Parish ministers in Iowa archdiocese learn how to cope with changes

Published: 2005-01-18

WATERLOO, Iowa (CNS) -- Change is a fact of life, but the speed at which it is occurring today is breathtaking. In most areas of life, people are forced to adapt and "go with the flow," but changes experienced in the Catholic Church at the parish level present a special kind of challenge, sometimes causing resistance by those facing them. In the Dubuque Archdiocese, reorganization has been going on for at least 10 years, and parish staffs have had to deal with the anxieties produced by the state of flux resulting from the clustering, merging and even closing of parishes. "It is important for us as parish ministers to stay in touch with our own process and our own feelings because how you model change and loss to your parishioners gives them some skills to cope with the changes that are going on," said Franciscan Sister Dorothy Heiderscheit, president of the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque. "Coping is not about finding resolutions," she said, "but it is about adaptations, finding ways to put the loss in perspective and to move on with life." Sister Dorothy spoke at a pastoral leadership study day in Waterloo last fall sponsored by the archdiocese and the Loras College Kucera Center for Catholic Studies. About 250 people gathered to deal with their own feelings about changes in parish life and to learn some skills to help parishioners cope with the restructuring of parishes.

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