million Catholic adults who were raised Catholic no longer self-identify as Catholic, according to CARA. And the Catholic school system – providing early grounding in their faith for Catholic youth – is about half the size of 1965 at the elementary-school level.
How can we energize communities of faith facing such changes?
Most current projects (RENEW, Leadership Roundtable, etc.) focus on strengthening professional staff and top lay leadership in parishes. This project, based on a long track record of theory and practice, focuses on a maturation process for “people in the pews.”
History
The project Building Learning Faith Communities is based upon a workshop model developed by two European scholars in conjunction with Bradford E. Hinze, author of Ecclesiology for a Dialogical Church. Sister Mary Ann Hinsdale, of Boston College, has also participated in the workshop design. The background history is unique.
In the darkest days of Hitler’s Germany, a gifted psychiatrist, Ruth C. Cohn, escaped to America. She moved “from the treatment of individuals to a pedagogy for everyone.” She “transformed her existential experiences (of persecution) into the hope of supporting humane action in all areas of society by strengthening [individual and group] self-confidence combined with a vital system of values.”
Cohn’s methodology, known as “Theme-Centered Interaction” (TCI) has spread rapidly. As explained in the book The Practice of Communicative Theology by Matthias Scharer and Bernd Jochen Hilberath – the two European scholars mentioned above – churches are described as communities of communication.
They describe their model as a triangle within a circle. Imagine the three corners of the triangle as 1) the faith tradition; 2) individuals with their life and faith history; and 3) people in their groups and communities with their interactions. The circle surrounding this triangle represents the global reality of society and church.
Cohn developed techniques to help individuals grow in self-understanding and respect for others within a group (such as a faith community or congregation). Her hope was that this respect for every individual would release each person’s gifts for the benefit of the entire group – in contrast to the degradation of respect for individuals during Hitler’s reign.
The team of Scharer, Hilberath, Hinze and Hillsdate have met regularly with others to guide research as workshops held in Europe attracted hundreds of individuals from faith communities. Hinze hosted a workshop at Fordham University which was attended by many theologians from throughout the U.S. Workshops have been conducted in Asia that were ecumenical; Scharer has worked with groups including Muslims.
Project Components
A two-year pilot project could consist of six parts. Funding should be sought to support the project.
1. Analysis of how workshops could enrich U.S. faith communities
This would be done through dialogue with members of a pilot group of U.S. parishes, with “people-in-the-pews,” with youth and with people who have dropped out of faith communities, including Protestant individuals.
2. Adapt the Workshop Model used in Europe to U.S. culture
This workshop re-design would be done by American individuals who have participated in the existing workshop model. This work would also be done in conjunction with selected congregation members, involving individuals of different ages, including youth.
3. Establish a network of a representative of U.S. Retreat Centers where workshops can later be held. This would require gathering retreat representatives together to experience a workshop themselves. Some of this could be facilitated by teleconferences.
4. Organize a program of information to attract workshop participants
This systematic advertising effort would include contact with existing organizations like RENEW, the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministry (NACFLM), and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL), along with the client list of U.S. Retreat Houses and Protestant groups. Youth groups could also be targeted. This presupposes that this project would supplement good work already being done by the above organizations.
5. Conduct a specific group of workshops in Retreat Houses
Participants would experience a Theme-Centered Interaction workshop at the Retreat; they would discuss ways these principles could be integrated into their own individual faith communities – where they would emphasize listening to others, encouraging congregants’ self-development and faith-community support.
6. Project evaluation
Each Retreat House would commit to a thoughtful reflection after the workshop experience. Video conferences could be held with experienced workshop leaders to assess how to improve workshops during the life of the project.
After the two-year period a thorough evaluation would be done to determine how the project workshops should be shaped for the future.