Parish Association
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A parish association (also pastoral care unit , pastoral care area , pastoral care district , cooperation unit , pastoral association , parish community or pastoral area ) is an amalgamation of several Catholic parishes . The Catholic dioceses react to the steadily decreasing number of priests due to a shortage of priests and to the drastically decreasing number of practicing believers by amalgamating individual parishes or placing them under a common leadership.
Parish Association
In a parish association, congregations that are independent in terms of church and property law are merged into a new unit and receive a jointly responsible pastoral care team, which is headed by a pastor . This restructuring is taking place at the diocesan level.
In contrast to the co-administration of several parishes by a priest, which has been common for some time, the concept of parish associations represents a fundamental further development of the church structure: the parish association replaces the parishes as the lower pastoral level; Within the parish associations, the parishes are legally preserved, but are obliged to cooperate extensively in the "pastoral areas of the 'Church on site'", so that it is no longer each individual parish, but the parish association as a whole that the abundance of church services ( liturgy , proclamation , diakonia ) provide must . The concept of parish associations triggers a new debate in pastoral theology about the concept of the community and the church basis.
At the global church level, the "Directory on the Pastoral Service of Bishops" commented on the pastoral care units for the first time:
“The so-called 'pastoral care units', with the help of which forms of organic cooperation between neighboring parishes as an expression of communal pastoral care are promoted, are becoming more and more widespread. If the bishop considers the establishment of such structures to be appropriate, then he should observe the following criteria: The territorial areas must be delimited in a homogeneous way, also from a sociological point of view; the parishes involved should realize a real common pastoral care; pastoral services must be effectively ensured for all parishes in this area. The different organization of pastoral services must not make one forget that every congregation, even if it is small, has a right to a real and effective pastoral service. "
implementation
A precise designation for the amalgamation of parishes is not binding, since such is not expressly mentioned in canon law. Therefore, different terms are used for these newly formed units in the German-speaking dioceses. In the framework regulation for pastoral structures and for the management and administration of the dioceses in the Federal Republic of Germany , adopted in 1974, the term parish association is used.
One example is the city churches , i.e. cooperation between the individual parishes of a city and its surrounding area.
Diocese of Aachen
The Diocese of Aachen has under Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff initiated a merger process in many parishes of the diocese. In 2010 it became known that the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy had already criticized the content and implementation of the Aachen model in 2009. There are now 71 communities of parishes across the entire diocese ; In 27 of these communities there was a merger of the parishes involved, in the others there was a binding cooperation of further independent parishes with a common management structure.
Diocese of Augsburg
In the Diocese of Augsburg , Bishop Konrad Zdarsa put the Pastoral Space and Personnel Planning 2025 into effect for the diocese on July 13, 2012. The number of deaneries has already been reduced to 23. By 2025, a total of 211 pastoral care units are to be formed for the 1,335,486 Catholics (as of 2013) in 998 parishes.
Archdiocese of Bamberg
The 310 parishes of the Archdiocese of Bamberg are divided into 96 pastoral care areas. A pastoral care area is an “amalgamation of several parishes and should ideally include around 8,000 Catholics, but in rural regions it can also be fewer.” There are also individual parishes that are their own pastoral care area due to their size.
In the Archdiocese of Bamberg there are three possible forms of cooperation for the formation of pastoral areas. The parish association is the loosest form of merging, the middle variant is that of the parish community , the most far-reaching is the merger into a parish. In any case, the units have a leading pastor and other pastors according to a diocesan-wide personnel key. The parishes, curate and branch parishes in a pastoral care area “can work out the form of their cooperation themselves with the help of the diocese leadership and in coordination with it, while preserving their identity.” So far, only the forms of cooperation between parishes and parishes have been practiced.
Archdiocese of Berlin
In order to reorganize the financial budget of the Archdiocese of Berlin , the number of parishes was reduced from 207 to 108 as part of the “Plan 2009” from 2003 onwards.
In December 2012, Cardinal Woelki announced in the form of a pastoral letter that the parishes in the Archdiocese of Berlin were joining together to form “pastoral spaces”, including “places of church life” - Catholic institutions, services and associations, offers from Caritas, native-speaking congregations, etc. within which there is cooperation. The process under the motto "Where faith gains space" serves the pastoral reorientation in the Archdiocese of Berlin. Its organizational goal is to reduce the number of legally independent parishes to around 30 by merging by 2022. Several parishes should then exist under the umbrella of one parish in a parish.
Diocese of Eichstätt
Since January 1st, 2003 there have been a total of 52 pastoral care units. In 2016, 47 pastoral care units were set up as parish associations and two pastoral care units as parish associations. The diocese is divided into eight deaneries.
