Sacred Heart, St. Patrick and Immaculate Conception parishes, which come together in a geographic triangle in the heart of Amador County, are discovering connections stronger than their common boundaries.

The three parishes and their missions are participating in a pilot project designed to address the future needs of Catholics in Amador County.

The project targets a goal contained in the Diocese of Sacramento’s Pastoral Plan, approved by the Council of Priests in 1997, which envisions parishes working together to enrich their individual church communities.

One of first collaborative efforts of the three parishes was an “open air” Mass, celebrated Oct. 7 by Bishop William K. Weigand at the Italian Fairgrounds near Sutter Creek. The event brought together more than 1,000 people, many of them youths.

“It is beautiful to see the young people here today…serving Mass and attending to so many of the needs,” Bishop Weigand said in speaking to the gathering during his homily. “I think there is real hope for the future.”

The Mass was followed by a family-style picnic and time for ministries from all three parishes to provide information at booths.

“It was a day that showed us all a great spirit of joy,” according to Father Liam macCarthy, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Sutter Creek. “There was a realization that when we come together to celebrate our unity, it’s wonderful for all of us.”

Collaboration among parishes like those clustered together in Amador County is helping to address the challenges of changing demographics and the distribution of limited clergy and personnel resources which are impacting the diocese’s 98 parishes.

To address these issues, Bishop Weigand met with the three pastors of the Amador County parishes in June 1999 to introduce a countywide project called “Planning for the Future Together.” Each pastor was also asked to select three people from his parish to form a tri-parish committee.

The project, designed by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., began with the distribution of a survey to members of the three parishes and three mission churches during liturgies on a weekend in December 2000.

The surveys addressed seven aspects of parish life: worship, sacramental and devotional life; sense of community and parish outreach; parish leadership and organization; religious education and spiritual formation; social justice and social action; evangelization; and stewardship.

Major findings of the survey, based on responses from 708 parishioners, included:

• Slightly more than nine in 10 respondents said they were satisfied with their parishes overall, with more than half rating their parishes as “excellent.”

• Slightly more than nine in 10 said the leadership of pastors was at least “good” with two-thirds rating leadership as “excellent.”

• Respondents strongly agreed programs and activities rather than parishes should be consolidated.

• Programs and services which parishioners strongly agreed could be shared are religious education, weekend Masses, social activities and devotional/seasonal services.

• Two in five strongly supported sharing paid staff such as religious education directors and youth ministers.

Heidi Boitano, a member of the tri-parish committee representing Immaculate Conception Parish, has made presentations about the project at Masses in Sutter Creek and at St. Mary of the Mountains Mission in Plymouth.

“At first there were rumors circulating that we were going to lose our priest and become one church,” said Boitano, who also observed those rumors put to rest as the project’s goals became known.

“This is about bringing us all together as one community to build the future of the church,” she noted.

Father Thomas Bland, pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Jackson, said that since the start of the project less than a year ago the three parishes have begun adjusting their collective mindset regarding collaboration.

“We have a basis of communication and commonality and we’ve found a lot of common ground,” he said. “It’s not just trying to maintain my own patch in the earth but finding how we can work together.”

In his view, one of the significant findings of the survey in his parish was a consensus that people wanted to enrich ministry to young people and that collaborative ministry could be effective in accomplishing that goal.

Joyce Voss, a member of the tri-county committee from St. Patrick Parish, agrees.

“We need to stress serving the youth. They are our future and we need to serve their needs more,” she said.

Voss added that having one youth minister serving three parishes, providing a countywide recreation and religious education center, and a ministry to serve a growing Hispanic population are among collaborative projects being discussed.

Jim Rooney, a member of the tri-parish committee from Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Ione, says collaboration is also “a very good idea” for the laity. He was one of the organizers of the recent tri-county Mass and picnic at which “Catholics of the county had a chance to get to know each other.”

“Everyone wants their churches, but if we pool our resources, our ministries can be much more effective,” Rooney said. “Everyone has a little ways to go, but we’re all going toward one another.”

Amador County parishioners are also working collaboratively in a series of weekend renewal retreats focused on evangelization. In addition, they meet regularly in small groups for prayer, study and evangelization planning.

