The
New Assignment from 8th June 2014
The
new appointment: ‘to monitor the
Parish records and develop training module to train the responsible persons in
the Parishes for effective Pastoral Management.’
By way of an introduction:
4th
June 2014 was the day I was given appointment order with an entirely new
assignment to be effective from 8th June. Though I asked for a clear
note before the appointment as to what the assignment specifically is, nothing
was given. However, the archbishop was told to have announced it in the
Presbyterium on 10th June, leaving all to wonder as to what it is!
That same day I e—mailed him asking to define and clarify certain terms in the
order. Getting no response for a week, I reminded him twice.
In the meantime
the VG handed over a note supported by few canons. That in no way could help my
search for clarifications! Then the archbishop’s secretary informed that he
would be discussing the matter soon besides the archbishop himself telling me
of the same. This materialized only on 6th September, leaving the
burden of getting those clarifications for myself! [A time log is given
below for perusal].
All that
transpired in between revealed one thing for certain that none of us are
certain of anything of the assignment! Was it to accommodate me somehow when I
insisted for retirement, by not to taking up any parish assignment, especially
not to succeed any of my juniors whatever be the parish/position?
Anyhow, the
present plight is unfortunate, if not comical. However, I tried my best to meet
the persons suggested by the VG and going through materials given by him and
other materials available and prepare some sort of a paper to substantiate the
two fold tasks in the assignment.
In search of a meaning…:
Jesus
came preaching the kingdom of God. His very life was a preaching through his
words and deeds, especially the healings and other wonder works. It was not an
instant affair, but a process to be carried
forward by his disciples to be realized in the fullness of time (‘kairos’). It
was to remain a movement, a path, ‘the Way’ having none to dominate but all to love and serve.
Even after his
death, the disciples followed that so loyally till the movement was hijacked by
the Roman imperialism immersed in feudalistic, hedonistic tendencies. Thus it
got evolved into an institution/church with all its vestiges claiming to be the
organ/means of the kingdom the master preached!
What Jesus
envisaged in the gospels was the Kingdom of God, ‘the way’, a movement,
which ended up into the Church, an institution!
There is no
chance of Jesus having any idea of ‘management’ of our days. That was why he
could not reconcile with selfishness, profit motive, competition etc. This
creates careerism, clericalism etc., of which Francis, bishop of Rome,
‘has complained more than once…’ [Subash Anand, p.18 (John Borelli, “John
and Francis: two of a kind”, The Tablet, 15 June2013, pp.4-5, here p.5)]
The church
‘in headlines’, a lot akin to any multi-national corporation (MNC), is
‘largely an enterprise… ensures the structures it thinks it needs to perpetuate
itself.’ (ibid, p.5)
Priests thereby
become cult managers and are not capable of uplifting liturgy or deep
prayer… Cult brings in lot of money… centralized ‘cultification’ forces people
to come to the priests and that gives a sense of power to the cult dispenser…
Besides, they are
more of executives running the parish institution with its own many
businesses, managing money like a branch corporate office and the least
they bother about the meaningful celebration of the Eucharist, the
administration of the sacraments and sacramental…
Market
has invaded our sanctuaries… ordinations and consecrations become more and more
costly… highly paid choirs, photography and videography... and of course,
publicity… Consumerism ‘is the desolation and anguish born of a
complacent yet covetous heart, a feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and
blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own
interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the
poor.’ (ibid, p.6)
·
Managing is more of the system than
of the person… once the system, and effective system is in place, the
institution runs by itself…
·
The Church institution, both in the
universal as in the local level has its own effective systems proven down the
ages…
·
Thus for example, we have the
following in the archdiocese:
Now, here comes
the necessity of management to run it effectively and ‘smoothly and
achieve the goals and objectives…’
Vision:
[a free translation from the Synod document…]
-
Participatory church and community
-
Non-discriminating and developed
Christ centered society
Mission:
-
Realizing liberation in its full
resulting in equal and justice society
Goals:
-
Make the presence of the Spirit
felt by new evangelization
-
Make the liturgy and administration
of sacraments a sign of God’s presence – train church leadership for this…
-
Enable students witness faith through
living catechesis…
-
Enable families and BCCs entities
of love, sacrifice and service through the Word…
-
Enable the youth for the changing
and challenging world realities to have just society…
-
Enable women to fight
discrimination and injustice and build healthy families…
-
Solve the ecological, health and
other problems through popular movements with the help of Govt. / NGO
assistance…
-
Bring up children in Christian/
Gospel values…
-
Organize the otherwise unorganized
sector people, especially our fishermen and bargain for them in policy making…
-
Eradicate social evils and make
action plans for the same…
-
Modernize education to cope up with
the growing trends in all fields, especially science and technology and take it
to all our people for their integral growth…
-
Enable our laity to be active
participants in the making of a just society, both in the social, economical,
political and administrative realms…
-
Implement responsible, transparent,
participatory, effective and decentralized governance in the diocese. Create
systems to monitor them and evaluate too…
-
Transform the priests and religious
an embodiment of sacrifice, service and love in their mission for the Kingdom… [a
free translation from the ‘Vision, Mission and Action Plan of the Trivandrum
Archdiocese’ as given in Part III of the Synodal Decisions,
Recommendations, Suggestions and Action Plans, p. 50-51]
‘For this
to happen, specific management concepts must be developed and
implemented.
