Volunteers, parishioners pitch in to help implement Amazing Parish principles

Metro Detroit — For small, rural parishes around the Archdiocese of Detroit, applying the principles and ideas from last year’s Amazing Parish Conference has required creative thinking. Of the 222 parishes in the archdiocese, 18 are rural. These parishes, often in the far reaches of the archdiocese, do not have the same resources as larger parishes in more populated areas.

Suburban and city parishes often have more financial resources than their rural counterparts, in addition to larger staffs and more parishioners from which to draw volunteers.

Fr. Richard Treml, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Parish in North Branch, enjoyed the fellowship with other pastors at the Amazing Parish Conference. His parish is 76 miles from Detroit, which means he often is unable to attend workshops or other archdiocesan activities with his fellow priests.

Fr. Treml’s community is a clustered parish of four sites in the Thumb Vicariate, with 700 family units in all. Even though some of the programs and activities suggested at the conference are out of reach for SS. Peter and Paul, he was inspired to focus on hospitality.

“We have a parishioner who came here for Mass for five months as she was going through RCIA and no one ever said hello to her,” Fr. Treml said. “We knew we needed to work to make people feel comfortable here, and having greeters is one way to do that.”

Now parishioners and visitors are greeted by volunteers when they arrive for Mass. The increased hospitality fits with the goals of evangelization and discipleship.

“When people are welcomed, I can really see a change in them,” Fr. Treml said. “My advice is to make it as easy as possible for people to socialize, and leave it up to the Holy Spirit to do the rest.”

The staff at SS. Peter and Paul consists of just four part-time employees, making it difficult to schedule staff meetings regularly. Yet Fr. Treml notes that because the parish office is attached to the rectory, he talks to staff members daily about ideas and plans. He also notes his “kitchen cabinet” — friends and advisors from whom he seeks input on an informal basis.

Far to the south, in the small town of Erie near the Ohio border, Fr. David Cybulski is the pastor of St. Joseph Parish, serving 300 families. Fr. Cybulski also attended the conference last April.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but it came at a good time because we had put together a four-year plan for the parish previously and then spun our wheels,” Fr. Cybulski said. “This bridged the gap to help us take the next steps.”

Fr. Cybulski and his leadership team worked on moving the plan forward using Amazing Parish principles, one of which was to improve the liturgical experience. They decided to hire a full-time music director to replace the current part-time position, but so far have not found anyone to fill the role.

“Amazing Parish is all about having your leadership team and getting things done with them,” Fr. Cybulski said. “For smaller parishes, you don’t have those other resources so you have to make do with less — less money, less staff. So your leadership team and your parishioners pick up the slack and you find creative ways of doing things.”

Fr. Cybulski appreciates having the members of his team to help work through problems as they arise, as well as implement ideas and programs.

“For me, the Amazing Parish approach takes the burden off the pastor,” Fr. Cybulski said. “I can go to sleep at night knowing that I wasn’t the sole person making some of these decisions. Instead, I was able to get everyone around the table to talk about the best solution.”

Volunteers are key to the success of a small parish in implementing the concepts from the conference while maintaining current programs and activities. At SS. Peter and Paul, volunteers host Bible studies in their homes, while others help run evangelization programs. At St. Joseph, a multitude of parishioners pitch in to host annual Lenten fish fries that serve up to 900 people each week from Erie and neighboring communities.

“We’re doing these things under the direction of the Holy Spirit with the resources we have,” Fr. Cybulski said. “I think of larger parishes and how many people work at them, whereas at a smaller parish, we draw from our volunteers. Fortunately, we have a lot of people who step up to help.”