The online version of the booklet is available on: www.atmadarshan-svd.org/book.html
Progress Review - Parish Administration Resource Booklet
I.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 28 May 2024
II.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 30 April 2024
III.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 30 March 2024
IV.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 29 February 2024
V.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 30 January 2024
VI.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 30 December 2023
VII.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 28 November 2023
VIII.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 22 October 2023
IX.
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 07 October 2023
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 28 May 2024
May 2024 is showing signs of PAR Booklet implementation suggestions being accepted.
St. Peter’s Seminary: Following the announcement of the PAR booklet by Fr. Britto
(President of the ARMS and the Rector of St Peter's Pontifical Seminary in Bangalore)
at the seminary rector’s conference in November 2023, the PDSSIEP team has now
been invited to conduct a Pastoral Course for Deacons in St Peter's Pontifical Seminary
on 24-26 June 2024. The proposed program outline consisting of 12 sessions over 3
days has been approved by the coordinator, Fr Antony. The program will be led by Fr
Roque Green and will have clergy, religious and laity participating as faculty.
Bible Study – Laity Engagement: Currently most pilgrimages are to the Holy Land
(Jerusalem) which is commendable and should always be the first choice. It was
however found that visits to the biblical lands (Turkey and Greece) also have a lot to
offer Catholics. A bit of research revealed that it’s pilgrimages to these lands help to
strengthen and deepen one’s faith. For those who have visited the Holy Land, this
could be the next tour. Based on this, a Pilgrimage Proposal has been made and shared
with the hierarchy and clergy. This has generated interest among the laity too.
PAR Booklet generates Laity interest in Parish and Diocese Websites: Looking for
avenues of engagement, laity have been visiting websites and have found much
information not been updated, not only at the parish or diocese level, but also in the
CCBI and CBCI websites. A review of some websites showed that much needs to be
desired. Specific areas noted are contact and location information, service timings,
ministry programs and even Vatican directives. A website maintenance management
proposal has been presented to the hierarchy, who have taken the feedback positively
and are initiating corrective action.
Document Digitization: A success story from
the Archdiocese of Bangalore. An extract
from point 13 of Archbishop Peter
Machado’s circular in November 2023
initiating digitization is shared for reference.
Laity Engagement leads to Document Digitization Report: As part of
the Parish Administration Synodal approach, interested laity and
clergy members took up the initiative of “Church Document
Digitization”. In the process they came across a success story in the
Bangalore Archdiocese.
They also found quite a few old churches, including some basilicas,
where documents have not yet been digitized. Considering the
situation, a brief study was conducted and a report suggesting
remedial action has been prepared and presented to the hierarchy.
Many clergy and laity have shown interest in taking up this initiative
at the parish level. Bishops may like to provide support.
28 May 2024,
2
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 30 April 2024
H.E Mgr Massimiliano Palinuro, Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul.
The Apostolic Vicar fears signs of local religious intolerance. There are
about 25000 Catholics in Turkey.
Bishop Mathews Mar Pachomios - The
Malankara Syrian Catholic Eparchy, St.
Ephrem, Khadki-Pune.
H.E Mgr Massimiliano Palinuro, was
presented
the
Parish
Administration Booklet by Fr Nikola,
(SDB), Parish Priest of Basilique
Cathedrale du Saint Esprite Parish.
He has graciously agreed to look
into the possibility of using some
points that could enhance laity
engagement.
We have discussed the possibilities
of building synodal consultations
between the Catholic Church Youth
in India and Turkey to understand
and appreciate our cultures and
support each other in the service of
the Church. Fr Nikola (SDB) showed
interest in this idea. We will seek
advice from the Church hierarchy in
India on this initiative.
About Turkey: People have recently discovered the important role these
lands played in the history of Christianity. Bible land tours enhance
knowledge of Bible and Christian history. Many magnificent churches,
some nearly as old as Christianity itself, can retrace the footsteps of Saints
Peter and Paul from the Biblical city of Antioch to the underground
churches of Cappadocia.
https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/
Bishop Mathews being presented the PAR
booklet by Fr Titus John, Rector of the Bethany
Ashram (Seminary). Bishop Mathews was
present at the sharing session on the PAR
booklet for New Bishops in March 2024. He has
agreed to review the possibility for
implementation to meet specific local needs.