Marysville, Yuba City parishes find strength in coming together

A letter may have said it best.

Sent by four priests serving the parishioners of St. Isidore Parish in Yuba City and St. Joseph Parish in Marysville, the letter was both an affirmation and a challenge.

“After we have recognized the gifts we have, the next step is to share these gifts,” the priests wrote. “Even though we are divided by one river, we are still connected by two bridges. It is time to build more bridges.”

Since June, the pastors of the two parishes have been exploring opportunities to address the diocesan goal of collaborating to meet the changing needs of their people.

“Since our two churches are so close geographically and our people go back and forth for the sacraments, we priests decided to do what our people have been doing already—show that we are one church,” said Father Manuel Soria, pastor of St. Isidore Parish.

In July, Father Soria and Father Soane Kaniseli, parochial administrator of St. Joseph Parish, began exchanging pulpits the first Sunday of each month.

Father Soria said that the response to this new shared ministry has been positive.

“People are excited,” he said. “We are showing a unity of faith.”

The two parishes are planning to work together on hospitality and marriage preparation projects, and plans for a joint youth program have been embraced with particular enthusiasm.

“Our youth ministry is great but it’s also great to have new thoughts and new ideas,” said Dale Walker, youth group coordinator at St. Joseph Parish. “It’s good to know what the folks at the other end of the bridge are thinking, because we are one family.”

Young people from St. Isidore and St. Joseph traveled on a bus together Oct. 6 for Catholic Youth Day at Great America amusement park in Santa Clara.

Beginning in November, the two parish youth groups will meet at St. Joseph’s for “sports nights,” youth meetings that will feature music, sports and refreshments for children, teens and young adults.

“It’s a way for them to socialize, to share something they have in common and from there we can grow,” said Rocio Isern, youth minister at St. Isidore Parish, who sees the new program as a positive solution to both communities’ lack of activities for youth.

Isern said she has enjoyed getting together with Walker to brainstorm and share ideas about their common work.

“It’s nice to have someone to talk to about what works and what doesn’t. I really feel the spirit is present when we meet,” she said.

The fact that St. Joseph and St. Isidore serve diverse ethnic communities, Walker added, offers further opportunities.

“Anything we can do to bring our communities together, learn about our different cultures, the more we understand one another,” he said. “We may not speak the same language, but we’re all God’s children.”

Father Juan Perez, parochial vicar of St. Joseph Parish, who is focusing on serving a growing Hispanic community in his own parish and neighboring parishes, says that is good news indeed.

“If we work together in areas like catechism, in preparation for marriage, for baptisms and for youth, we can cut in half each other’s ministry,” he noted.

The four priests at St. Isidore and St. Joseph, who also include Father Loreto Rojas, parochial vicar of St. Isidore, have also instituted a monthly lunch together—a time to socialize, pray together, and simply get better acquainted.

“We would like to enrich one another, get to know one another so we can work as a team,” Father Soria said.

Two fall events have been planned to bring together both parish communities. On the weekend of Oct. 13-14 a festival of appreciation celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who formerly served both parish and school communities. The four priests from the two parishes concelebrated Mass and the parent associations from both schools worked together on a joint reception.

“People are really getting to know one another,” said Karen Brown, administrative assistant at St. Joseph. “We hope there will be other celebrations we can share.”

A joint retreat will be held at St. Joseph on Nov. 3 with a bilingual Mass and youth groups participating as greeters, ushers and liturgical ministers. The focus of the retreat, which will include presentations by Bob Meaney, director of Catholic Faith Formation for the diocese, will be parish collaboration.

Sandy Coffey, chairwoman of the St. Joseph Parish Council, said the purpose of the retreat is to explore communication between the two church communities.

“We’ve planned workshops together and from that saw the benefit of networking in positive ways,” she said. “It is our hope that this is just the beginning of more collaboration.”

Amador County, Marysville and Yuba City collaborative efforts may be replicated throughout the diocese as part of a three-year process of self-study and visioning, leading to a natural clustering of parishes coming together for a diocesan pastoral synod in 2004.

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