For more than a year, representatives of seven parishes worked to chart a course for the future of the Catholic Church in the Bayshore area.

The study is the fourth in an ongoing diocesan initiative led by what is now the Office of Pastoral Planning and the diocesan Expansion and Restructuring Commission to redefine and enhance the way parishes serve their members and the wider community. It reflects strategic planning underway throughout the diocese in response to shifting demographics, economic trends and declining numbers of clergy.

The Monmouth Bayshore Cluster Study kicked off in the fall of 2008, when the participating parishes – Holy Family, Hazlet; Jesus the Lord, Keyport; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Highlands; St. Agnes, Atlantic Highlands; St. Ann, Keansburg; St. Catherine, Middletown, and St. Joseph, Keyport – began formulating ways to address those issues.

A Parish Study Group, comprised of pastors and two representatives from each parish met monthly beginning in January to discuss how to meet emerging needs. Parish Core Teams – larger bodies which met monthly in the local parishes – supported the work of the Study Group and disseminated information to parishioners.

Consultation in the process included town hall meetings in each parish which drew an average of 100 persons and produced additional input for possible restructuring in the future and ways to strengthen their communities now.

This multi-layered process drew to a close with fanfare and formality Nov. 10 when recommendations for restructuring were presented to Bishop John M. Smith by the Study Group at a Mass in St. Agnes Church.

In a moving homily, Bishop Smith thanked the delegates for their “generous gift of time, talent and treasure” in coming to consensus on the recommendations. “What a privilege it has been to be part of the process (with you),” he said.

He spoke of how fitting it was that the process drew to a close on the Feast of St. Leo the Great, a father and doctor of the Church, who saw it safely through the great changes and upheavals of the early Middle Ages.

Bishop Smith pointed to St. Leo as a role model for the faithful, who, like the assembled delegates, “knew changes were at hand,” who “faced up to the responsibilities” and “grappled,” with enormous problems to secure the future of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Study’s Conclusions
The recommendations include a call for the formation of an InterParochial advisory committee for the Bayshore Region which can promote collaboration among the parishes in achieving the 11 Elements of a Vibrant Parish with training and support from the diocesan Pastoral Center.

Restructuring scenarios were built around the possible number of priests available:

• In the event there are only five pastors available to serve the seven parishes in the Monmouth Bayshore cluster, it is recommended that the following reconfigurations are put in place: Pastor 1 - St. Joseph Parish, Keyport, and Jesus the Lord Parish, Keyport (merged or twinned) Pastor 2 - Holy Family Parish, Union Beach (remain individual) Pastor 3 - St. Ann Parish, Keansburg (remain individual) Pastor 4 - St. Catherine Parish, Middletown (remain individual) Pastor 5 – Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Highlands, and St. Agnes Parish, Atlantic Highlands (merged or twinned)

• In the event there are only four pastors available to the serve the cluster parishes, the recommendation is: Pastor 1 - St. Joseph Parish and Jesus the Lord Parish (merged or twinned) Pastor 2 - Holy Family Parish (remain individual) Pastor 3 - St. Ann Parish and St. Catherine Parish (merged or twinned) Pastor 4 – Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and St. Agnes Parish (merged or twinned)

• In the event there are only three pastors available to the serve the cluster parishes, the following is recommended: Pastor 1 - St. Joseph Parish, Jesus the Lord Parish and Holy Family Parish (merged or twinned) Pastor 2 - St. Ann Parish and St. Catherine Parish (merged or twinned) Pastor 3 – Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and St. Agnes Parish (merged or twinned) Throughout the process, it had been reiterated that the recommendations presented to the bishop represent pro-active measures available in the event they should be needed in the future. The recommendation most likely to be addressed first would be the call for collaboration which the Study Group regarded as a necessary and positive move forward for parish communities, especially for those parishes identified for possible merger or twinning.

Before any move forward is taken, Bishop Smith will fully review the recommendations in consultation with members of the diocesan senior administrative staff. No timeline has been established for the bishop to adopt any of the recommendations; it is expected that any developments will be incremental, based on the needs that emerge in the cluster.

Father Jeffrey Lee, chairman of the Expansion and Restructuring Committee, explained that this is the first of the parish studies coordinated by the diocese that has been limited to a cluster of parishes within a deanery.

“We found it beneficial to deal with a smaller and more concentrated group of parishes that have more in common and share some of the same challenges.”

A second cluster study, involving five Southern Burlington parishes, was conducted concurrently with the Bayshore study and will be coming to a close next month.

A number of delegates, including Gregg E. Savoy, a member of Jesus the Lord Parish, Keyport, said during the celebration dinner that followed they are looking forward to finding ways to collaborate.

Mary Schoales is a delegate to the Parish Study Group from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Highlands. She was one of many delegates who saw the overall process as an enlightening experience which can help the Church in the Bayshore meet the challenges to come.

Schoales said members of the Parish Study Group were “very aware that this is a time of change and that we must change in order to go forward.”

Her sentiments were echoed by Judy Grasso and Kathryn Trinidad, both St. Agnes Parish, and Lucy Furmato of Jesus the Lord Parish.

“Meeting so many people and learning from each other about what neighboring parishes do has been a great thing,” said Grasso.

“For me, it opened the door on ways parishes can share with each other,” said Trinidad.