Our Lady of Lourdes (OLOL) Church, Poona
Under the guidance of Fr Roque Green (Parish
Priest) the PPC has taken up the development
of a Parish Pastoral Plan in March 2024 and are
at step 2 of the process. The target is to release
the plan by June-July 2024.
E-VAAC was requested to present the PAR Booklet at an online
presentation to the Catholic Church Reform Intl. (CCRI) forum
through zoom on 11th April 2024.
CCRI Steering Committee Minutes of Zoom Meeting held on 11 th April 2024 (Extract) - Guest: Alan Doulton
Alan Doulton spoke about the “Parish Administration Resource (PAR) Booklet”. Points: (1) Alan is from India and is
committed to providing resources on “Synodal Administration” to bishops, priests, and seminarians. (2) He said it was in
response to Vatican II and the Synod). (3) Priests are not prepared to be administrators. The booklet and larger project are
meant to address this situation. (4) Joe Healey and others recommended a connection to the Leadership Roundtable (LR)
resources. (5) Alan will reach out to Michael Brough from LR.
In partnership with the US Catholic community and Rome, the Leadership Roundtable seeks to
elevate and implement best practices in management and leadership to establish a culture of
co-responsible, servant leadership for a healthy, thriving Church in the U.S. Since 2005 LR has
worked to enable leaders to serve more effectively in ministerial roles. https://leadershiproundtable.org/
Discussions held with Michael Brough (LR) were very helpful, informative, and educative. LR has
vast experience in assisting the Church in multiple areas and has several resources that are of
interest to us. The two resources of immediate interest are: Seminarian’s Toolbox and Pastor’s
Toolbox. Discussions will be taken forward after consultation with our team and advisors.
28 May 2024,
3
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 30 March 2024
Training Program for Junior Bishops – 11-15 March 2024 - Sarvodaya, Goregaon, Mumbai
Cardinal Oswald Gracias,
advisor to Pope Francis,
being presented the Parish
Administration Resource
Booklet by Rev. Fr. Jervis
D’Souza, Deputy Secretary
General, CBCI, at the Junior
Bishop’s Training Program
in Sarvodaya, Goregaon,
Mumbai.
•
•
•
Over 20+ new Bishops attended the training program. Of the many sessions conducted over 5 days, one was allotted
for us to share the laity perspective on Synodality.
The presentation was designed to convey the need for building greater commitment to the “Synodal Journey” and to
increase relevance to ground reality.
Key points shared:
o The laity perceive that Bishops and Parish Priests are overloaded. Hence increased laity engagement to reduce
the administration load was recommended. This would allow the Clergy to spend more time on Church Mission.
o The laity perceive that Bishops need to understand the minds and hearts of the laity, as well as clergy, better. As
the Pope says, “Smell the Sheep”. Bishops need to find new models to enhance interaction with laity and clergy.
o The laity perceive that the formation of seminarian and clergy is limited. A more holistic and role-aligned
formation strategy may be put in place with a proper feedback plan. This should be a continuous process.
Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum for Syro-Malankara
Cardinal Baselios Cleemis has graciously accepted the Parish Administration Resource Booklet
and has agreed to review the possibility of using specific aspects, as applicable to the local
parish and diocese needs.
His encouragement has motivated our team to reach out to other Syro-Malankara bishops in
India and across the world.
Rev. Fr Cyril Anand OIC, Joint Secretary of the Kerala Catholic Bishop’s Council (KCBC) is seen
presenting the Parish Administration Resource Booklet to Cardinal Cleemis.
We have been in touch with Fr Cyril Anand and have worked with OIC on many fronts.
Poona Diocese: Church of Our Lady Consoler of the Afflicted Parish
Fr. Ashok Gonsalves – OFM CAP: Parish Priest: OLCA, Pimpri, Pune graciously accepted the
Parish Administration Booklet that was presented by Cyril Crasto at a meeting on 29 th Feb 2024.