Diocese of Erfurt
On January 1, 2005, a structural reform began in the Diocese of Erfurt , in which the number of parishes was initially reduced from 120 to 95. In 2008 the number of parishes was further reduced to 74, currently (2014) the number of parishes has almost halved compared to 2005 with 63. The dissolved parishes continue to exist as subsidiary parishes of a larger parish. By 2020 the parishes are to be further reduced to 32 through gradual amalgamations. This is mainly due to the shortage of priests in the diocese. However, since many parishes will become very large as a result and in some cases several subsidiary parishes are to be assigned to them, the diocese is increasingly relying on the work of lay people, including as diaconal helpers.
Diocese of Essen
In the diocese of Essen the amalgamation is called "cooperation unit". This means several Catholic parishes within a deanery. Two (especially large parishes in the Ruhr area ) or more ( up to seven churches in the rural Sauerland ) congregations should work together because, due to the increasing shortage of priests, not every congregation can have its own pastor . The cooperation plan for the diocese of Essen, which Bishop Hubert Luthe put into effect in 1997 after a five-year consultation process, provides for the shape of cooperation between neighboring parishes . Each cooperation unit is assigned full-time pastoral workers (priests, deacons , pastoral and parish officers) on the basis of a pastoral plan for 2000 with a view to 2006 . With the cooperation plan and pastoral planning 2000 as a starting point, the congregations of each cooperation unit now advise - taking local circumstances into account - about the future form and quality of closer cooperation. This can also mean the merger of parishes.
From 2006 to 2008, the diocese leadership pushed ahead with a central realignment of the Essen diocese with further amalgamations.
Archdiocese of Freiburg
In Erzbistum Freiburg consist Seelsorgeeinheit from two to 17 parishes, a pastor or Pfarr administrator with a pastoral Team ( Vicar , Kooperator , subsidiar , deacons , Pastoralreferent / -in , community speaker / -in are) entrusted. Living spaces that are as homogeneous as possible should form a unit: a city or a space with a similar sociological structure. There are several reasons for the concept, but first and foremost it is born out of the need to cope with fewer priests.
Between 2000 and 2009, all 1,075 parishes in the diocese were combined into a total of 328 pastoral care units. Since the number of priests in active service to lead such a community will continue to decline in the future (according to the Archbishop's Ordinariate from 330 in 2010 to 220 in 2030), the plan for a geographical development of the pastoral care units was announced in 2009.
This further development reduced the number of pastoral care units from 328 (2010) to 224 (2015) on January 1, 2015. Since then, a pastoral care unit has consisted of up to 17 parishes (Heidelberg pastoral care unit) and generally comprises at least 10,000 Catholics. The new pastoral care units as “Roman Catholic parishes” are the church parishes with legal capacity in the sense of state church law; to this extent they are the legal successors of the previous parishes. Since then, these are no longer legally competent units under state church law, but remain in existence according to (internal church) church law "as a pastoral entity with its own tasks".
In the parish council elections in January 2015, only one joint parish council was elected in each of the new pastoral care units, now church parishes, which set up a single foundation council.
To “promote church life and its presence in the social environment of the parish” [PGR statutes], parish teams are to be formed in the individual parishes. These should especially take care of the basic features: "Liturgy, Annunciation and Caritas". They consist of at least one elected PGR member from this parish, the pastor or a permanently delegated member of the pastoral care team, and other people from the parish. The members are confirmed by the PGR at the suggestion of the parish and appointed by the pastor. It has been proven that the groups send representatives to the community team, as they are then sufficiently legitimized, and that each member of the pastoral care team is the “contact person” in a community [guidelines] and belongs to the community team of this community. The participation of a member of the Board of Trustees is also very useful.
Diocese of Fulda
In 2002 , Bishop Heinz Josef Algermissen initiated the establishment of 48 pastoral associations in the diocese of Fulda as part of the “Pastoral Process”. A pastoral association is a pastoral care district of binding cooperation and joint action of legally independent, neighboring parishes in the sense of can. 374 § 2 CIC .
Diocese of Görlitz
In the diocese, the smallest in terms of number of Catholics, there are no parish associations. The diocese with 28,795 Catholics (as of 2015) is divided into three deaneries and consists of 19 parishes.
Diocese of Hildesheim
In the Diocese of Hildesheim , due to the decrease in the number of Catholics and the shortage of priests in the Diocese of Hildesheim as well as the increasingly deteriorating financial situation of the Diocese in 2003, the concept "Key Points 2020" was developed, which in addition to direct savings (for example through the closure of facilities) also achieved a reduction through amalgamation the number of municipalities from 350 at that time to 124 in 2014.
Archdiocese of Cologne
Several parishes in the Archdiocese of Cologne are each united to form a pastoral care area with a common pastor and a common pastoral care team. In the individual pastoral care areas a decision can be made whether the parishes remain independent or merge into one parish. There are 80 pastoral areas in the archbishopric with almost 530 parishes.
