Bridges: Toward the Inter-Parish Regional Community-- Deaneries, Clusters, Plural Parishes

Father Howes provides a practical guide focusing on the process and policy of sharing resources between parishes and dioceses to aid the growth of regional churches.

As priest and other shortages?such as money?increasingly force parishes to share resources, the need for understanding and planning increases. In Bridges Father Howes meets that need by examining this new "regionalism" as it occurs not only in the North American Church but in the civic and business sectors as well. With years of experience as a pastoral planner, he provides a theoretical and practical guide focusing on the process and policy of sharing resources between parishes and dioceses. Bridges defines relevant terms and discusses the role of dioceses and parishes in regionalism. It explains the importance of combining parish personnel and councils effectively. Current church initiatives and relevant lessons from regionalism, including problems that have occurred and solutions that have emerged, are also examined. From this information, Bridges proposes a new effectiveness, measured by performance and satisfaction, to aid the growth of regional churches. Bishops, regional pastors, pastoral planners, and those concerned with the reallocation of fewer priests, canon lawyers, and council staffs will benefit from this "think and do book." Chapters are "Deans/Deaneries," "Springfield/Cape Girardeau," "Civics," "Cape Cod Commission," "Clusters," "Joliet Area Study," "Cross-Boundary Business," "Form Follows Function," "Plural Parishes," "Milwaukee," and "Reckon Road."