The case of the boundary hoppers

The Challenges of Delegation

In the following three cases, one person delegates a parish task to another. Play the roles of the delegator and the delegatee, and judge the quality of the delegation with reference to Charles J. Keating’s The Leadership Book, chapter 9.

The Case of the Parish Lockup

The Pastor

Father Smith is an old-fashioned pastor: he likes to lock up the church every night and unlock it first thing in the morning. Next week, however, he is going on retreat, and he has delegated to his associate the ministry of the keys. He says that the Church is to be unlocked at 6:45 A.M. before the 7:00 Mass and locked every night at 7:00 P.M. There are, however, some exceptions. On Tuesday night, the choir rehearses; and on Thursday night, the charismatic prayer group holds it meeting. 9:30 P.M. is lockup time on those nights, except when the charismatics are really moved by the Spirit, and then one can never be sure when the meeting will end. On Sunday afternoons, the church is to be locked at 2:00 after Baptisms, unless Father Lu, the Chinese Vicar, has more than the usual number for the sacraments of initiation.

The Associate

The associate knows that Father Smith likes everything done in a proper and orderly fashion. So he is anxious to learn about all the exceptions to the rule of “Lock at 7:00 and unlock at 6:45.” When Father Smith hands him the keys, he sees that there are several sets for the Church, and it is not clear which keys belong to the various locks. The associate also knows that, if Father Smith finds visitors in Church at 7:00 P.M., he usually waits for them. The associate wants to know what he should do if he has an appointment at 7:15—ease the worshippers out or miss the appointment.

The Case of the Extraordinary Lector

Father Sanchez

Father Sanchez knows that Mrs. Kim is the parish’s best lector. She not only reads well and with feeling, but she understands how the ministry of lector depends on the other liturgical ministries. The former coordinator of the lectors, Mr. Blümenthal, had to resign his office after a heart attack. Father Sanchez has decided to invite Mrs. Kim to assume the responsibility of Lector Coordinator, but he fears that he will “pay a price” for her competence. He wants and needs her help, but also wants to make clear that her duties are limited. She is to schedule and train the lectors, not to tell the other volunteer heads of liturgical ministries how to do their jobs.

Mrs. Kim

Mrs. Kim is so attentive to details that she makes Father Sanchez and other staff members look bad. For example, she noticed last year that the regular readings for the First Sunday of Lent were to be replaced by the Cycle A readings because an RCIA “Scrutiny” was planned, and she complained that the lectors were not informed. The youth ministry team incurred her wrath because they had recruited teen lectors for a special youth Mass and did not inform Mrs. Kim, who was scheduled to read that day.

The Liturgy Committee instituted the practice of an entry procession with the Book of the Gospels, and the celebrant was to carry the book from the altar to the ambo during the Liturgy of the Word. But a visiting celebrant was never briefed, and never carried the book to the ambo, reading instead from the lectionary. So at the exit procession, when the Gospels were to be picked up from the ambo and carried out by—you guessed it—Mrs. Kim, the Gospels weren’t there. She brought this to the attention of the Liturgy Committee in no uncertain terms. Mrs. Kim feels honored to be asked to be the Lector Coordinator, but wonders whether she will be given the authority to insist upon clear communication from the other ministry heads.

Coordinating the Altar Servers

Father Tran

At St. Didymus Church, Father Tran, the associate, has labored to develop the altar server program. When he arrived at St. Didymus, there were about ten servers, and they were poorly trained, unreliable, and unconfident. Now, after three years, there are over sixty boys and girls in the program. They receive monthly training, they progress through five levels of ever-increasing readiness, their reliability is carefully tracked, and they take responsibility for their own albs. Father Tran anticipates moving to his next assignment in six months. He has decided to ask Mr. Diaz to coordinate the servers. No one can be as dedicated to a program as the one who built it up, Father Tran knows, but some one must assume responsibility. He has decided to gradually delegate the responsibility for the program to Mr. Diaz and provide him needed support during the transition.

Mr. Diaz

Mr. Diaz was an altar server when he was a boy, and now his son, Antonio, is an altar server. Mr. Diaz occasionally helps Father Tran, and is familiar with the program at St. Didymus. But Father Tran has done such an excellent job with the altar servers that Mr. Diaz is hesitant to assume responsibility for the program. He knows he cannot fill the shoes of Father Tran. Training, promoting servers, organizing social events, maintaining discipline—there are so many responsibilities! Mr. Diaz acknowledges that he is himself the best choice for the job. But the thought of being compared to Father Tran worries him.

