Denver-based initiative coming to Detroit for first time in April

DETROIT — The heart and soul of a diocese is its parishes. If the diocese wants to be a center for evangelization, its parishes have to be centers for evangelization.

This reasoning has led to the Amazing Parish Conference, set for April 18-20 at the Detroit Marriot Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit.

The three-day conference will feature representatives from parishes across the Archdiocese of Detroit, focusing on an array of issues necessary to revitalization and reinvigoration of parishes across the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The Amazing Parish Conference has its roots in Denver, but the Archdiocese of Detroit will be the first in the nation to host the conference specially tailored to needs of a particular diocese.

“Two years ago, Bishop Michael Byrnes attended the conference in Denver, along with priests from the (arch)diocese,” said Lory McGlinnen, director of parish life for the archdiocese. “They had such a great experience; they felt it would be a valuable way for our own parishes to build leadership teams.”

McGlinnen and four parish life regional coordinators attended the conference in April 2015, and agreed a parish conference would be the best way for the Archdiocese of Detroit’s parishes to prepare for the local 2016 synod on evangelization.

“We realized the great opportunity this was to build a strong leadership team with the concepts of the New Evangelization,” McGlinnen said. “This is an opportunity not only to engage the parishes, but improve the diocese as a whole.

“What I’m hoping comes from this conference is that we have parishes which will be open to this new model of how to best reach out to parishioners and non-parishioners as we move closer to the synod.”

The conference can be a transformative moment for parishes, past local attendees of the Denver conference say, vital to Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron’s challenge to “change the very DNA of the Archdiocese of Detroit.”

“I would encourage every parish to take part in it,” said Shirley Braschayko, a member of St. Louise de Marillac Parish in Warren in a video produced by the Archdiocese of Detroit promoting the conference. “When you leave there, you’re going to have a renewed spirit about your parish, and you’re just going to want to get out and start implementing your ideas and your programs.”

Each parish in attendance will be represented by its pastor and five other people, with scholarships available for parishes that can’t afford the $1,000 registration.

Bishop Byrnes said the representatives will serve on the parish leadership team, assisting the pastor in implementing the changes or initiatives that come as a result of the conference.

“The people on the team should be people that can build an environment where open, frank, honest conversations can happen — and that demands trust,” Bishop Byrnes said. “When you get a strong team, you have people who have your back. It’s not just the pastor trying to forge or pioneer something new; it’s a team.

“The best reason to go is to develop this leadership team concept. From pastors that have gone, they’ve told me it’s changed their priesthood, and they don’t have to experience that change alone. They don’t have to be the source of everything in their parish.”