In the face of the coronavirus, how many parishes have made sure every parishioner has received a phone call to check in on them?
That’s the suggestion of author Chris Lowney, who has been writing about more effective Church leadership for years.
Lowney says the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis has been “a bit tentative,” and recommends an easy first step: Pick up the telephone.
“Let’s make at least 1.2 billion phone calls. That’s the estimated number of Catholics in the world: Every one of them should hear from us,” he told Crux.
“Every parish and ministry can pull together an ad hoc group of volunteers and call every single person on the parish roles, and also call non-parishioners we interact with in ministry, especially those at the margins: Those who are alone, undocumented, and so on,” Lowney said.
The onetime Jesuit seminarian is vice chair of the board of CommonSpirit Health, America’s largest nonprofit health system, and so has an insider’s view of the ongoing pandemic.
“A large number of our caregivers are exposed to COVID every single day, and many of our people have been working flat out, for weeks. And, financially, COVID has taken a toll on our system, as it has on every healthcare system,” said, before adding that no one in his organization is complaining: “The felt sense of mission is palpable.”
He has written several books over the years, including Make Today Matter: 10 Habits for a Better Life (and World) and Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads.
Lowney’s book Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church won a 2018 Catholic Press Association award, and in it he describes a leadership crisis in the Church that the current pandemic has only exacerbates.
“But now is the moment to shake off the shock, dust ourselves off, and begin brainstorming some creative next steps: How can we reach out to our parishioners? How will we console families who couldn’t properly grieve lost family members during the lockdown: what kinds of memorials will we create? What innovative ideas can we generate to cope with the financial devastation that our parishes and so many of our parishioners have suffered? And how will we reach out more extensively to those at the margins who have been utterly crushed financially?”
What follows is Lowney’s email interview with Crux.
Crux: You have written often about a crisis of leadership in the Church. How has the response to the COVID-19 pandemic affected your views?
Lowney: A slow-motion crisis has been afflicting our Church for decades: declining sacramental participation, an inability to engage young people, many hundreds of parishes and ministries shuttered because of financial or personnel problems; not even to mention the ongoing horrors of the sexual abuse crisis. I beat this drum not because I want to undermine the Church that I love. Completely the opposite: The first step in overcoming a grave crisis is to confront it forthrightly and energetically, and we’ve yet to do that.
Coronavirus has now dramatically intensified our broader crisis, and our responses to coronavirus have thus far been a bit tentative. But I would not at all criticize our leaders for that: Every institution on earth, from governments to companies, has struggled to figure out the way forward in this unprecedented moment.
But now is the moment to shake off the shock, dust ourselves off, and begin brainstorming some creative next steps: How can we reach out to our parishioners? How will we console families who couldn’t properly grieve lost family members during the lockdown: what kinds of memorials will we create? What innovative ideas can we generate to cope with the financial devastation that our parishes and so many of our parishioners have suffered? And how will we reach out more extensively to those at the margins who have been utterly crushed financially?
NONE of these are easy problems to solve! So, we’ll need to show some “cultural” traits that we’ve not been exemplary at in the past: Generating completely new approaches, experimenting with initiatives that might fail, sharing good ideas and learnings quickly around dioceses and across countries, and widening the circle to tap into the expertise of more lay folks.
You have often said the Church seems reactive, as opposed to proactive? How could it be more proactive now?
How could we be more proactive? Right now? Well, here’s one proactive initiative: Let’s make at least 1.2 billion phone calls. That’s the estimated number of Catholics in the world: Every one of them should hear from us. Every parish and ministry can pull together an ad hoc group of volunteers and call every single person on the parish roles, and also call non-parishioners we interact with in ministry, especially those at the margins: those who are alone, undocumented, and so on.
When we call, we’ll first assure every person that we’re praying for them, and tell them how they can join us in prayer (livestream or some other way). We’ll ask whether they need support: Does someone need food? Is someone lonely and needs a follow-up call every week? Does someone want to request prayers for a sick relative? This, above all moments, is when we need to be there for our communities! We cannot “hibernate” as a Church and wait for things to go back to normal!
By the way, let me expand this point about outreach: We have a unique opportunity to do what I might call “soft evangelization.” Every parish roster unfortunately includes many people who have drifted away. We know that we’re supposed to engage these people (remember the Good Shepherd who leaves behind the 99 to seek out the one?). But we almost never do it, because it feels so awkward and uncomfortable to call up someone who has drifted away. Well, this is probably the one moment in history when we can call people up without that awkwardness: Who the heck is going to be angry at someone who calls during a pandemic to offer support?
