Co-Workers in the Vineyard

As Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord becomes more widely disseminated and implementation of it impacts lay ecclesial ministry in parishes, dioceses and other Catholic communities, this site will be a resource that provides background on the recommendations, ideas, and efforts that are bearing fruit in various ways across the United States under its influence.  If you become aware of resources that may not be listed here, please contact us and we will do our best to include these resources.

Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project

From 2004 to the present, the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project has hosted a national conversation for today's pastoral leaders.  Creative and dedicated men and women have gathered in locations around the country to discuss evolving leadership roles and parish structures.  Bishops met in focus groups, lay and ordained pastoral leaders responded to surveys, and young adult leaders contacted us online.  Findings were studied and analyzed; implications named. Pastoral leaders are identifying the trends, challenges, and growth edges of pastoral leadership.  Collectively, they are anticipating a future filled with hope.

The scope of the research is deep and wide-ranging, looking at the evolving role of pastoral leaders, lay and ordained, who are caring for God's people in the midst of significant transitions in parish life.

Their work is included here with a specific focus on how their research and activities relate to lay ecclesial ministry.

The National Ministry Summit, held in April 2008 in Orlando, Florida marked an important achievement in the work of several national ministry organizations coming together for the purpose of generating and discussing ideas for the future of ministry in the United States.  Mobilized and sponsored by the Emerging Models Project, the summit brought forth many good lectures, conversations, and recommendations.  Among them were several that related to lay ecclesial ministry, and so we are providing some of the key links to information provided from the Summit.  For more information on the Summit or the Emerging Models Project and its sponsors, please visit the Emerging Models site.

Keynote Addresses

"The Theological, Sacramental, and Ecclesial Context of the Emerging Models Project" by the Most Rev. Blase J. Cupich, bishop of the Diocese of Rapid City, SD and episcopal moderator of the Emerging Models Project provides a perspective for discussion of leadership and ministry that is rooted in Vatican II's universal call to holiness, call to communion in the church, and the need to ensure that the special talents and charisms of all are made available for service in the church.

Marti Jewell, Director of the Emerging Models Project, provided a lively summary of the major findings of the Project, which helped define the major focus areas for the action groups below.

Due to the emergent nature of the conversation going on during the Summit, Sr. Terri Monrone, RSCJ, Ed.D. presented some impromptu and critical reflections on "Being an Effective and Responsible Agent for Change." Given the unique circumstances of needing to respond to the Summit while still in process, her keynote is not in written form, but Dr. Monroe has recommended a number of articles she has written about this theme, and their bibliographic references are available here.

Rev. Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S, professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, IL concluded the Summit by offering an assessment and summary of the promise and challenges presented by the Summit in his keynote, "Pastoral Leadership: Moving Into the Future." His talk seeks to situate the Summit's work in the context of the US and Global church, while summarizing the Summit's key recommendations in each of the action areas and offering some suggestions of the next steps on the journey.

Human Resource Issues

By its nature, ministry is very labor intensive and all that we do in church depends on the tremendously rich, diverse, and highly gifted work force available to do it.  Hence human resource issues need to be given serious concern when considering lay ecclesial ministry.  The National Ministry Summit action group for this area had the benefit of this preparatory document. Additionally, some other resources have become available since the summit as well and a final report on this initiative of the summit is pending and will be posted here, when available.

Pastoring Multiple Parishes

The reality of priests pastoring more than one parish and lay ecclesial ministers and others providing ministry to more than one community is here and needs to be attended to.  This Action group was helped at the Summit by this preparatory document and the report which resulted from the Multiple Parish Pastoring Project of Emerging Models is available for those who seek to provide pastoral care among multiple communities of faith.  There is also additional information on Inter-Parochial Pastoral Council efforts as a way of responding to this growing reality.

Young Adults: The Next Generation of Pastoral Leaders

This action group had as its focus an analysis of the results of an online survey conducted by Dean Hoge and Kate Devries on the responses of youth and young adults about their knowledge of, consideration of, and participation in different forms of ministry in the church.  A copy of the full study is available here and formed the basis of the work of this action group.