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Breathing new life into our parish

ANALYSIS AND DIAGNOSIS OF THE PARISH

                      TABLE OF CONTENTS                                                                              1

                      MAP OF PARISH      NOT ON THIS SITE                                               2

STEP 1         THE FIRST ASSESSMENT OF THE BASIC CHALLENGE/PROBLEM     3

STEP 2         DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION                                                           5

Section A      THE SOCIAL CONTEXT

1.      Demographic

2.      Ethnic and Cultural Situation

3.      Socio-Religious Situation

4.      Socio-Economic Situation

5.      Socio-Political Situation

6.      Socio-Familial Situation

      Problems in the Social Context                              

Section B      THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION OF THE PARISH                                       16

Level 1          Pastoral Care of All as a Whole

Level 2          Pastoral Care of Small Communities

Level 3          Pastoral Care of the Family

Level 4          Pastoral Care of Specific Categories

Level 5          Pastoral Services

                      5.1   Evangelisation and Catechesis of All Children and Adolescents

5.2      Parish Schools

5.3      Pre-Sacramental Catechesis of Adults

5.4      Liturgical Celebrations

5.5      Prayer and Community Spirituality

5.6      Promoting Human Development

5.7      Ecumenical Movement

Level 6          Pastoral Workers and their Ongoing Formation

Level 7          Structures for Decision Making

Level 8          Structures for Making Proposals and Planning

Level 9          Structures for Communication

Level 10        Parish Assets and Finance

Level 11        Secretarial and Technical Services

STEP 3         RETROSPECTIVE VIEW   (LOOKING BACK)                                          34

STEP 4         PROGNOSIS   (LOOKING FORWARD)                                                    40                                                     

STEP 5          DIAGNOSIS OF THE BASIC CHALLENGE/ PROBLEM                41

PASTORAL DESCRIPTION OF THE IDEAL MODEL OF THE PARISH

ELEMENTS OF THE IDEAL PARISH OF KU-RING-AI CHASE CATHOLIC PARISH

                      OBSTACLES AND POTENTIALITIES                                                      48

                      CONCLUDING STATEMENT                                                                                52

ANALYSIS OF KU-RING-GAI CHASE CATHOLIC PARISH

This reflection and analysis on the situation of the parish happened during a series of pastoral meetings of the parishioners held over a two-week period from 30^th October 2006 to 12^th November 2006.

It was done in several steps by groups of parishioners who responded to an open invitation from the Parish Priest and the Parish Council. The analysis was done as part of the Prospective Method of pastoral planning and was undertaken as part of a process of ongoing parish renewal. At the request of the parish two members of the Community Animation Service of Movement for a Better World facilitated the process.

 The purpose of the meetings was to have a deeper understanding of the present situation of the parish. Parishioners needed to know ‘where we are’ in relation to ‘where we want to be’. We had dreamed up elements of a vision of an ideal model of parish in the “Spirituality for our Times” Renewal Week held in late March into early April, 2006.  This vision for the future was revisited during the pastoral meetings from the end of October into November, 2006.

The groups of parishioners who met have striven to work in a prayerful and patient way, in an attitude of hope, contemplating the people of the parish in the local situation. They did so in a spirit of humility, trust and openness.

STEP 1     FIRST ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION  (A FIRST QUICK LOOK)

Ku-Ring-Gai Chase Catholic Parish came into being only recently, in June 2006, drawing together the former parishes of St. Patrick’s, Asquith and St. Bernard’s, Berowra.  St. Patrick’s had become a Parish in its own right in 1951, originating from the neighbouring parish of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Waitara.  Later still in 1973, St. Bernard’s Parish was established for the community at Berowra.  The first school in St Patrick’s Parish was established by the Sisters of Mercy, from the North Sydney Monte St. Angelo Province who came to St. Patrick’s in 1958 from Waitara and by 1959 a small school was established in a building which functioned both as school and church. They also started a school in St. Bernard’s Parish. Both schools are now fully staffed by lay teachers.

Since the Vatican Council II closed in 1965 the parish has made many efforts to bring about the growth and renewal that the Vatican Council called for in all the people and in their way of living. Some of these efforts and achievements were recalled:

 §  Parishioners themselves built the two churches

§  Lay people proclaim the word

§  Changing from Latin to English in the Mass

§  Sacramental programme was introduced properly and included the families

§  The R.C.I.A. and the role of the catechists

§  Youth Masses and Antioch movement

§  Hospitality – cups of tea after Mass

§  Family groups

§  Appointment of first permanent parish priest of Saint Bernard’s and surviving the subsequent
instability of the change of priests.

§  The introduction of the permanent diaconate

§  Youth music ministry

§  Lay teachers taking over responsibility in the schools.

