Prayerful Discernment in Pastoral Change

Product Description

Overview

Dioceses, parishes and religious communities face a variety of major changes: bishop and pastor transitions, aging members, personnel issues and other challenges. Our instinct is to tackle difficult transitions with a “fix-it” approach, but engaging in a collaborative process of listening, dialogue and prayerful discernment can ease the pain of change and generate more positive outcomes for all involved. Rev. Paul Scaglione, M.Div., presents a model for navigating major transition in faith communities.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will:

1. Identify ways to experience transition as a discernment process instead of a problem-solving process;
2. Learn how to integrate prayerful listening into an organizational change process; and
3. Discover a simple, adaptable model for facilitating transition.

Who Should Participate

Priests, deacons, men and women religious, lay ministers, and those involved in vocations, formation, or clergy and ministry personnel needs.

Reflection Questions

Questions for reflection and discussion prior to the learning session are provided below.

1. What has been my experience of organizational change thus far in my ministry? What was positive? Negative?
2. What are the most difficult aspects of major change?
3. How can prayerful listening be more integral to a change process?