This article originally appeared in the August 2006 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter
Kentucky, Tennesse Missions 'Bustling'
 |
| Father Dennis Holly gives Eucharist to a First Communicant. Catholic nurture is just one aspect of ministry in Glenmary's missions in Scottsville, Ky., and Lafayette, Tenn. |
After three years pastoring Glenmary’s mission in Lafayette, Tenn., and eight years pastoring the Scottsville, Ky., mission, Father Dennis Holly says pragmatically: “You can only do so much with a small congregation and limited resources.” However true those words might be, Father Dennis and the folks in these missions in Macon County, Tenn., and Allen County, Ky., seem to have ignored them. These adjoining missions, albeit in different states and different dioceses, are bustling with activity!
Father Dennis, the first resident pastor in Macon County, arrived in Lafayette in August 2003. Before that time, the parish had been served by a diocesan pastor based in Lebanon, Tenn. While Lebanon is only about 30 miles from Lafayette, the drive across two counties takes nearly an hour. This section of middle Tennessee is truly “No Priest Land”: Three of the five counties that border Macon have no Catholic Church.
Although many Glenmary priests pastor two or more missions, Father Dennis is one of only two whose missions are located in two dioceses (Nashville and Owensboro). When he agreed to the unusual situation, Father Dennis assumed that he would be attending double the number of diocesan meetings. But, he says happily, “The two dioceses conveniently schedule meetings on the same day, so I have to choose one or the other.”
Both of his missions have made five-year ministry plans based on five goals: nurturing the Catholic community, evangelization, ecumenism, social outreach and connecting to the Universal Church. He believes that a parish must effectively address all five points in order to be a mature missionary community in the Glenmary spirit.
“Parishes naturally gravitate toward nurture and outreach,” he says, “but things like evangelization, ecumenism and universalism require more of a concerted effort.”
An example of that concerted effort: Six Lafayette parishioners accompanied Father Dennis to the 2006 North American Institute for Catholic Evangelization in Cincinnati in July.
Father Dennis describes the institute as presenting abstract ideas about evangelizing, but “the parishioners have pledged to make an effort to give those ideas ‘legs,’” he says. He points to one parishioner who already has a plan. This man, who interacts with many people every day and has many questions posed to him about the Catholic Church, would like to see the mission start a radio program to answer some of those questions.
Father Dennis believes those who attended the institute will be a “leaven for the rest of the parish” in advancing the mission’s commitment to evangelization.
Work commitments did not allow Scottsville parishioners to participate in the July institute. But Father Dennis proudly reports on the adult Scripture class that meets at the Scottsville mission every Sunday after 11 a.m. Mass.
The class began after several parishioners traveled to nearby Bowling Green, Ky., for talks by Scripture scholar Margaret Ralph, who authored Breaking Open the Lectionary, which the class uses as a study guide.
In addition to the their five-year ministry plans, both missions have started plans for building projects. In Scottsville, Father Dennis says, 40 people are “jammed” into a temporary church—a house with worship space on the first floor, a kitchen and parish hall in the basement and classrooms on the second floor.
In Lafayette, 50 members of the congregation worship in a structure best described as “a basement with a roof on it.” It was purchased from a Protestant congregation that had intended to construct a church, but ran out of funds after finishing just the basement. The Lafayette congregation has now grown too large to comfortably fit this space.
“There’s an ‘80-40 rule’ described by the Alban Institute (an interfaith organization that provides resources for congregations),” Father Dennis says. “The rule says that if a congregation is at 80 percent of capacity, either in its church or in its parking lot, it will stop growing. People get the idea that there’s no room for them, and they’ll go somewhere else.
“At the same time, if a church is regularly at only 40 percent of its capacity, people won’t feel engaged, and the parish will continue to decline.” According to this rule, both congregations definitely need more space if they are to continue to grow.
In Scottsville, the mission is situated on four acres of land that will easily accommodate future construction. And in Lafayette, the diocese has helped purchase five acres. “First we’ll build a rectory and we’ll go from there, probably constructing in three phases,” Father Dennis says.
There is no ministerial association in Lafayette, but Father Dennis says he and other local ministers attend a “ministerial fellowship” each month.
The fellowship has traditionally held community worship services twice each year. The first is held on the Wednesday of Holy Week, and the other is a Thanksgiving service. “The Thanksgiving service is the biggest community service I’ve ever seen in a small town,” Father Dennis says.
Despite their “limited resources,” the missions are always looking for ways to reach out to the larger community, says Father Dennis. “We’re letting it be known that the Catholic Church is present and alive in these counties.” |