Diocese of Magdeburg
As part of the family pilgrimage of the Magdeburg diocese in September 2005, Bishop Gerhard Feige gave the go-ahead for the formation of 44 congregational associations. The previous parishes, vicariates and curatios should grow together in a process by 2010 at the latest and then be raised to new parishes (parish merger). On May 2, 2010, Bishop Feige dissolved parishes, parish vicarages and curaties and established 25 new parishes. The remaining new installations followed in the course of 2010.
Diocese of Mainz
Since 2004 the diocese of Mainz has been in a process of renewal, “living parishes in renewed pastoral units”. This diocese process takes place on a broad basis with the participation of all concerned. Parishes are encouraged to enter into a binding cooperation in parish associations or parish groups. The independence of the parishes is preserved in both cases.
Archdiocese of Munich and Freising
The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is divided into 747 parishes and parish curatios in 2019. As part of the 2020 structural plan, 230 parish associations are planned for the future.
Diocese of Münster
In the diocese of Münster , due to the decrease in the number of Catholics and the shortage of priests, pastoral care units have been implemented in many parishes in recent years. Many former parishes are now combined into one pastoral care unit.
Diocese of Osnabrück
In the Diocese of Osnabrück pastoral units were formed. The pastoral care unit St. Christophorus in Stolzenau covers a large area in the center of Lower Saxony.
Archdiocese of Paderborn
The Archdiocese of Paderborn is divided into 19 deaneries . Each deanery is headed by a dean and consists of several pastoral associations.
Each pastoral association in turn consists of several legally and economically independent parishes, which are looked after by a joint pastoral team (priests, deacons and parish officers) under the direction of a pastor.
Instruction of the faith ( catechesis ) and dissemination ( mission ) are priority areas of responsibility at the level of the pastoral network in the Archdiocese of Paderborn.
Diocese of Passau
In the Diocese of Passau there are 305 parishes (December 31, 2018) in 100 parish associations. These are to be sorted to 86 in the future. The amalgamation to parish associations was justified with the lack of priests. In 2010, as part of a reform of the deanery, the number of deaneries was reduced from 17 to 10, as some deaneries only consisted of four parish associations, so that supra-regional work is no longer possible.
Diocese of Regensburg
At the invitation of Bishop Manfred Müller, a diocesan forum took place in the diocese of Regensburg from 1994 to 1995, which dealt with future models of parish pastoral care. To implement the suggestions from this forum, a working group was formed in the Episcopal Ordinariate, which in 1999 presented the paper “Pastoral Planning 2000”. As of January 1, 2001, the number of dean's offices was reduced from 45 to 33, based on the political administrative boundaries. In addition to the usual administrative tasks, the deanery level received new tasks to coordinate pastoral care. In 2003 the future division of the diocese into pastoral care units was presented. In a pastoral care unit, pastoral care should be mutually coordinated and supplemented and administrative tasks coordinated. They consist “depending on the local situation of two or more parishes [...] whose pastoral care and administration are assigned to a priest to lead. The legal status of the individual parishes usually remains untouched. ”Since then, the process of forming pastoral care units has been carried out in small steps.
Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart
In the 1037 parishes and 100 parishes for Catholics of other mother tongues in the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese , almost 2 million Catholics live in 25 deaneries . The church congregations and parishes for Catholics of other mother tongues work together in pastoral care units in their living space. There are a total of 282 such cooperation networks in the diocese. Each parish is independent within a pastoral care unit. A committee has been set up to coordinate joint tasks, made up of representatives from the church congregations and native-speaking congregations in the pastoral care unit. The cross-community cooperation is regulated in an agreement. A pastor and other full-time pastoral workers are available for each pastoral care unit. The team of full-time professionals regulates the work responsibilities themselves and records them in a work description.
Diocese of Speyer
In view of the shortage of priests, almost a third of the 350 parishes in the Speyer diocese are vacant. In 1973 the parish associations were set up, which also led to an enlargement of the deaneries.
Diocese of Trier
In the diocese of Trier structural reform was initiated in recent years. In the rural diocese, the number of parishes and parish communities was reduced from 389 to 173. The structural plans were based on the number of available diocesan priests. On June 29, 2012, Bishop Ackermann announced a diocese synod , which was constituted on December 13 and 14, 2013. Among other things, one of their technical commissions dealt with the future of the parishes in view of the shortage of priests and the changed social realities.