Basically
Planning, Organizing, Directing/ Leading and Controlling must navigate to its
destiny:
As for planning,
it is in place with the Synod in the context of the Platinum Jubilee of the
diocese… That also is as obscure as anything could be…
With regard
to the organizing, it must be taken care of by the system/mechanism
called the ‘Coordination Ministry’…
And directing/
leading must be the realm of the directors of each Board or Ministry and
they must be taking care of… [Develop Training Module… Consult experts,
academic as well as field people… form a team of experts, laity, clergy and
religious…]
What remains
seemingly is the controlling which is what is seemingly implied by the
‘monitoring and evaluating’.
And here
comes the relevance of the newly created assignment/appointment: ‘to monitor
the Parish records and develop training module to train the responsible persons
in the Parishes for effective Pastoral Management.’
Monitoring
– (my
findings…)
2. One that admonishes, cautions, or reminds, especially with respect to matters of conduct. (there need to be a
code of conduct)
3.
To keep close watch over; supervise.
4.
The act of listening, carrying out surveillance on, and/or recording the emissions of one’sown or allied forces for the purposes ofmaintaining and improving procedural standards and security, or for reference, as applicable. (procedural
standards are also a necessity)
5.
The systematic and
routine collection of information from projects and programs for the following
purposes:
-
To learn from
experiences to improve practices and activities in the future;
-
To have internal
and external accountability of the resources used and the results obtained;
-
To take informed
decisions on the future of the initiative;
-
To promote empowerment
of beneficiaries of the initiative.
Monitoring is a periodically recurring task already beginning in the
planning stage of a project or program. Monitoring allows results, processes
and experiences to be documented and used as a basis to steer decision-making
and learning processes. Monitoring is checking progress against plans. The
data acquired through monitoring is used for evaluation.
[Evaluation:
...is assessing, as systematically and
objectively as possible, a completed project or program (or a phase of an
ongoing project or program that has been completed).
Evaluations appraise data and information that inform strategic
decisions, thus improving the project or program in the future.
Evaluations should help to draw conclusions about five main aspects of the
intervention: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and
sustainability.
Information gathered in relation to these
aspects during the monitoring process provides the basis for the evaluative
analysis.
In general, monitoring is integral to
evaluation. During an evaluation, information from previous monitoring
processes is used to understand the ways in which the project or program
developed and stimulated change. Monitoring focuses on the measurement of the
following aspects of an intervention:
·
On
quantity and quality of the implemented activities (outputs: What do we do? How
do we manage our activities?)
·
On
processes inherent to a project or program (outcomes: What were the effects
/changes that occurred as a result of your intervention?)
·
On
processes external to an intervention (impact: Which broader, long-term effects
were triggered by the implemented activities in combination with other
environmental factors?)
The evaluation process is an analysis or
interpretation of the collected data which delves deeper into the relationships
between the results of the project/program, the effects produced by the
project/program and the overall impact of the project/program.]
·
The
following are the Parish Records, as I
could infer from Msgr. Eugene’s paper, to be monitored:
·
Canon 535:
o
Archive
§ Parochial
Registers and Documents and Files
·
Baptism, Marriages and Deaths (What are
that prescribed by the Episcopal Conference?)
·
As
per the Norms of CIC and the Pastoral Practice in India…
o
Establishment File [Erection of
Parish and other Foundation documents of Bifurcation etc.]
o
Registers of Sacraments [Baptism,
Marriages, Deaths, Confirmation and First Holy Communion!]
Seal:
Episcopal Letters and other
Documents (535/4):
Older Parochial Registers (535/5):
Registers of Catechumens (788/1)!
