The case of the boundary hoppers

Research Projects

Parish Administration
The research project should take the form of an essay. It requires reflection about your parish and study in the library. The purpose of the essay is to reflect on experience in the light of research. So the essay should:
- Briefly describe a pastoral incident or situation,

- Define the issues which it raises,

- Report what published authors have to say about the issues, and

- Draw conclusions about the research and about the incident itself.

Twelve different kinds of research projects are suggested below. You are invited to select one of them. These twelve are not exhaustive – you can research something unique. Each of the twelve projects includes bibliographic suggestions. The authors are all listed in the Parish Administration Bibliography (Reader, p. 74).
In the conclusion of each project or essay, the writer should weigh the value of the research and apply it to the pastoral incident. It is appropriate to formulate a question for further investigation and identify strategies which may be applied to future incidents of the same kind. It should be no less than five and no more than six double-spaced, typewritten pages, plus pages for footnotes and bibliography. It should be typed according to a recognized style manual, such as Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers, fifth edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).

I. The Nature of the Parish

1. Relate an incident from parish life which calls into question the definition of the parish as “a definite community . . . established on a stable basis,” ca. 515). Examples:

- people crossing parish boundaries for Mass attendance or sacramental services;

- a change in the make-up of the parish which is not fully acknowledged in parish ministerial practice; or

- the development of small communities within the parish.
Define what community and stability mean in the context of the incident. Describe the significance of the incident for pastoral life. If the incident was problematic, identify possible solutions to the problem and make a case for the best solution.
2. Bibliography. Employ at least two of the following texts from the Parish Administration bibliography: Azevedo, Barreiro, Baranowski, Bausch, Brennan, Castelli, Forster and Sweetser, Coriden, Cowan, Doyle et al., Froehle and Gautier (1999 and 2000), Gallup and Castelli, Foster, Greinacher and Mette (esp. the article by Fuchs), Grichting, Hewitt, Howes (1998), Keeler, Kleissler et al., Lawler, Miller, Rauff, Ryan, Somervill, Steinfels, the NCCB’s The Parish Self-Study Guide, Wilkes, Willimon (in Shelp and Sunderland) and Yuhaus (esp. the articles by O’Brien and Coleman).

II. Parish Ministry and the Code of Canon Law

1. Relate an incident from parish life in which lay people exercised their right to share responsibility in ministry or governance. Analyze the exercise of this right with a view toward freedom and authority. To what degree did authority function as a unifying force? To what degree did freedom serve to apply people’s gifts to the well-being of the Church?

2. Bibliography.
A. Examine relevant texts from the 1983 code with the aid of The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, ed. James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, and Donald E. Heintschel (New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1985).

B. Employ at least two of the following texts from the Parish Administration bibliography: Brennan, Dolan, Doohan, Elsesser, Finn, Gilbert, Griffin, Heney, Hubbard, Murray, Neumann, Sofield, Stevens and Collins, Sweetser (1993), and Walsh.

III. Motivation of Parish Volunteers

1. Analyze a parish volunteer program in terms of its implicit or explicit motivation theory. Identify the motivation factors which contributed to the success of the program, and diagnose the problems which hindered it. Finally, describe how one can apply motivation theory to improve parish programs.

2. Bibliography.
A. Volunteer Development. See the works in the Parish Administration bibliography by Baker and Ferrone; Bausch, Beaudoin, Cowan and Lee; Bausch; Cooperrider et al., Donovan and Bannon; Dunning; Duston; Ferder; Finn; Fox; Frost et al.; Hemrick; Heney; Newsome; Sausen; Sofield and Juliano.

B. Extra credit: see the works on motivation theory by Argyris, Herzberg, Maslow and McGregor in the “Management Study Materials” bibliography.

IV. Development of Leaders

1. Briefly describe a parish project in which you were the primary leader. Describe it in terms of the project’s goals and those whom you led. Analyze your role in relation to the models of “situational leadership” described in Hersey/Blanchard. What were your assumptons about and your repertoire of leadership styles? Which assumptions were correct? Which styles effective? How would you apply the theoretical models to future leadership situations?

2. Bibliography. Employ at least two works in the Parish Administration bibliography by Aumann, Clark, Covey, Cowan, Cox and Hoover, Fleischer, Fox, Gilbert, Greenleaf, Haifetz, Hall, John Paul II (“Instruction on Certain Questions”), Keating, Kleissler, McKinney, National Conference of Catholic Bishops (“From Words to Deeds” and “Lay Ecclesial Ministry”), Niklas, Nouwen, de Pree, Rausch, Sofield and Kuhn, Srivasta and Cooperrider, and Sweetser/Holden.
V. Parish Accounting and Data Management

1. Analyze your parish’s budget in relation to published budgeting and accounting systems, or analyze how your parish kept track of parishioner information in light of computerized data systems now available. What were the weaknesses of your parish’s approach? How could they have been strengthened?

2. Bibliography. For analyzing the budget, see the works by Avercamp, Block, Callahan, McKenna et al., Mena, by Vargo, or the Parish Budgeting Manual. For analyzing parishioner data, see Parish Data Systems, Paluch, or MacParish.
VI. Multicultural Ministry in the United States

1. Is there a distinctively “Multicultural” way of being a Catholic in the U.S. which requires separate structures (e.g., masses, advisory councils, religious education programs) in parishes that include a large number of people from a distinctive ethnic or cultural group? Or is good ministry a task of integrating cultures (rather than creating separate structures)?