At the end of the two-and-a-half-year synod, the diocese passed a fundamental structural reform on May 1, 2016, according to which the number of previously almost 900 parishes was to be reduced to around 60 large parishes. On March 24, 2017, the Diocese of Trier presented a draft that only provides for 35 large parishes. It is to be discussed in a "resonance phase" until autumn 2017 and then come into force. After a planned “exploration phase”, the “parishes of the future” are to be established in 2020.
In the larger parishes there should therefore be places with different focuses. Specifically, this means that the Catholic kindergarten is located in one place, the library in another and the youth center in a third place. The administration of the large parishes is to be bundled centrally in a "parish". On October 23, 2017, the diocese published a revised draft of the future room structure. This includes only 33 future parishes.
Diocese of Würzburg
The diocese of Würzburg consists of 619 parishes in 20 deaneries. In the rural diocese there are numerous small parishes with only a few hundred Catholics. In many places, pastors in personal union have held several parishes for decades, but usually no more than two. In future only 14 parishes are to remain as an independent individual parish. The rest of them join together to form a total of 164 parish communities, of which 157 had already been officially established by the 1st Sunday of Lent 2010. However, all previous parishes with their own church administration continue to exist under the umbrella of these parish communities . Whether a joint parish council is elected for the parish community or separately for each parish can be decided on site. Each Parish Community by a parson passed and has depending on the size furthermore comprise one or more Pfarr curates , curates , deacons , community speakers or Pastoralreferenten .
Situation in Switzerland
As described in the introductory section Parish Association , the situation at the church base has also changed in the dioceses of Switzerland . After individual parishes affected were forced to cooperate more closely, so-called 'pastoral care associations' (SV) were initially founded there. Most of the time, the ecclesiastical political situation in Switzerland was taken into account and the legal status of the individual parishes was not changed during the mergers.
Diocese of St. Gallen
In the Diocese of St. Gallen , due to the situation that more and more parishes were looking for regional cooperation and 'pastoral care associations' were founded, guidelines for the formation of 'pastoral care units' (SE) were issued by the then Bishop Ivo on November 7, 2002 Forer issued.
In the meantime, many parishes have been merged into SE or former SV with neighboring parishes to SE. This development is supported by the incumbent Bishop Markus Büchel .
Situation in Luxembourg
In the Archdiocese of Luxembourg , the organizational unit Parish Association ( Luxembourgish : Parverband ) was abolished when the reorganization that came into force at the beginning of May 2017 merged the previous 274 parishes into 33 new, larger parishes. The previously existing multi-level organization was abandoned, according to which the 274 parishes were combined into 57 parish associations and these were combined into five pastoral regions. In about two thirds of the cases the new parish boundaries correspond to those of the previous parish associations. From 2017, the traditional church structure with the division into deaneries and parishes will apply again in the archdiocese.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reference to CIC §374 (2) ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and for the management and administration of the dioceses in the Federal Republic of Germany
- ↑ Framework for the pastoral structures (PDF; 203 kB) and for the management and administration of the dioceses in the Federal Republic of Germany
- ↑ Rheinische Post: If parishes disappear ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Aachener Zeitung: Sharp criticism from Rome of forced mergers ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Information on spatial planning for the Diocese of Augsburg in 2025
- ↑ "From fusions, communities and alliances", message from the Archdiocese of Bamberg from May 2, 2005 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Bamberg from January 10, 2005, Section 3.2.2 (PDF; 279 kB)
- ↑ erzbistum-berlin.de: Where faith gains space
- ↑ a b Further development of the pastoral care units of the Archdiocese of Freiburg , Archdiocese of Freiburg, accessed on January 13, 2018
- ^ Josef Jurina: Administration in parishes , published by the Archbishop's Ordinariate Freiburg, Badenia Verlag, Karlsruhe 2014, p. 28
- ^ Erzbistum-koeln.de: church on site
- ^ Catholic Church in Germany. Statistical data 2018. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, 2019, p. 3 , accessed on March 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Parish Associations. In: Diocese of Passau. Retrieved March 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Pastoral planning Regensburg ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Deanery reform and pastoral care units in the diocese of Regensburg ( Memento of the original from October 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 10 years pastoral care units in the diocese Press release on drs.de from March 21, 2010
- ↑ Diocese of Trier presents new layout for parishes Article at focus.de from March 24, 2017
- ↑ The Diocese of Trier blesses a nationwide unprecedented reform package from the article at volksfreund.de from May 1, 2016
- ↑ www.pfarierendengemeinschaft.bistum-wuerzburg.de ( Memento of the original from 23 August 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Episcopal rules for pastoral care units, Episcopal Ordinariate St. Gallen in November 2002
- ↑ Press release of the Diocese of St. Gallen from May 3, 2011
- ^ Reorganization in the Archdiocese of Luxembourg: 33 new parishes at the beginning of the octave. In: Luxemburger Wort . February 16, 2017, accessed August 9, 2018 .
