What will parish life look like 20 years from now? What are the best practices to build a healthy, vibrant parish?

These were just a few of the questions a group of about 50 parish leaders from the Southwest examined Feb. 20-22 as part of a pastoral leadership symposium called "Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership" at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre.

The symposium is a joint research project of six national Catholic associations of pastors, deacons, pastoral associates, lay ministers and young adult ministers in their quest to find models of healthy, creative parishes that are thriving in today's world. The session is the sixth of eight planned across the United States led by Marti Jewell, project director.

"We invited pastors and pastoral life coordinators, pastoral associates, deacons, diocesan coordinators and other diocesan personnel to come together to discuss a whole series of questions around parish leadership and what makes a good parish," Jewell said.

The project is funded by a $2 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, which is also funding 63 other projects to enhance pastoral leadership in parishes and congregations in their "Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Grant Program." The partners hope to use the information to serve parishes nationally.

'Be more resourceful'
When Father Richard Vega was ordained 23 years ago, there were four other priests serving with him in his parish. Now, as pastor of La Purísima Concepción Church in Lompoc, he has no fulltime associates in serving a community of 3,000 families.

"Without lay people I could not possibly do what needs to be done," said Father Vega, president-elect of National Federation of Priests Councils, one of the symposium's six partner groups. "We absolutely have had to be more resourceful, more creative and imaginative, and to invite other people to think like that, too."

Deacon Bob Seidler, who serves at Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Church, Santa Clarita, and is the business manager of St. Finbar Church, Burbank, said he was encouraged at the symposium by the innovative stories of how parishes are not only surviving, but also thriving.

"As the need arises, the laity is stepping forward and is doing a marvelous job," he said. "I think that everyone was impressed. It is very encouraging."

Jewell said that from the information compiled from parishes so far, topping the list of challenges is "learning how to minister in a culturally diverse church." She said that many parish leaders also feel a sense of isolation in ministry.

"More than ever, parishioners really need to care for each other, to minister to each other, to provide leadership in their parish," she said. "I think the growing understanding is that a really healthy parish life is just as much the responsibility of the parishioners as it is the pastor and the staff."

Although church structures and its "face" are changing, parishes are very alive and healthy, reported David Ramey, president of Strategic Leadership Associations Inc., who gave one of the lead presentations at the symposium. Ramey helped design and draft the questions presented at the event, and he is compiling and interpreting the data collected at each session.

Healthy parish traits
Ramey said he has found eight universal practices in healthy parishes of all sizes. They are first "intensely Eucharist centered" and focus on "religious formation of the entire parish and ministry."

Other healthy practices in vibrant parishes, said Ramey, include a commitment to social justice and to diversity; an emphasis on youth and young adults, stepping outside their parish to work with young adults; an "intense commitment to prayer and spirituality"; and an effective Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA) formational model in place.

"If you ask what is the church going to look like in the future structurally, you will not find an answer," he said. "But if you ask what is the church going to look like pastorally, these things are always present, whether you are rich, poor, urban or suburban."

There are also several emerging models of healthy parishes that include young adults, said Mike Hayes, president of the board of the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association (NCYAMA), one of the six partner groups in the project.

In addition to the traditional model of the full-time young adult minister hired by the parish, other successful models Hayes has seen include young adults developing small Christian communities within parishes. Young adults are also responding to parishes that organize and lead altruistic acts of service projects.

"All the sociologists tell us that what young adults long for in a parish community is a strong sense of mystery and contemplation, good music and quality preaching," said Hayes, who has been to three of the six symposia already conducted. Hayes is also the managing editor and cofounder of BustedHalo.com, a Manhattan-based Paulist website and pod cast geared toward young adults.

Celebrating, not blending
Symposium participant LeRoy R. Titus, chairman of the pastoral council at Holy Name of Jesus Church, Los Angeles, noted that his parish is a good model for welcoming and includes parishioners of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Rather than blending them together, he said that parishioners celebrate and learn from each other.

"I am convinced that there is no such thing as a melting pot," he said. "That varied communities within a parish can be loving and supportive groups without relinquishing their individualism."

Maria Elena Uribe, ministry coordinator for the archdiocesan Synod Implementation Office, said that through the symposium, she was glad to meet people from dioceses throughout the Southwest and to hear their ministry experiences.

"You come to the conclusion that across the United States, no matter what the size, we are all facing the same situations," she said.

Uribe said that she wasn't surprised by the dedication and service of the laity, but she was amazed by the "creative ways people are using technology, especially the Internet --- for example, the fact that some parishes are using e-mail to send their parish bulletins. "That was very interesting," she said.

Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary Sister Pauline MacDonald, pastoral associate at St. Anne Church in Santa Monica, said that she was inspired and encouraged by the people she met. She said she believes that "one diocese can learn from another."

"I was reaffirmed by what I heard and challenged to rethink a few things," she said.

"There are also the same things happening everywhere," Jewell said. "The same love for the church. The same marvelous faith and commitment of people in ministry is so profound and frankly I think that is the story we need to be writing."

The project will end with a National Ministers summit in April 2008 in Orlando, Florida. To access the results of past symposia, visit www.emergingmodels.org.