Thoughts from Grouping Meeting #2

Dear Our Lady of Ransom Family,

We have a name!

Apparently, calling our grouping the Rosemont-Niles-Park Ridge-Chicago grouping was proving to be a little too much of a mouthful for the Archdiocese, so a new name was chosen. The grouping that Our Lady of Ransom is part of will be known as the O'Hare Neighborhood Grouping. As a reminder, it also includes Our Lady of Hope in Rosemont, Mary Seat of Wisdom and Paul of the Cross in Park Ridge, and St. Juliana and Immaculate Conception in Chicago. Out of the approximately 100 groupings that every Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago has been sorted into, we are the 70th grouping to be "activated."

As we continued to learn how our grouping would move through this Discernment & Decision phase of Renew My Church, an important distinction was made: the difference between a parish and a church. A parish is a community made up of all people in a given geographical area (the parish boundaries). A parish includes all the people in that area, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike. On the other hand, a church is a sacred building where the parish comes together to celebrate the sacraments and be further equipped to be missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.

Why is this important for us? Because the Archdiocese is clear: There is no consideration of closing any of the 6 churches in the O'Hare Neighborhood Grouping. Hopefully, this should dissipate some of our fears, as we need to look no further than recent newspaper articles to know that this hasn't been the case in all areas of the Archdiocese. Therefore, any conversations about possible structural changes will focus on the parish level with the churches remaining untouched.

As a reminder, to remain a separate parish with a resident pastor, a community must have a total weekend Mass attendance of 800 people and yearly collections of at least $750,000. While an individual parish may meet those benchmarks, they may still experience changes at the parish level if a neighboring parish does not have the necessary numbers.

The Archdiocese also emphasized how the goals of any restructuring are focused on better distributing resources so that parishes can move from a culture of maintenance (one that focuses on internal, institutional issues and self-referential ministries) to a culture of mission (one that reaches out to the peripheries, helping all people to experience the freeing power of Jesus Christ).

During another parish townhall meeting at the end of February, we will be presented with structural scenarios, different options for the configuration of parishes in the O'Hare Neighborhood Grouping. All members of Our Lady of Ransom will be invited to offer feedback on each scenario's strengths and weaknesses. In conjunction with similar meetings at the other parishes, that information will be used to compile a feedback document that will be presented to Cardinal Cupich and the Renew My Church steering committee. Based on that feedback, local demographic trends, and future availability of priests, they will decide which parish scenario will be used moving forward. That scenario will take effect on July 1, 2021.

Importantly, we were given more insight into the three guiding principles of Renew My Church and how they relate to moving a parish from maintenance to mission.

Make Disciples

• A parish with a maintenance culture emphasizes becoming active parishioners, while a culture focused on mission grows lifelong followers of Jesus.

Build Communities

• A parish with a maintenance culture values being a consumer of services, while a culture focused on mission grows participation in a family, the communion of saints.

Inspire Witness

• A parish with a maintenance culture is exclusively concerned with living the faith. In contrast, a culture focused on mission is focused on witnessing to the transformative power of a lived relationship with Jesus Christ.

Overall, the meeting was what I would call a hopeful challenge. It was hopeful because we know that our God is a God of miracles, and He can bring about an amazing transformation even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The challenge that the pastors and the grouping teams experienced was realizing how far we have to go to bring the O'Hare Neighborhood Grouping from maintenance to mission.

But I know we can do it. Or, actually, I know God can do it. I know He not only can but hungers to. If death itself is not an insurmountable obstacle for our God, then we know He can make our community a community of fruitful disciples proclaiming freedom in Christ.

He is Risen!

Fr. Matt