Fr Roque Green the Synod Convenor and Judicial Vicar and Alan were present along with OLCA
parish council members
The following points were discussed as a possible way forward : (a) A Pastoral Plan to be prepared for the parish or any
specific area/zone. (b) Parish Census to be conducted for any one area/zone and see if feasible for others too. (c) SSVP
annual progress report to be made by SSVP Pimpri Conference. This report will be presented to the bishop for use as a
model for other parishes. (d) SSVP to introduce various Govt. schemes for adopted families (e) Fr. Ashok to share some
presentations with a write-up on the special retreats being conducted by OLCA Parish.
28 May 2024,
4
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 29 Febuary 2024
CCBI National Canon Law Conference - Bangalore
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao
President CCBI & FABC
Archbishop of Goa & Daman
Dr. Rev. Merlin
Rengith Ambrose,
Executive Secretary
Fr Roque Green
Judicial Vicar
Diocese of Poona
The CCBI Commission for Canon
Law held their national Canon Law
conference on February 6, 2024.
Themed "Aggiornamento in
Theory and Praxis" - Focus
practical application. The
conference was inaugurated by
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao and
organized by Dr. Rev. Merlin
Rengith Ambrose.
The event drew participation from 48 canonists representing diverse regions of India. The organizers graciously agreed to
provide a time slot for presentation of “Parish Administration Resource Booklet”. Fr Roque Green (JV Poona Diocese) who
was instrumental in development of the book presented an overview of the contents. The presentation created a lot of
interest, and many spoke about taking the concept forward. We look forward to canon lawyers creating more awareness
of redressal systems at the diocese and parish levels. Cardinal Ferrao has consistently supported and encouraged the use
of this book as per local needs. Initially at the CBCI, then ARMS and now the CCBI Law Commission.
Archdiocese of Guwahati - Archbishop John Moolachira
Archbishop John Moolachira – Has graciously accepted the Parish Administration
Resource Booklet and has agreed to review the possibility of using specific aspects,
as applicable to the local parish and diocese needs.
His encouragement has motivated our team to reach out to other bishops in the
Province of Guwahati.
Archdiocese of Bombay
Seminar on Leadership Essentials
Extract: Examiner report by Agnelo Rodrigues
About 40 participants, mainly SSC coordinators and Heads
of Ministries attended. The Presentation highlighted and
centered around the PAR booklet. The delegates found the
seminar informative, thought provoking and stimulating
and made a commitment to incorporate some of the
inputs they received, in the roles assigned to them.
28 May 2024,
Archdiocese of Hyderabad – Cardinal A Poola
Cardinal Anthony Poola was
presented with the Parish
Administration
Resource
Booklet
by
Joseph
Fernandez, who is a lay
person.
Joseph is in the process of
setting up a team of
committed lay persons from
different
parishes
to
develop an awareness
program on the booklet.
The aim is to work with
parish priests who are open
to adopting suggestions
that meet local needs.
5
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review – 30 January 2024
Archdiocese of Bombay
Cardinal Oswald Gracias’ (Archdiocese of Bombay) endorsement
of the “Parish Administration Resource” Booklet has been a
pivotal trigger for initiation of the awareness. Now Bishop Allwyn
has agreed to support the "Parish Administration Resource"
Booklet awareness initiative in select parishes with the aim of
exploring implementation in feasible areas acceptable to the
Parish Priests and local communities.
•
On Jan 11th, Vincent D’Silva of Dimensions Group, Mumbai, had the opportunity to meet about 30
priests belonging to the Thane Deanery at Ambernath for a session on the "Parish Administration
Resource" Booklet. The session was well received.
•
On the Jan 24th, Vincent D’Silva had a meeting with Bishop Allwyn on the different ways in which
we could help our parishes in enhancing engagement, continuity, and governance in our parishes.
•
Dimensions has ordered an additional 100 booklets for distribution.
