What I ’ve Learned from the New Parish Priest

Augusto Cuginotti acuginotti at gmail.com
Wed Mar 9 09:04:58 PST 2011


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What I’ve Learned from the New Parish Priest

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 03:20 AM PST

Meeting the New Parish Priest
Contents

   - Meeting the New Parish
Priest<http://augustocuginotti.com/the-new-parish-priest#meeting-the-new-parish-priest>
   - Spirit of Service and Collective
Learning<http://augustocuginotti.com/the-new-parish-priest#spirit-of-service-and-collective-learning>
   - Real Change-Makers do ‘Boring’ things without Getting
Bored<http://augustocuginotti.com/the-new-parish-priest#real-change-makers-do-boring-things-without-getting-bored>
   - Open Space Structuring a Hosting
Attitude<http://augustocuginotti.com/the-new-parish-priest#open-space-structuring-a-hosting-attitude>
   - Hosting 2.0: I’m Never
Busy<http://augustocuginotti.com/the-new-parish-priest#hosting-2-0-im-never-busy>

I am lucky to have worked with communities that embed a spirit of service –
they are spiritual and religious communities. I appreciate the fact that
their existence and organisation are based on service. Some have become
bureaucratic and relying on top-down decisions, excess controlling
structures… not too different from many other organisations.

Last week I’ve got hold of an informal publication made by a catholic priest
from Australia, Father Brian Bainbridge, who passed away recently. As one of
the elders of the Open Space¹ <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> community, Fr
Brian taught and inspired many²<http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=2619>.
I’ve never met him and hardly follow my subscription to the Open Space
online list serve, but was genuinely interested in what he wrote because of
bringing service and collective learning together. So this is what I’ve
learned with the new parish priest.
Spirit of Service and Collective Learning

The beginning of Fr Brian’s document already show this beautiful connection:

The transformation I saw as so seriously needed in parish life was a
movement from ‘control’ to ‘service’.

This is very true for the faith organisations I’ve been in touch with. I
must admit I don’t think that control opposes service though – I imagine
that perhaps at some time in the history of an organisation (in this case
more than 1500 years old), control might have been a huge part of service.
Even if that is true, that was past, not present: we live in a culture where
processes control too much, kill innovation, do not invite capable people to
participate.

We are in an era of complexity where being at service means relying more on
collective learning and action. It is more and more about inviting people to
and through service.
Real Change-Makers do ‘Boring’ things without Getting Bored

If you read the document, Fr Brian talks about a lot of structural and
processual changes that happened at the time. Real changes mean to let
things die, to be attentive to details, to be careful about the community
and to go sometimes for the slow and boring patient rather than the quick
and fun. As for me, someone who like to see big things moving fast, I took a
deep breathe to go through the descriptive change of the Church A/V System,
something that must have made a contribution I’d never understand from my
little chair.

Change that involves people are analogical and has inertia – should have. A
real change-maker can both deeply care about the change and also detach and
trust that with space things will come to being. Both were present in Fr
Brian’s story: the ones that need radical change – e.g. when it was decided
that financial advisors should be chosen among young people only – or to
retreat until the collective feels ready to act – e.g. a case of the
Catholic School’s management and its principal.

But “letting-go” doesn’t mean there is no structure and no process or just a
free-for-all.

Open Space Structuring a Hosting Attitude

Methods and models are good support so you can focus on what really matters
– good methods and models can structure helpful attitudes for the host and
participants.  Structure are constant invitations of behaviour, so it’s good
to keep an eye on them to see how it is serving you.

It was interesting to read that one of the changes in attitude towards the
new Parish Priest came by his constant invitation (and therefore constant
faith) in the wisdom and power of others in relationship with him and with
the higher purpose.

People started moving from “*What do you want us to do?*” to “*This needs
attention*“.

if it is God’s work, it will prosper. If not, we will find out. So, go for
it.

He called his choices being *‘consistent with Open Space modelling’* and ‘*in
the spirit of self-organising*‘. I would put it the other way around – Open
Space modelling and self-organisation are consistent with this attitude,
part of what makes it a great ‘*operating system*‘. Either way, we should go
for it.
Hosting 2.0: I’m Never Busy

This is a gem shared by Fr Brian, a wisdom from someone who hosted with
grace.

Any priest or minister who does this ["holding the space of the parish"]
knows how important is this “just being around” at a time when people can
connect. One Parish Priest described this as the “Sacrament of being
seen”[...]

The advantage of being around is the avoidance of the sense or perception of
“being too busy”. People often preface their conversation with “I know you
are very busy, but…” To which my answer is always “I’m never busy – how can
I help?”

In a spirit of service, we should never be busy. This is hosting 2.0



<http://berkanacollaborative.org/2011/02/the-new-parish-priest/>

  from: http://augustocuginotti.com/the-new-parish-priest

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