Books of Banns and documents
of Prenuptial Enquiries (1067):
Books of minutes of the Parish
Pastoral and Finance Councils:
Record of the Offerings and
Obligations of Pious Foundations (1307/2):
Parish Chronicles, Bishop’s
Circulars, Reports etc…
Records of Financial Matters such
as Receipts and Expenditure (1284/2):
Day Book, Ledger:
Title deeds and
Records of the Parish Properties (1284/2-9):
Inventory (1283-3):
Records of Mass Offerings and
Obligations (958/1) – Receipts:
Catalogue of the above Documents:
By way of a
conclusion:
Unfortunately
I too am a layman in the matter! And there is nothing so far to fall back and
refer in the diocese. There need to be order and discipline in the
diocese, especially among its clergy and those in responsible offices. It is
all the more needed in fiscal matters where transparency and accountability
cannot be substituted with anything else.
Arbitrariness from any
quarter is not appreciated anywhere. There needs to be transparent criterion
and clear legislation enacted and enforced by proper authority or customary,
accepted and unquestioned practices/traditions.
The
evangelical counsel of poverty is the most misused of all. If no
legislation is possible, there need to be some clear understanding on this
count. Priesthood should not be an easy means to prosperity and upward social
status.
Candidates
to priesthood and religious life must be free in economic matters as well as
emotional and psychological aspects. One can understand a priest supporting his
family’s sustenance… but then what about living an affluent life, putting up
disproportionate houses, marrying siblings with pomp etc.?
Why not
priests come out with declaring their assets and liabilities when they
get ordained and at regular intervals thereafter? Fiscal mismanagement should
be given as much seriousness as that against chastity/celibacy and dealt with
accordingly and made to compensate the loss. There should be no immunity
whatsoever, in this regard.
Let us
first of all have a model clergy who are holy, simple, poor and disciplined.
This will enable us to get back the lost credibility to work effectively with
our people so as to enable them to become the people of God and our Church as
the Reign/Kingdom of God.
Now those
concerned have to sit together, if needed with experts, and articulate a clear
philosophy and specific strategy/guidelines to take forward the two fold tasks
of this novel assignment in a phased manner for the benefit of the church and
her people after the Platinum Jubilee and Synod.
Time
Log:
30th
May 2014:
-
After
a discussion with the Vicar General, he took me to the archbishop who wanted me
not to go with my insistence to retire but to continue serving the diocese in
monitoring parishes regarding documents and other systems…
4th
June:
-
Appointment
Order No: 12-97/2014/AB/290-19 dated 03.06.2014 given
10th
June:
-
E-mail
to archbishop seeking clarifications on the appointment in the context of his
announcement in the just concluded Presbyterium.
-
Reminders,
at least two…
21st
June:
-
Discussion
with the VG who gave me a note (signed with a previous date, 8th
June!) detailing the Records seemingly to be monitored on the basis of
Canonical provisions… he also asked me to consult Frs. Lazar Benedict and Fredy
Solomon who are said to have done courses on Pastoral Management…
23th
June:
-
Visited
Fr. Fredy Solomon regarding the new assignment… as requested by the VG
24th
June:
-
Met
Fr. Lazar Benedict for the above matter….
30th
June:
-
Meeting
with Lazar and Fredy at Valiyathura for over two hours
-
Proposed
to Fr. Christel Rozario, the Senate Secretary, this new assignment as an agenda
for the forthcoming Senate of Priests on 8th July…
8th
July:
-
Discussion
with Fr. Edwin at Kottar…
11th
July:
-
Discussion
with Fr. Joseph Justus at Colachal… a fruitful discussion with necessary materials…
also met Fr. Servatius at Vaniakudi…
15th
July:
-
Fr.
Pius, Archbishop’s secretary calls to tell that the archbishop would be meeting
me, when he would come here for a short stay, regarding my mails…
15th
August:
-
Archbishop
excused himself for not acknowledging/ replying my mails… offered to meet me at
Kumarapuram during his forane – Pettah – priests’ meeting there which I
declined and offered to meet him at the archbishop’s house, if he wants so…
2nd
September:
-
Met
the VG as the archbishop is seemingly not really responsive…
6th
September:
-
At
long last a meeting with the archbishop for about one and half hours…… though
not a meeting with any difference, he seemed to assure me that he agreed in
principle all that I have said in my mails…. However, he wanted me to define
the terms and also work out the details for which I could consult anyone, and
if needed finance would be made available!
8th
September:
-
The
proposed meeting with the VG could not be realized as it was time for late
Msgr. Bosco’s room assessment etc…
10th
September:
-
Discussion
with the VG at Vellayambalam…
-pancretius, ‘Beth
Shalom’, Kumarapuram, Tvpm. 26.09.’14
