How to Become an Accompanying Parish Powerpoint Planning Process

A Powerpoint Discussion Kit to Facilitate Conversation on The Art of Accompaniment booklet

This kit will help you and leaders of your parish structure discussion around Bill Huebsch's The Art of Accompaniment.  It includes a Powerpoint presentation and leader notes for each of the four sections in the booklet.  This planning process is designed to occur in four separate meetings but you could also cover all the material in a single, day or day and a half retreat.

An “accompanying parish” is one in which the pastor and pastoral team intentionally portray a particular attitude and posture toward all members of the parish, both the active as well as the less active. The attitude is one of understanding that not everyone is perfect. Perhaps no one is perfect. People often struggle to follow the norms and policies of the church or of a given parish. In an accompanying parish, the leaders recognize that people can only respond as they are able to. They gradually grow toward the norms of the parish. The posture is, therefore, one of acceptance, love, and patience. 

This kit and Bill's booklet will help you find the right balance between an overly church-law-centered approach (that always enforces the rules rigidly) and an overly individual-centered approach ("anything goes").  Instead, we should strive for a Christ-centered approach to discernment and formation.

Accompaniment is not accidental in a parish. To succeed as an accompanying parish requires the pastor and parish team to sit down together and do some planning and be sure they are on the same page.