May 2, 2005
Mission critical | HR consultant Ernest Lebel has been tapped to guide the Catholic Church in Maine through a reorganization
By Rebecca Lamet
Not everyone thinks in terms of strategic planning and human resources when it comes to the Roman Catholic Church, but Ernest Lebel, vice president of human resource services at Portland consulting firm Drake Inglesi Milardo, says the church has many similarities to a business when it comes to operating smoothly.
In fact, due to a combination of issues including what a press release called "population shifts [and] financial factors," as well as a decline in the number of qualified personnel ˆ topics with which any CEO would be familiar ˆ Bishop Richard Malone last month unveiled a reorganization plan for the Diocese of Portland, which includes all of Maine. In the "New Evangelization Plan," Malone called for the region's 135 parishes to be realigned by 2010 into 27 clusters that would work together, sharing priests and using more lay deacons and ministers. As part of that process, Lebel, who spent nine months last year working with 18 lay and clerical leaders to formulate the plan, took on the role of director of parish planning for evangelism. "My job is to help communities form a strategic planning committee and help individual parishes adapt the overall plan to their needs," he says.
What's driving the reorganization, says Lebel, is that five years from now there will be an estimated 61 priests ˆ down from about 90 now ˆ to care for more than 100 churches across the state. "The reality is that there is a lesser population in the north and a greater concentration of people in the south, and you also have an aging demographic in the north," he says.
While the change in demographics doesn't eliminate the need for church services in most locations, Lebel says, the church needs to change its operations as resources shift. A native of Aroostook County, Lebel, now 61, was raised in a large French Catholic family, which he says gives him the necessary perspective on what change means to a congregation. People are used to having their own priest, someone who lives in town, but from a practical standpoint there just aren't enough priests to go around. "What this process will do is it will relieve the priest of being the subcontractor, financial expert and spiritual leader all at once," says Lebel. Instead, one layperson may be responsible for education and coordination of activities, and another in charge of finances, while the priest focuses on religious observances.
Malone's realignment plan already has been greeted with skepticism from some parishioners. Residents of Lewiston, for example, question how the plan's proposed three priests will be able to keep up with the litany of services, such as funerals and Mass, that formerly were the responsibility of seven. But to Lebel the concerns only underscore the need to give priests more time to perform what he calls their "priestly duties."
Lebel, whose clients have included International Paper and Gates Rubber Co., says the secret to effective change management is to tell the congregation what you are doing and how things will change. It's an approach that has been found effective in corporate circles.
But that doesn't mean all the principles Lebel relies on as a corporate consultant are appropriate for this project, since the church must consider its mission in addition to any financial or human resource issues. For example, Lebel says the realignment won't close churches in remote locations, the way a business might close a far-flung branch, if the membership decides such a move would hamper their ability to provide services.
Lebel says one of the keys to being successful from a resources and marketing standpoint is to know your strengths as an organization. "What I hope to do," he says, "is get parishes to look at what they do well and who they are serving, then they can decide how to continue with the resources available."
In fact, due to a combination of issues including what a press release called "population shifts [and] financial factors," as well as a decline in the number of qualified personnel ˆ topics with which any CEO would be familiar ˆ Bishop Richard Malone last month unveiled a reorganization plan for the Diocese of Portland, which includes all of Maine. In the "New Evangelization Plan," Malone called for the region's 135 parishes to be realigned by 2010 into 27 clusters that would work together, sharing priests and using more lay deacons and ministers. As part of that process, Lebel, who spent nine months last year working with 18 lay and clerical leaders to formulate the plan, took on the role of director of parish planning for evangelism. "My job is to help communities form a strategic planning committee and help individual parishes adapt the overall plan to their needs," he says.
What's driving the reorganization, says Lebel, is that five years from now there will be an estimated 61 priests ˆ down from about 90 now ˆ to care for more than 100 churches across the state. "The reality is that there is a lesser population in the north and a greater concentration of people in the south, and you also have an aging demographic in the north," he says.
While the change in demographics doesn't eliminate the need for church services in most locations, Lebel says, the church needs to change its operations as resources shift. A native of Aroostook County, Lebel, now 61, was raised in a large French Catholic family, which he says gives him the necessary perspective on what change means to a congregation. People are used to having their own priest, someone who lives in town, but from a practical standpoint there just aren't enough priests to go around. "What this process will do is it will relieve the priest of being the subcontractor, financial expert and spiritual leader all at once," says Lebel. Instead, one layperson may be responsible for education and coordination of activities, and another in charge of finances, while the priest focuses on religious observances.
Malone's realignment plan already has been greeted with skepticism from some parishioners. Residents of Lewiston, for example, question how the plan's proposed three priests will be able to keep up with the litany of services, such as funerals and Mass, that formerly were the responsibility of seven. But to Lebel the concerns only underscore the need to give priests more time to perform what he calls their "priestly duties."
Lebel, whose clients have included International Paper and Gates Rubber Co., says the secret to effective change management is to tell the congregation what you are doing and how things will change. It's an approach that has been found effective in corporate circles.
But that doesn't mean all the principles Lebel relies on as a corporate consultant are appropriate for this project, since the church must consider its mission in addition to any financial or human resource issues. For example, Lebel says the realignment won't close churches in remote locations, the way a business might close a far-flung branch, if the membership decides such a move would hamper their ability to provide services.
Lebel says one of the keys to being successful from a resources and marketing standpoint is to know your strengths as an organization. "What I hope to do," he says, "is get parishes to look at what they do well and who they are serving, then they can decide how to continue with the resources available."
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