Official Texts About Pastoral Councils

Assembled by Mark F. Fischer, St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo

www.PastoralCouncils.com

Part I: Vatican II Texts

1. Decree on Bishops

Vatican II, “Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church,” Christus Dominus, October 28, 1965, trans. Matthew Dillon, OSB, Edward O’Leary, OP, and Austin Flannery, OP, in Austin P. Flannery, General Editor, The Documents of Vatican II, Preface by John Cardinal Wright (New York: Costello Publishing Company, 1975).

“It is highly desirable that in every diocese a special pastoral council be established, presided over by the diocesan bishop himself, in which clergy, religious, and laity specially chosen for the purpose will participate. It will be the function of this council to investigate and consider matters relating to pastoral activity and to formulate practical conclusions concerning them.” (no. 27, p. 580)
“This sacred Ecumenical Synod expresses its earnest hope that these admirable institutions—synods and councils—may flourish with renewed vigor so that the growth of religion and the maintenance of discipline in the various churches may increasingly be more effectively provided for in accordance with the needs of the times.” (no. 36, p. 586)

2. Decree on Lay People

Vatican II, “Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People,” Apostolicam actuositatem, November 18, 1965, translated by “Father Finnian, OCSO,” in Austin P. Flannery, General Editor, The Documents of Vatican II, Preface by John Cardinal Wright (New York: Costello Publishing Company, 1975).

The laity should develop the habit of working in the parish in close union with their priests, of bringing before the ecclesial community their own problems, world problems, and questions regarding man’s salvation, to examine them together (collatis . . . examinanda) and solve them by general [778] discussion (consiliis). According to their abilities (pro viribus navare) the laity ought to cooperate (adiutricem) in all the apostolic and missionary enterprises of their ecclesial family” (no. 10, pp. 777-778).

“In dioceses, as far as possible, councils should be set up to assist the Church’s apostolic work, whether in the field of evangelization and sanctification or in the fields of charity, social relations and the rest; the clergy and religious working with the laity in whatever way proves satisfactory. These councils can take care of the mutual coordinating of the various lay associations and undertakings, the autonomy and particular nature of each remaining untouched.¹

“Such councils should be found too, if possible, at parochial, inter-parochial, inter-diocesan level [sic], and also on the national and international plane.² ” (no. 26, pp. 791-2)

Part II: Canon Law

John Paul II, Pope (Karol Wojtyla), Code of Canon Law, Latin-English Edition, Translation prepared under the auspices of the Canon Law Society of America (Washington, D.C.: Canon Law Society of America, 1983).

Chapter V: The Pastoral Council

Can. 511. In each diocese, to the extent that pastoral circumstances recommend it, a pastoral council is to be established whose responsibility it is to investigate under the authority of the bishop all those things which pertain to pastoral works, to ponder them and to propose practical conclusions about them.
Can. 512. §1. The pastoral council consists of Christian faithful who are in full communion with the Catholic Church, clerics, members of institutes of consecrated life and especially lay persons, who are designated in a manner determined by the diocesan bishop.

§2. The Christian faithful who are appointed to the pastoral council are to be so selected that the entire portion of the people of God which constitutes the diocese is truly reflected, with due regard for the diverse regions, social conditions and professions of the diocese as well as the role which they have in the apostolate, either as individuals or in conjunction with others.

§3. No one except Christians of proven faith, good morals and outstanding prudence are to be appointed to the pastoral council.
Can. 513. §1. The pastoral council is to be established for a period of time according to the prescriptions of the statutes which are issued by the bishop.

§2. When the see is vacant the pastoral council ceases to exist.

Can. 514. §1. It pertains exclusively to the diocesan bishop to convoke the pastoral council according to the necessities of the apostolate and to preside over it; the pastoral council enjoys only a consultative vote; it is for the bishop alone to make public what has been done in the council.

§2. The pastoral council is to be convoked at least once a year.

Chapter VI: Parishes, Pastors and Parochial Vicars

Can. 536. §1. After the diocesan bishop has listened to the presbyteral council and if he judges it opportune, a pastoral council is to be established in each parish; the pastor presides over it, and through it the Christian faithful along with those who share in the pastoral care of the parish in virtue of their office give their help in fostering pastoral activity.

§2. This pastoral council possesses a consultative vote only and is governed by norms determined by the diocesan bishop.

Can. 537. Each parish is to have a finance council which is regulated by universal law as well as by norms issued by the diocesan bishop; in this council the Christian faithful, selected according to the same norms, aid the pastor in the administration of parish goods with due regard for the prescription of can. 532.