Jack McBride
(as printed in Today's Parish, January, 2001. With permission of the publisher and the author)

          Vibrant parishes don't just sprout up overnight. Vibrant parishes are grown, nurtured, and attended to. Growing a vibrant parish takes intentional and dedicated effort on the part of the entire parish community.
          How is your parish growing? What kind of shape is it in? One way to tell is by turning to the recently published U.S. Catholic bishops' pastoral plan for adult faith formation, entitled Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us (OHWB). There, the bishops pose ten questions that can help us assess our own parish faith community.
          How does your parish measure up to the questions posed by the bishops? Each question raises not only concerns but also even more questions, which, if attended to, may help us form the kind of adult community of faith needed to meet the challenges of this day and age.
          Consider using these ten questions as discussion starters in your small faith groups, with your parish council, and in your adult faith formation committees.

Question #1 – How are people encouraged to examine their basic assumptions about life and its ultimate meaning?
How does the parish invite people to think about life, the dignity of each human being, and the responsibility that each of us has in creating a just and moral society?
How does the parish nudge us out of our complacency? Does the parish offer retreats for adults that provide them a time and space in which to reflect on life in the light of our faith?

Question #2 – How do people acquire the perspective and skills for an intelligent appropriation of Catholic Christian tradition and an honest, informed assessment of contemporary culture?
What opportunities and resources does the parish provide to help adults know their faith in order to live their faith?
Does the parish help adults better understand the liturgy, how to make moral decisions, how to strengthen their prayer life?

Question #3 – How is the Christian message lived and communicated?
Do our efforts to live and communicate the message of Jesus reach into the broader community?
If our parish disappeared tomorrow would the community even notice?
Does our parish find ways to educate those independent adult learners who don't like to gather in groups to learn?
What resources does our parish provide the independent adult learner (such as bulletin inserts, helpful web sites, and suggested readings)?

Question #4 – How do people experience Christian community in family, parish, small groups, and ecumenical encounters?
Is our parish a friendly and hospitable community?
Has the parish considered what it means to be a welcoming community?
How does the parish nurture families and marriages, especially new marriages of between one and five years?

Question #5 – How do people actively participate in liturgical, small group, family and personal prayer?
Does our parish encourage its people to pray?
People are spiritually hungry. Does our parish seize this opportunity to offer retreats (such as Saturday mini-retreats) that fit easily into the active lives of adults?
Does our parish suggest resources for family and personal prayer?

Question #6 – How are people involved in assessing local needs and discerning pastoral priorities?
Does the parish look beyond its front door?
Does the pastoral council or parish staff assume they know the needs of adults in the local community and the parish, or is there a process to assess needs?
Does the parish target various groups in the parish (e.g., young adults, young married couples, divorced and separated, parents, etc.) and initiate conversations to determine their spiritual and intellectual needs?
As adults join our parish are our first questions dedicated to discovering who they are and how we as a parish might help them on their journey of faith or do we hand them a box of envelopes and ask them to help us by signing up to work on some committee?

Question #7 – How is Christian stewardship in parish and society called forth and welcomed?
Do we have a way of assessing the interests, skills, and gifts of the parish members?
Can we say that we know as much about the parishioner's gifts and talents as we do about their financial contributions?
Do we invite parish adults to share their gifts and talents in service not only to the parish but also to the local community?

Question #8 – How do people personally serve "the least ones" (Mt. 25: 45)?
Is the parish involved in such outreach programs as hospital and retirement center visitation, food pantries, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Habitat for Humanity?

Question #9 – How are people involved in shaping public policy and making society more just?
Does the parish help its adults better understand the teachings of the Catholic Church on various public policy issues?
Do we provide resources and programs, such as the National Issues Forums in the Catholic Community, that help adults better understand public policy in the light of faith? (For information on the NIFCC call 1-800-433-7834).
Does the parish encourage adults to share their opinion with their legislators and to vote?
Does the parish help to register voters?

Question #10 – How are people learning in the faith through the ordinary experience of parish life and mission?
How does the parish challenge its adults to be awake and aware to God's revelation through the ordinary experiences of life (birth, death, marriage, work, joys, sorrows, etc.)?
How does the parish learn when it gathers for liturgy, or during the various seasons of the liturgical year such as Advent, Lent, Pentecost?
Does the parish provide opportunities for learning during committee meetings, staff meetings, and parish council meetings?

We are co-responsible!
In order to build a vibrant and active adult community of faith, pastors, parish staff, and the entire parish community must recognize that they are co-responsible for shaping the parish culture. It takes an entire community of faith to raise a parish of knowledgeable, prayerful, service-oriented Catholic adults. To this end, the parish must be intentional and organized in its efforts to shape an adult faith community. The parish must also be willing to assess these efforts and make the necessary changes needed to assure the growth of a dynamic adult faith community.

So, how is your parish doing?