Lay Ecclesial Ministry Symposium History
Becoming Co-workers in the Vineyard: A Brief Timeline
2005: Promulgation of the USCCB document: Co-workers in the Vineyard
Over the past twelve years, Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary has worked with ministerial and institutional partners to advance the document promulgated by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops: Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry (2005).
2007: First Collegeville Symposium: Advancing Lay Ecclesial Ministry
The outcomes of the first national symposium (2007) included a set of recommendations to advance lay ecclesial ministry in the United States and organizational commitments to foster this change.
2011: Second Collegeville Symposium: Amplifying the Voice and Srengthening the National Will to Promote Effective Ecclesial Leadership Practices
In 2011 another national symposium in Collegeville sought to amplify the voice and strengthen the national will to promote effective ecclesial leadership practices identified within Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord; and advance the theological understanding and pastoral practice of the vocation and authorization of lay ecclesial ministers. The tenth-year anniversary of the publication of Co -Workers provided the occasion for the School of Theology and partners to explore both the achievements and remaining challenges of Co-Workers since its promulgation.
2014: Canon Law Society of America Conducts and Presents Research on the Practices of the Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministers for Ministry
In 2014, the Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary marked the 10 th anniversary of Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord hosting a national conference for ministerial leaders to provide a close reading and dialogue of the research authorized by the Canon Law Society of America.
2015: Word and Image Retreat and Exhibit
We celebrated the service of lay ecclesial ministers whose lives are the focus of Co-Workers by tapping into its creative dimension using collage and poetry. Art provided a unique language for expressing the movement of God in the lives of co-workers, and it privileges the experiential wisdom that they gain in their daily commitment to work together in the vineyard. Twelve lay ecclesial ministers and one pastor gathered in Collegeville to participate in a week-long retreat shaped by word and image. They brought with them richly diverse experiences of ministry and different generational perspectives. Each day found its anchor in visio divina on one of the illuminations in The Saint John’s Bible. With that grounding, participants set out to create individual collages that sought to capture how the Word gave them fresh insight into their ministry experience. The images participants created and the words they found construct a theology that examines the vocation and practice of lay ecclesial ministers. It is a theology from “below”– with a distinct emphasis on the organic and dynamic deepening of vocation that infuses with energy the careful analysis of a church document. This work became a national Word and Image exhibit at conferences, retreat centers and formation programs.
2019-2020: Sustaining a Healthy Vineyard: Moving Toward a New Story
The 10th anniversary celebration in 2014 and 2015 unwittingly provided space to listen with care and attention to the experiences of people in ministry, typically lay ecclesial ministers. Over the past year, Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary, under the direction of Dr. Barbara Sutton, has become interested in the unfolding stories pastoral leaders tell about their ministerial workplace. As she listened, she heard the emotional toll of ministry expressed simply as burnout. Her recent research on ministerial burnout surfaced interesting findings. In a sample of 237 ministerial leaders, 41% are engaged in their ministry. The remaining ministerial leaders are disengaged, overextended, ineffective, or burned out. [1] Compared to other human service professionals (i.e.., health care or social work), ministerial leaders tend to experience far less burnout with their work. Other literature reviews indicate that 50% of clergy have thought of leaving the ministry and 70% report decreased self-esteem since beginning ministry. The 2012 CARA Report also sheds light on the work yet to be done for advancing a thriving ministerial workplace.
What does weigh heavy upon them are factors creating an unhealthy work environment: workload, fairness, overextended, control, reward, financial well-being, vocational integrity, and community. This suggests to Sutton a loss of shared vision for community and ministry and that, to help pastoral leaders and their communities thrive, we must create workplace cultures where the mission, vision and values are clearly articulated, and every pastoral leader matters, knows where they fit in and are empowered and enabled to leverage their strengths.
With this emerging data, Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary seeks to launch an important action-orientated conversation about how to cultivate healthy ministerial workplaces. It is participative and collaborative and undertaken by individuals and partners with a common purpose. The process will be fluid, open, and responsive. Problem solving that leads to new forms of understanding and improvement of practice are inherent in the design. Our questioning of systems and practice is for the purpose of sense-making that involves many stakeholders. There are parallel processes in place leading up to a national symposium June 2, 3 and 4, 2020 in Collegeville.