Emmaus teams aim to help parish renewal

ELLICOTT CITY – When the members of the staff of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crofton gathered for a retreat, they started the day telling stories about the things that they valued most. 

Included among the items were one woman’s necklace that had been worn by her mother, family photographs, a baseball from an Orioles game and the chalice that Father Paul Sparklin, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s pastor, received for his ordination that includes the engagement rings of his mother and grandmother welded inside the bottom.

The storytelling was an important aspect of the retreat, which Father Sparklin hoped would give the staff – which includes several new members after turnovers last year – an opportunity to get to know each other better. He believes that if the staff can connect better to each other, they can better serve the parish.

Wayne Hipley, one member of the Emmaus Teams in the archdiocesan Office of Parish Renewal, led the retreat Feb. 10 at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City. He designed it to meet the staff’s needs. While some parishes might need more staff development, Father Sparklin asked for something more spiritual.

Leading a retreat such as this one is just one component of the work done by the Office of Parish Renewal and its Emmaus Teams, which are designed to support parishes and their staff with a wide variety of resources. Hipley admits the job is part retreat leader, part strategic planner, part organizational trainer and part wrangler, ensuring that a parish has the resources it needs from the archdiocese to survive, thrive and help its members become missionary disciples.

Supporting parishes

Julie St. Croix, director of the Office of Parish Renewal within the archdiocesan Institute for Evangelization, said Emmaus Teams do a wide range of things to assist parishes, and the team members bring varied experience.

Edward Herrera, director of the Institute for Evangelization, called the new structure a “dramatic shift, organizationally, for the archdiocese. Few dioceses really operate this way.”

In fact, St. Croix said, she is already receiving calls from other dioceses around the country about the new model of supporting parish evangelization. 

In the past, the Department of Evangelization focused on creating archdiocesan or regional programs for various catechetical and formation programs in parishes, and supporting parish ministers. Some of that support is still provided through the institute’s Office of Family, Youth and Young Adult Ministry; Office of Life, Justice and Peace; and Office of Divine Worship. 

But the Office of Parish Renewal strives to do more than just programs or parish planning. The goal is to help parishes make missionary disciples.

When Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori first announced the plan for the Institute for Evangelization in his pastoral letter, “A Light Brightly Visible 2.0” in January 2021, he noted that the Emmaus Teams concept “is quite novel but not without biblical foundations. The episode of the disciples on the road to Emmaus has for many become the model of accompaniment, and with good reason. 

“The Lord comes into their midst and walks together with them, and the Lord doesn’t send us out to do this work alone, he sends us two-by-two,” the archbishop wrote.

He said Emmaus Teams would consist “of a coach who specializes in organizational health and another who will have a great expertise in the art of evangelization. Each pastorate will have an Emmaus Team readily available to support its evangelizing efforts and strengthen their leadership team.”

The parish renewal specialists at this point include: Pablo Maldonado and Annie Sarlo, who serve Harford County and the Western Vicariate; Hipley and another team member to be hired serving Anne Arundel County, West Baltimore County, Harbor West and Metro West (except the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen); and Kellie Reynolds and another team member to be hired, serving North Baltimore County, East Baltimore County, Harbor East, Metro East and the cathedral.

Each team of two is responsible for connecting with about 30 pastorates in a region of the archdiocese, which can include 40 to 45 parishes. A pastorate is a single parish or group of parishes under a single pastor and leadership team.

‘Good listeners’

Hipley said he used storytelling in the parish staff retreat because it’s a good way to get to know people. “We need to be good listeners, good storytellers. It’s how Jesus taught,” he said, noting that Jesus used parables to make clear his teachings.

The model of accompaniment – walking with people on their journey of faith – is something Hipley is familiar with from his more than 20 years in varied church ministry, mostly in parishes, including volunteer catechist and full-time youth minister or pastoral associate. A convert to the Catholic faith, he said he was drawn to the position of parish renewal specialist because of the focus on accompaniment.

He said he tells people he works with at the parishes, “We’re not here to tell you to do anything. We’re about listening and helping you. We’re here if you need us.” He said it has been “a real joy, really eye-opening, to help break down some of those barriers” – perceived or real – between parishes and the Catholic Center.

As an example, he talked about helping an order priest who was new to the archdiocese and was overwhelmed by all the things he didn’t know he needed. He was struggling with the parish accounting and had a staff position to fill. As the parish renewal specialist, Hipley connected him to the archdiocesan human resources support team, which helped him post the job opening and got 11 applicants within a week. He connected the pastor to the regional controller for his area, who helped set up the parish with an outside accounting firm recommended by the archdiocese, especially to help small parishes.

“The third time I met with him, all this tension was released. He was able to focus on ministry instead of on the administrative side,” Hipley said. “When I was pastoral associate in a parish, a big part of what I focused on was how to make the pastor’s work easier, so he could focus on Mass and the sacraments, and not have to worry about committees.”

He said, “The gift of this office is changing some of those ideas and misconceptions.” He emphasized that the teams are trying to build relationships with pastors and parish staffs, so that they can help the parish create a pastorate plan.

‘Walk with them’

St. Croix, the Office of Parish Renewal’s director, said it’s important not to bring to parishes preconceived programs and tell them what they have to do. 

“It’s not a cookie-cutter process. … In a way, it’s the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) accompaniment model, where you meet people where they are on their journey. The parishes are in all different places, so we meet them where they are and walk with them,” she said.

“We listen and walk with them and work with them to galvanize their leadership and give them ideas or resources they can adapt to help their parishes become more evangelizing.”

Laryessa Worthington, who just started in January at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, said the retreat helped her connect to others on the parish staff. She is not a cradle Catholic, having joined the Catholic church about six years ago. 

“I liked the open discussion. It seems like we’re not just listening to a presentation all day. We have the opportunity to share, listen and reflect.”

As pastor for nearly 10 years, Father Sparklin already appreciated the assistance of St. Croix, when she was with the department of parish planning at the archdiocese, noting that she “was very helpful in helping the parish articulate the pastoral planning process.” She helped finalize the plan and present it to the parish pastoral council.

He said he also appreciates working with Hipley. “He’s accessible. He responds to email and phone calls quickly, which is very helpful,” Father Sparklin said.

That’s one of the benefits for the parishes of having a designated contact in the Office of Parish renewal, Hipley said. People at the parish cannot always reach their regional vicar or delegate, “but they can reach me.”

Helping parishes with a pastoral plan is an important part of the nuts-and-bolts process. He finds that some parishes don’t have pastoral council yet and need to explore first what the spirituality of the council will be. 

In his experience, he said there seem to be three kinds of parish pastoral councils: Those that hear a lot of reports about the parish, those filled with doers who rush around taking care of things, and then those that have a vision for the parish.

“It’s fun to work with people, especially those who have a sense of mission,” Hipley said.

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org

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