Continuation Committee
Why have a Continuation Committee?
Ensure the Christ Renews His Parish process is experienced in a faithful manner over time.
Be a serving organ in the Body of Christ, praying always for the parish community and the CRHP community and process
Initiate policies and procedures to be followed by every team.
Give feedback to the Spiritual Director
Be a repository of information past and present
Keep an up-to-date website
Keep the Men’s and Women’s retreats similar
Ensure that the process remains Catholic
Keep an inventory of materials and supplies
Review each weekend and the comments for improvement purposes
Help teams run a weekend
Present parish ministries on the Evening of Pentecost
Train future faith sharing facilitators, discernment facilitators, and future CSDs
Evaluate the CRHP process
Continuation Committee Responsibilities
1. Establish a consistent evening for men’s and women’s formation
A. Simplifies room reservations
B. Enables CSDs to proactively discern their HG/FS and Discernment Facilitators
C. Eliminates an early and significant obstacle for the newly formed team; simply announce the date at Evening of Discipleship
2. Establish where current team can find resources
A. Invitations
B. Kitchen sign up
C. Regional support
D. Continuation Committee liaison to current team
3. Invitations
A. Define a system for your parish
B. Establish goals for your parish
C. Set up an Invitations Team
D. Develop a Parish Invitations Worksheet
4. Assist with specific scheduling and training issues
A. Sacristans – training
B. Visiting Priests – invitations, thank you notes
C. Teen Witness (if needed)
D. Support for the Agape Service
E. Discernment and training for facilitators (History Giving and Faith Sharing, Discernment, Evening of Pentecost)
F. Discernment and training for co-spiritual directors
5. Logistics
A. Reserve all rooms for weekend and formation
B. Kitchen – menus, background support
C. Assist with set up and take down
D. Supplies for the weekend
E. Foot washing supplies
Continuation Committee Roles for Weekend
What does the Continuation Committee do during a retreat weekend? PRAY, PRAY, and PRAY, more!
Help set up Friday if needed
Attend Agape Service Friday night of the weekend (planned by prior team, not Continuation Committee)
Attend Saturday night rosary for prayer support
Help tear down Sunday if needed
Assist with set up and tear down for liturgies if needed
Provide food for weekend
Assist in kitchen is needed
Pray in the chapel when it is open
Write HELP letters
Remember to follow the manual, listen to your priest and support the process as Continuation Committee members. Trust your CSDs to know what is needed. And trust in Christ to Renew His Parish.
Primarily, the Continuation Committee and all prior team members must remember this weekend is to be put on by the current Teams. The Continuation Committee is there as support, in prayer, and where we are called by the team. We must allow the current Team members to handle their ministries. Christ Renews through them, as He renewed through each of us. Pray some more!
Succession Planning
The Christ Renews His Parish manual may be challenging to follow, but it is outstanding and comprehensive. As it relates to Continuation Committees, the manual communicates a plan for evolution and succession. The manual provides a model that can be expanded and should be modified to meet the needs and personality of your parish. To not take a strategic approach to succession planning has the potential to be a critical and potentially fatal mistake.
Without a succession plan, a handful of parishioners might be “on fire” and carry the load until they “burn out”. Most of those who are “on fire” naturally gravitate to tasks that need to be accomplished. Unfortunately, over time, invitations will suffer. Further, once these individuals hit the stage of “burn out”, a great hole will exist and it can lead to cancelled weekends, numerous challenges and the potential end of the ministry.
The pastor is the chief spiritual director in the parish. That ministry may be shared with other pastoral staff and selected lay people. The Pastor discerns co-spiritual directors for future teams as needed. See details in the handbook for duties of the spiritual director, most of which can be carried out by competent lay people. The majority of CRHP weekends have lay people serving in that ministry.
It is assumed that lay people who serve in the ministry of co-spiritual director are Catholic and in good standing in the Church.
After Evening of Pentecost, CSDs should help the pastor and the Continuation Committee to discern others who may serve as facilitators and potentially on the Continuation Committee. Each person discerned as a facilitator should attend a semi-annual training session, shadow as is appropriate, and then serve for one or two years. Selection of one male and female from each team will allow for attrition and ensure that no one is asked to serve for more than two or three years.
All of this is time consuming, requires a sustained effort of the Pastor and a team of individuals that are easily integrated and replaceable to avoid the loss of momentum that occurs when one or two individuals attempt to carry the load.
Although this is a lay driven ministry, the strong support of the Pastor is needed to challenge and remind those who have lost track of their purpose. In the heat of battle, it is easy to get distracted and Pastors engaging with the effort on a strategic, methodical and continuous basis are critical to success. These relationships should be nurtured and built upon and are the key to the renewal of the parish. Christ Renews His Parish could and should be energizing for the Pastor as 100% of past participants will not engage to the level desired, yet there is a significant number who will.
Background for the Continuation Committee
Continuation Committee Training Outline
Continuation Committee Structure
Continuation Committee - From the Revised Christ Renews Manual