Presented at the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois' 2018 Diocesan Adult Enrichment Conference.

1. When You’re Banging Your Head
Against the Wall
Rethinking Parish and School Challenges

3. Who’s in the room?

5. Leadership would be a safe
undertaking if your
organizations and
communities only faced
problems for which they
already knew the solutions.
:: Ronald A. Heifetz & Marty Linsky,
Leadership on the Line (2002)

6. Challenges Facing the Church
• 44% decrease in church weddings since 2000
• 10% of Catholic Millennials attend Mass weekly
• 61% of American Catholics believe in a personal God
• 41% of American adults raised in the Church no longer identify as Catholic
• Only 45% of Hispanic Catholics in America are registered at a parish
• Catholic school enrollment peaked 1960s (5.2 million); currently 1.8 million

7. Technical Problems
vs
Adaptive Challenges

8. Technical Problems
• Easily Identifiable
• Usually Solved with Cut-and-Dried Solutions
• Often Solved by Authority or Expert
• Required Changes are Limited in Scope
• Minimal Resistance Encountered

9. Technical Example: Choosing a New
Catechetical Textbook
1. Convene Ad Hoc Committee
2. Review Diocesan Curriculum Guidelines
3. Review and Discuss Texts
4. Recommend Textbook to Pastor
5. Purchase Textbooks

10. Adaptive Challenges
• Invisible, Difficult to Identify
• Require Changes in Values, Cultures, Roles, Relationships, Approaches
• Solutions Developed by Those With the Problem
• Often Require Trial-and-Error, Numerous Iterations
• Require Change Across Organizational Boundaries
• Denied/Resisted by Those Invested in Existing Behaviors, Values, etc.

11. Adaptive Example: Keeping Kids in
Formation Programs
Adaptive Example: Lack of
Personal Investment
Technical Approach
• Push back the age of
Confirmation
• Require 2 years attendance
before reception of sacraments
• Mandate formation attendance
for access to “fun” activities
Adaptive Approach
• Refocus on evangelization as basis
for all catechesis
• Find ways to help youth encounter
Christ
• Form families in regular faith
practices
• Rethink the model of catechesis in
use

12. Managing Change
Disequilibrium
Time

13. Authority vs Leadership
Authority
• Granted
• Often role-based
• Easily gained, expensive to spend
• Relies on power
Leadership
• Earned
• Not reliant on an individual’s role
• Hard to gain, cheaper to spend
• Relies on trust

14. Approaching Adaptive
Challenges in Ministry

15. Start with the Goal
in Mind

16. Keep Asking
Questions

17. Engage Multiple
Audiences

18. Acknowledge the
Pain

19. Don’t Sprint

20. Fail Fast

21. Pray

23. Try It! Dealing with Technical
and Adaptive Challenges

24. First, decide if the challenge is adaptive
or technical. Then:
If adaptive…
• What is the underlying challenge?
• What assumptions, values,
behaviors, roles, etc. may need to
change?
• Who could you engage in the
process of change?
• What resistance do you anticipate?
If technical…
• What is the desired outcome?
• What experts do you need?
• What resources do you need?
• Who decides on the solution?

25. Your parish’s Altar and Rosary Society
approaches you about helping them recruit
young women. (The average age of the
Society is 72.) They meet every Wednesday
morning after the 8a Mass and are
responsible for keeping the church clean and
organizing the biannual parish rummage sale,
which supports the parish school.

26. Your parish is building a new church hall; the
pastor asks you to find out what kind of space
various groups need and make
recommendations to him for how the
building should be set up.

27. Attendance at the annual parish picnic in your
rural committee has been declining over the
last 10 years. Your pastor asks you to come up
with a marketing plan to get more people to
attend this year.

28. The evangelization committee at your
suburban parish is concerned about the
number of non-practicing Catholics in the
area. They ask for your help in organizing a
“welcome back” event with the goal of
getting these Catholics to return and
volunteer in a ministry.

29. Enrollment at your small Catholic school has
been decreasing for five years. The principal
asks you to help with their goal of increasing
enrollment by 10% for next year by reaching
out to the growing Latino community, which
does not have a large presence in the student
body.

30. Your rural community has seen an increase in
the number of people coming to the parish
office looking for assistance with rent,
utilities, etc. Your pastor asks you to put
together a committee to find ways to get
these people the help they need.

31. Your pastor asks you to review and
recommend some DVD programs for adult
faith formation in your parish.

32. Find more resources at www.JonathanFSullivan.com.