Are there any creative pastoral responses you have seem that impressed or surprised you?
You ask me about “creative pastoral responses,” but what comes first to mind is a non-creative initiative. The parish closest to me has sort of closed shop, but the next parish over has been live-streaming Mass. Believe me, they aren’t going to win any awards for cinematography: It’s a single smart phone camera pointed at the altar, with a dim image and tinny sound. But that Mass has been far more poignant and affecting for my wife and me than many more beautiful liturgies I’ve attended in person. So my message is: Just try something.
Try anything, whether using phone, social media, prayer or rosary chains, food-shopping groups for the homebound, whatever. No one will expect perfection: Everyone understands that we’re in uncharted territory. People will be forgiving if our efforts aren’t perfect, but I wonder if they will be so forgiving if we try nothing yet then simply expect them to dutifully show up in church when the crisis is over.
How do you think Pope Francis has been during this crisis?
Well, it’s certainly not my role to give a performance grade to the Holy Father! I was deeply moved on that rainy afternoon when he stood in an empty St. Peter’s Square and led us in prayer before the Urbi et Orbi blessing. It just crystallized the moment we’re all living through now: I’m not sure there is another leader on the world stage who projects the empathy and compassion that he does. I would urge him to find other moments when he can lead us in prayer personally. And, I would also urge him to call all of us forcefully (not just to “encourage” us) to generate ideas and to act (and of course to pray).
Put differently, he (and other pastors) need to speak to us not as “customers” of temporarily closed parishes but as “on mission” with them at a fraught moment in world history. This is a moment when the Church needs all the talents of all its members, where we all need to be in the game. We’ve seen so many beautiful examples of individual Catholics or parishes stepping up: But we need to see that multiplied a hundred-fold.
What changes in Church practice would you like to see in the “post lockdown” era?
You know, if there is a “silver lining” for the Church in this horrible pandemic, it is this: We’re learning and doing things that we should have been focusing on a decade ago. And we’ll be a stronger, more effective Church as a result. For example, we’re getting a crash course in how to use social media to reach out to our communities. And, some parishes are finally adopting online giving and other financial best practices. And, because we are now juggling so many challenges, it’s forcing us to involve more lay members much more proactively in problem solving and leadership: whether it’s brainstorming financial solutions for cash-strapped ministries, or standing up and leading online prayer groups, or imagining other support ministries for those in financial distress.
Overall, I hope our “culture” or “style” is changing not just for the moment but for good: We’ve had to become more creative, more willing to try new approaches, to bear the risk of failure, more open to exchanging ideas the way any good network should, and so on. If you re-read that previous sentence, most of the qualities enumerated there could be attributed to the first generation of apostles. So, when I talk about a new “culture” or “style,” I’m mostly saying: Let’s re-discover the innovative, Spirit-open graces that characterized our earliest Christian ancestors.
Changing tack: You are heavily involved in the healthcare industry. What has the impact of coronavirus been?
Yes, I’m privileged to vice chair the board of CommonSpirit Health, a Catholic healthcare system which comprises more than a hundred hospitals across a wide swath of the U.S. I’m so humbled by how our caregivers have put themselves at risk to support those suffering from Coronavirus. For sure, the costs of stepping up have been great, both human and financial. A large number of our caregivers are exposed to COVID every single day, and many of our people have been working flat out, for weeks. And, financially, COVID has taken a toll on our system, as it has on every healthcare system. But let me quickly say this: I haven’t heard a single complaint about any of that. Rather, the feeling across the ministry appears to be, “this is why we’re here; we’re doing what God has called our ministry to do.” The felt sense of mission is palpable.
You know, it’s a pity that the Catholic Church sometimes feels so “siloed”: Catholic healthcare in one box over here, parishes in a separate column over there, and education in yet another silo; Africa is in one box; Europe is in another. Well, coronavirus is inviting us to think of ourselves as one global, universal Church enduring this pandemic together. All Catholics can take pride that their brothers and sisters in Catholic healthcare around the world are manifesting God’s love to those who are suffering. And please pray that God’s Holy Spirit will come down powerfully upon us at this moment!
Follow Charles Collins on Twitter: @CharlesinRome