Archdiocese of Calcutta
Archbishop Thomas D’Souza (Archdiocese of Calcutta) has
reviewed the book and deems it to be useful for enhancing the
laity participation in the Church. He plans to put a program in
place to create an awareness among the clergy, religious and laity
to solicit their views on the feasibility of implementation in select
areas specific to local situations. (Photo: Inauguration of the Holy
Door ahead of the Jubilee Year 2025, by Archbishop and the CM) .
Diocese of Poona
•
Fr Dinesh V – SDB (Director Salesian Catechetical Center, Poona) has reviewed the booklet and is
planning to hold a session for the 150 Catechism teachers from the different parishes in the
diocese.
•
Fr Roque Green has started working with Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Pastoral Council to develop a
parish Pastoral Plan.
•
Fr Alex (Director NVSC Pune and Secretary CBCI office of Clergy and Religious) has accepted a book
for review and consideration of inclusion as a topic in the institute’s courses.
28 May 2024,
6
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 28 December 2023
Visited Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh of Archdiocese of Hanoi, Vietnam on 22 December 2023 and
presented him with a Parish Administration Booklet. He was happy to have a brief discussion. Archbishop
Joseph is also the President of the CBCV.
Archbishop Joseph
Archbishop’s House
St Joseph’s Cathedral
Archbishop shared that the Catholic population in Vietnam was 7.5% (Approx. 7.0 million) and other
denominations 1.0%. It was explained that the Catholic population in India was 1.55% (Approx. 20.0 million)
and other denominations 1.0%. The total Christian population in India is 35 million or 2.5% of 1.4 billion). He
shared his observations on the challenges that Catholics are facing in India like vandalizing of Churches and
Eastern Rites differences with the Vatican.
SEMINARIANS - Parish Administration Awareness Orientation Program
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Venue: SVD Seminary Pune.
Date: 02 December 2023
Participants: 35; Participating Seminaries: 8 (SVD, Blessed Sacrament, Holy Cross, Holy Spirit, MSFS, NeoCatechumenate, OEM Capuchin, Vincentians)
Present: (a) Poona Diocese Synod Convenor: Fr Roque G (b) Seminary Rectors: Fr Jesuraj R (SVD); Fr Roxy F
(MSFS) (c) Faculty: Emmanuel Braggs (d) Laity Member: Alan D
Key points Presented:
Participant Self-Learning Areas Highlighted
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
Parish Priest (PP) Role and Overload.
Parish Vibrancy Measures
Seminarian avenues to understand and appreciate PP
role during regency and ministry visits.
4. Seminarian options to get more out of regency and
ministry work.
5. Seminarian possibilities and challenges in guiding and
engaging laity in building a more vibrant church.
Know the faithful and their needs.
Importance of leadership and leadership development
for self and others.
3. Need to build a community attitude.
4. Need to create energy and awareness in parishioners
through laity engagement.
5. Need to bring about more transparency to build better
relationship and understanding in the community.
Seminarians’ follow-through action suggestions – Formation Phase: Regency and Ministry work.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Youth engagement – Bringing youth back to the Church.
Family Visits to understand parishioners better.
Social Service
Register and record maintenance in parishes.
Finance management
Identify parish problems through research.
Conduct SCC meetings
8. Conduct a study to understand parishioners
28 May 2024,
7
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 28 November 2023
PAR Awareness Programs in Archdiocese of Bombay
PAR Booklet accepted by ARMS.
At the ARMS (Association of Rectors of Major
Seminaries in India) conference in November 2023 in
in Goa, Fr. Britto (President of the ARMS and the Rector
of St Peter's Pontifical Seminary in Bangalore) spoke about
the booklet to everyone and said it is done quite nicely.
It can be introduced for the deacons.
Fr Britto also circulated a snapshot of the booklet cover
to the 75+ attending seminary rectors and suggested
that they could order copies if required.
Fr Johns (Neo Cats) and Fr Roxy (MSFS) both Pune
seminary rectors and contributors to the book were
present at the ARMS meet when this was announced.
They made themselves available for clarifications to
the groups they interacted with.
