Solutions to revitalize the Church

DENVILLE  Chris Lowney, a noted Catholic author and speaker, visited the Diocese Sept. 18 and sounded an alarm that has become familiar to many of the faithful — that the wider Church is facing a crisis in the wake of drastic declines in its membership in specific regions around the world, including the U.S. But he arrived at St. Mary Church here armed not only with grim statistics that illustrate the problem, but also with solutions to revitalize the Church. That night Lowney spoke publicly about his own faith-based strategy: EASTeR, a hopeful acronym which represents five principles that challenge Catholics to become more entrepreneurial, accountable, service-oriented and transformative while also reaching out further in influence.

Lowney spoke to about 150 local Catholics in St. Mary’s about EASTeR as outlined in his latest book, “Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church.” He drew on more than two decades of management experience in proposing EASTeR: being Entrepreneurial — taking creative risks in search of innovative solutions; being Accountable — monitoring our successes and failures in all aspects of our mission; Serving the world’s most needy and vulnerable; Transforming the hearts and souls of those, who pray with us; and Reaching out to the world beyond our doors. Sponsoring Lowney’s presentation was Assumption College for Sisters (ACS) in Denville, which is beginning to implement his EASTeR principles with the sister students, according to Sister Joseph Spring, ACS president.

“Every member of the Church needs to wake up to the crisis that it’s facing [declining membership] and stand up and take action as leaders to help reverse these trends. Everyone is leading anyway, but where are we pointing by our own example, behavior and influence?” asked Lowney, who chairs the board of Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nation’s largest healthcare/hospital systems, and is a former managing director of J.P. Morgan & Co in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and London. “But things in the Church need to change. The status quo won’t work anymore. We need to behave and think differently about how we present ourselves to the world,” he said.

During his talk, Lowney revisited the statistics that pose a serious challenge to the Church. They include the following: that about half of Catholic teens no longer identify as Catholic; that only 27 percent of Catholics call themselves “serious Catholics” — the lowest figure ever; that for every person who converts to Catholicism, six leave the Church; and that 71 percent of former Catholics say that they left, in part, because their “spiritual needs were not being met.” While the Church has been growing dramatically in Africa, it has been shrinking drastically in the U.S., Europe and Australia and Latin America, said Lowney, a former Jesuit seminarian.

Lowney started his presentation — which attracted clergy, religious and laity from the Diocese and beyond — by asking the audience a fundamental question: “What does the Church need most at this moment?” He fielded answers from attendees, such as Kristy Goulart of St. Joseph Parish, Mendham, who said that the Church needs to “re-teach people about the Eucharist: what we have that makes us Catholic.” Using a series of PowerPoint slides, Lowney gave Pope Francis’ answer: “the Church needs the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity…the Church ministers must be merciful…and accompany [people] like the Good Samaritan, who washes, cleans and raises up his neighbor.”

“Do we know what makes a successful parish? Is it about an increase in money or population? Or is it about whether we are making disciples — transforming hearts to the Church and inspiring people to serve the poor,” said Lowney, who peppered his presentation with insights by popes, saints, world leaders and business experts. “In previous decades, someone brought the children to Mass. Today, many parents of the younger generation don’t go to church, so we need to reach out to them,” he said.

Lowney emphasized the Church’s need to become more entrepreneurial, taking creative risks. He told the story of a religious sister, who noticed that homeless people were washing their socks in the holy water font in a local church. So she started handing out pairs of fresh socks to the homeless on the street, while introducing herself to them. In another story, young people from another parish gathered together to develop Catholic-oriented software applications, such as one that displays a daily Bible verse for users, Lowney said.

The principles in “Everyone Leads” have been starting to impact ACS. Sister Joseph developed a friendship with Lowney after meeting him at his talk in 2014 on Pope Francis’ leadership style at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard, Madison.

This fall semester, ACS offered an initial lecture on ”Everyone Leads” on Sept. 18 with a follow-up small group session with Sister Joann Marie Aumand, provincial councilor, for the six third-year international students, who will graduate next year. She will address what ACS’ administrative team has identified as major areas of focus: communication, listening, assertiveness, stress management and setting goals. In addition, the college has identified a faculty member, Sister Margaret McCann, PhD, to serve as the “leadership champion” to help them strategize how they will practice their leadership skills both now and when they return to their home countries, Sister Joseph said.

In the upcoming spring semester, ACS will organize small-group sessions for second- and third-year international students with Joseph Ciccone, chair of Education and Educational Leadership Programs at the College of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station.

“Chris Lowney’s information is so basic — nothing revolutionary — but we can apply it in our parishes and religious communities, so we can become better leaders and become more accountable,” Sister Joseph said. “Ultimately, we need to do something.”

In the audience that night was Mike St. Pierre, former Morris Catholic president, who now serves as executive director at Catholic Campus Ministry Association.

“Chris Lowney’s EASTeR framework gives the Church a map for moving forward,” said St. Pierre, after Lowney’s presentation. “It also equips each individual Catholic with a sense that ‘I have a role to play’ in what God can do to revitalize the Church.”