§  Parish Councils provide advice to the priests

§  Greater consultative participation

§  Greater accountability of clergy to the people – in finances and in parish property

§  More interfaith dialogue and respect

§  Baptism – the people see new people welcomed into the church

§  Ministers and priests conducting marriages together

§  Marriage Encounter

§  The Paulian Society

§  Refugee resettlement – people from Asia and Europe

§  The activity of the Columban seminarians in the parish

§  Scripture study groups

§  Prayer group

§  Availability of daily Mass

§  Mass is inclusive of children and has a special atmosphere

§  The charism of the Sisters of Mercy from their work in the schools

§  Catechists

§  The gift of our pastors, their different approach and their practical homilies

§  Continuing contact with former pastors

§  Building the schools

§  Greater participation of the people in the Mass including both boys and girls as servers;
readers; acolytes; senior servers and Special Ministers

§  St Catherine’s home in Brooklyn

§  Ministry to the housebound

§  Adult faith education and the Lenten programmes

§  Action on behalf of social justice

§  The social life and activity of the parish

§  The broad sense of community that exists – we belong

 Despite these and many other efforts and achievements, a majority of Catholics take little or no part in parish life. In 2006, of the 8,107 Catholics living within the boundaries of the parish, about 1,100 people (13%) participate in Sunday Eucharist.

 After taking notice of this reality we surfaced the DISSATISFACTIONS that people voice about the parish, about the services it offers, about the way it is organised and run, and the dissatisfactions of the pastoral workers themselves. The purpose here was to have a first understanding or to make a first assessment of the key challenge/problem facing us and to try to do this as people of faith. Our formulations of the partial problems are:

 ·         Dissatisfactions about the parish in general:

People, including the clergy, feel powerless in their relationship with the official church.

·         Dissatisfactions about the pastoral services:

The pastoral services of the parish do not totally meet the needs of the people.

·         Dissatisfactions about the structures/organization:

The people, including the clergy, do not feel part of the structures.

·         Dissatisfactions of the pastoral workers themselves:

The pastoral workers are too few. Their work is unseen and they feel unsupported.

In looking at the partial problems above, the key overall challenge/problem in a first assessment was seen to be:

The way the official church, at various levels, organises its life and ministry does not engage effectively or appropriately the people of the parish.

It is evident that in saying this we are not intending to blame anyone but simply to understand the situation. The other face of dissatisfactions is people’s longings and yearnings.

In looking at this key challenge/problem we asked ourselves: In what direction does the solution lie? We say the following:

GENERAL LINES OF A SOLUTION.

STEP 2

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION

SECTION A                               THE SOCIAL CONTEXT

Locality:  Ku-Ring-Gai Chase Catholic Parish is situated within the Shire of Hornsby.  A small portion lies north of the Hawkesbury.  Much of the parish shares a boundary with the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park. Contained within the parish are the suburbs and localities of Hornsby, Hornsby Heights, Hornsby North, Asquith, Berowra,  Berowra Heights, Berowra Waters, Cheero Point, Mt Colah, Mt Kuring-gai, Cowan, Brooklyn, and Mooney Mooney.

Within the Diocese of Broken Bay, Ku-Ring-Gai, Chase Parish is part of the Northern Deanery. Its neighbouring parishes are Arcadia to the west, Gosford to the north, Wahroonga to the east and Waitara to the south.

1.      Demographic Situation

The overall population of the area of the parish is 34,006 (2001 census) of whom 16,877 are male and 17, 129 are female.  Of the 8,495 who are retired, 3,398 are male and 5,097 are female.

The overall population distribution is indicated in the following age structure graph:

        The average number of family members:         3

Average number of persons per household:                                                 3

Birth rate per year over the past few years:                                                   No good figures

Floating population - numbers of seasonal workers, holiday population:       4,428-census night

Rate of turnover in population per year:                                                          1.3%

2. Ethnic Cultural Situation

 The dominant cultural and ethnic group (83%) is of Anglo-Celtic origin.  There are very few Aborigines living in the area (0.5%). The following table gives the country of origin for the area of Hornsby Shire Council covered by the parish.

 Generally Australians of Anglo-Celtic origin are seen as more reserved than other ethnic groups, and mix freely only with those whom they know well, where it is recognized they are friendly and welcoming.  They show great generosity in times of disaster, and have traditionally believed strongly in ‘a fair go’. Nonetheless they keep their troubles to themselves and they tend to be reserved and to be undemonstrative in relationships (especially men) with a certain difficulty in verbalizing feelings and communicating in depth. This may cause them to be diffident which stems from a fear of being rejected rather than from a belief that they are better than others.  They might not be as demonstrative as others, but the feelings are still there. Loyalty to the groups with which they are most closely connected is a feature. A very small percentage of people make their religious tradition central to their social and cultural life

 They value privacy and prefer to ‘mind their own business’ unless family or close friends are involved.  They do not want to intrude or to interfere in other people’s lives.  They can be very responsive, but tend to wait until they are approached: they are not natural volunteers; when they are asked they are usually ready to help generously and to share the workload. 

 They do not like snobbishness and can be suspicious and critical of others especially those in authority, capable of being ‘knockers’; they are casual, practical and inventive rather than reflective and often ‘sport mad’. They take time to open up to others.  At times they are suspicious and resentful of the influence of minority groups, seeing them as ‘different’, but when they get to know them as people, the personal contact and knowledge leads to empathy.

The younger ones are seen to being different and it is recognised that there is are variations among generations

 The following list is of ethnic groups found within the parish boundaries:

 ·                     Italy                              4.1%

·                     China                           2.2%

·                     Filipino                         2.1%

·                     Polish                          2.3%

·                     India                            1.2%

·                     Other European          2.0%

·                     Other Asian                 2.1 %

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