Laity Sponsored Programs in Poona Diocese (India)
Two laity sponsored PAR Orientation programs were
conducted in Poona diocese. 24 participants from 8
parishes attended. Clergy members were present. The
reaction by most was that the PAR booklet was an eye
opener and participants went away enthusiastic about
supporting parish priests to plug administration gaps
and to enhance laity engagement.
Overview of Bombay Archdiocese Sessions
Sessions were on using the "Parish Administration
Resource Booklets" to enhance Engagement, PAR Booklet in Australia
Continuity & Governance (ECG) in our Parishes.
A booklet has been sent to Archbishop Anthony
05 November 2023:
Fisher (OP) in St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney for his
• Sessions at St Stephen's Church, Cumballa Hill - consideration and possible use.
attended by 24 Parish Council Members.
PAR Book Review in Goa Archdiocese Magazine
06 November 2023:
•
Sessions at St Andrew's Parish, Bandra - attended
by 28 Parish Council Members
• Sessions at Our Lady of Perpetual Succor Church in
Manori for the Bhayandar Deanery - attended by
18 Parish Priests.
Detailed reports on the sessions are available in the
issues of the Examiner dated November 11 and
November 25.
28 May 2024,
8
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 22 October 2023
The Examiner (A CATHOLIC NEWSWEEKLY – Archdiocese of Bombay Vol. 67 No. 42 • OCT 21 - 27, 2023)
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28 May 2024,
Above: Book Orientation Training program on 12
October 2023 in Mumbai. 80 priests attended.
Presentation attached separately.
St Agustine’s Parish NY and auxiliary bishop
Bonnici were presented copies of the book. They
shared their 20-page ministry booklet with
details. Not a common practice in the USA.
Attached separately. Could be useful.
Two seminary deans in the USA agreed to share
their views on the usefulness of the booklet for
seminarians.
Bishop of Poona has made 40 booklets available
for priests at the monthly recollection meeting.
Fr Konrad S – JDV (A Pontifical Athenaeum) has
purchased a book for the institute library and is
considering on formulating a program based on
the Book.
A book review in the Goa Archdiocese magazine
is awaited.
9
Parish Administration Resource Booklet Progress Review - 07 October 2023
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Above: Book Orientation Training program - Mumbai.
The book release, initiated by the Dimensions Group, was
held in Atma Darshan, SVD Mumbai, on 14 Aug 2023.
News article of the book release appeared in the
Examiner in August 2023.
A book review appeared in the Navhind Times, Goa in
September 2023.
•
•
Books handed over to Cardinal Dolan,
New York Archdiocese.
Books handed over to Sr Nadiya - Dean
Muledeen Seminary – Chicago.
Books handed over to Fr Michael Bruno
– Dean, St Joseph’s Seminary, New York.
Books sent to one parish council
member in Toronto and one in
Montreal, Canada.
A soft copy of the book sent to parish
council member in Vancouver, Canada.
A soft copy of the book sent to parish
council member in New Zealand.
A soft copy of the book sent to a senior
FABC clergy member in Sri Lanka.
A soft copy of the book sent to a senior
faculty member of a pontifical institute
in South Africa. Soft copy distributed to
institute faculty members and parish
priests.
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao and
Archbishop Felix Machado presented
the book at the CBCI standing
committee meeting.
A book was handed over to Abp Peter
Machado (Karnataka Archdiocese) who
is taking it up with the clergy.
Vashi Diocese has purchased some
books to initiate discussions with the
Priests council.
Goa Archdiocese has purchased books
and is taking it up with the Priests
council.
50 books presented by a lay person to a parish in Pune, for distribution to council members.
40 books presented by a lay person to Poona diocese for distribution to parishes
140 books taken by Dimensions Group (Christian Business Entrepreneurs Group) Mumbai.
25 books taken by SSVP Pune.
Books were presented to Cardinal Oswald, Cardinal Filipe, Cardinal Mario Grech and Nuncio India
Book presented to CRI President, Sr Maria Nirmalini AC
28 May 2024,
10