2. Bibliography. See Azevedo, Cadena, Castelli and Gremillion (p. 83), Coll, Costa, Deck, Dolan and Deck, Duffy, Elizondo, Espín, Fitzpatrick, Gallup and Castelli (pp. 139-141), Goizueta, González and LaVelle, Hewitt, Law, Lucas, McGuire, Rodriguez, Romero, Stevens-Arroyo and Cadena, Stevens-Arroyo and Diaz-Stevens, Thies, and the United States Catholic Conference (1997).
VII. Participative Management

1. The Question. Theory suggests that participative management (e.g., management by objectives and parish consultation) develops consensus about the mission and goals of the parish and enables effective parish evaluation. Has this been true in your parish experience? If not, how should the theory be changed in order to more fully accord with the varieties of experience?

2. Bibliographic Resources. See Bausch, Bunker and Alban, see the collection entitled Gathering God’s People, Cooper, Howes, Hubbard, Keating, Laz, McDonough, McKinney, Neumann, Newsome, Olsen, Rademacher, Loughlan Sofield and Brenda Hermann, Developing the Parish as a Community of Service (LeJacq Publishing, 1984); Sofield, Hammett, and Juliano, Building Community; and Sofield and Kuhn, The Collaborative Leader (1995).
VIII. Power for Change

1. The Question. Theorists suggest that leaders do cultivate power and that they ought to cultivate it, for power is the ability of leaders to motivate followers (Hersey/Blanchard, chap. 9) and the ability to promote the growth of an organization (pp. 356-361). What is the relation between “power” as defined in the management literature and the power of the gospel? When you have seen power utilized in the parish --i.e., when decisions were made by one for another--did the kind of power used correspond to the readiness of the one for whom the decision was made? Did the use of power help? Explain why it did or did not in terms of the theory of power.

2. Resources. Block, Bridges, Bunker and Alban, Byers, D’Antonio et al., Dolan et al., Donovan and Bannon, Gilbert, Greenleaf, Hall, Keating, Markham, May, Niklas, dePree, Primeaux, Schaef, Spencer and Adams, Sweetser, and Sweetser and McKinney.
IX. Discipline and Conflict

1. The Question. Hersey and Blanchard argue that constructive discipline can be a “growth-oriented opportunity” rather than a “punitive experience” if the discipline is done properly (chap. 11). Further, they show how crisis is a part of organizational growth and that it needs to be managed appropriately (pp. 356-358). When you have witnessed discipline exercised in a parish, or seen crises in the development of a parish, was the discipline or crisis managed well? Did the discipline meet the criterion for a growth-oriented opportunity, and are the criteria used to describe constructive discipline sufficient? Was the crisis a predictable one in the growth of the parish, was it met with an appropriate strategy, and are predictions and strategies sufficient to deal with such crises?

2. Resources. See Bausch, see Big or Small, Bernardin and Lipscomb, Bossart, Brennan, DePree, Fowler (1987), Gilbert, Hall, Halverstadt, Keating, Loftus, Newsome, and Williams. See the articles by Ware in Managing People and Organizations, by Ware and Barnes, and by Zaleznik in The Craft of General Management.
X. Parish Councils: Coordination or Planning?

1. The Question: Some authors, taking the Vatican II document Apostolicam Actuositatem 26 as their starting point, recommend that parish councils coordinate a system of parish standing committees. Other authors, starting with Corpus Dominus 27 and canon 536 of the 1983 code, argue that parish councils should not coordinate standing committees but identify, study, and recommend solutions to pastoral problems. Which of the two did you experience? Which is better?

2. Resources. For the coordinating council, see the book by Rademacher and Rogers and that by Sweetser and Holden, and the articles by O’Leary and Murphy in Deegan. For the planning council, see Fischer, Heaps, Howes, Kim, Newsome, and Sofield and Hermann. See also Froehle.
XI. Personnel Management: Supervision or Friendship?

1. The Question. Harris W. Lee, in his book Theology of Administration, asks whether a leader can be a friend. He points to the difficulty of personnel administration by a pastor, who is both a spiritual guide and the manager of a parish. What does it mean for a pastor to be a friend to his staff? What does it mean to be a personnel manager? Are the two roles in harmony or in conflict.

2. Resources. See Ackoff (pp. 152 ff.),Beer, Bonhoeffer (pp. 107 ff.), Hegy, Doohan, Drucker, Duston, Elsesser, Fox, Greeley (pp. 232-235), Kotter, Lee, Lewis (pp. 97 ff.), Moltmann (pp. 57 ff.), Parise, Pearson, Rueter, Tubbs (esp. chap. 5), Wallace, Walton, and Zaleznik.

XII. Parish Lay Leaders.

1. 
   The Question. With the decline in the number of priests, parishes are relying to a greater extent on lay ministers than in the past (Hoge, Murnion, Schoenherr). Some regard this as a good thing in that it allows lay people to share more responsibility for the Church (Doohan, Maloney, Provencher, Whitehead and Whitehead, Wallace). Others note the problems which it poses for a traditional Eucharist-centered piety (McKeown, Cusack and Sullivan, Flaherty). What is the best way to understand the new parish ministers?
   

2. 
   More resources: Burkart, Cooper, Ditewig, Doyle et al., Fox, John Paul II (“Instruction on Certain Questions”), Hoge and Scheets, Hubbard, Komonchak, Nangle, National Conference of Catholic Bishops (“Lay Ecclesial Ministry” and “From Words to Deeds”), Neumann, Stevens, Stortz, Sofield and Juliano.