Clustering – Dealing with Today’s Reality

We cluster together to sing the Lord’s praises – not quite the words, but definitely the meaning for 2004. Parishes have been grouped in clusters to help them share resources and personnel. The two Shrewsbury parishes, St. Mary and St. Anne, are clustered with St. Mary of the Hills in Boylston.

We are Cluster 15. There are 44 clusters; another three-parish cluster is St. Luke the Evangelist, Westboro, St. Matthew, Southboro and St. Anne, Southboro. Some clusters have as few as two parishes; both Northboro parishes form a cluster. Some have as many as five parishes.

The Diocese of Worcester developed its clustering plan with the guidance of Kelly Counseling and Consulting of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. This group did various assessments in parishes to identify needs and concerns. Some of these concerns are: shortage of priests, financial stability and changing demographics.

Among our three churches there are 5,300 families. Twenty-eight hundred of these families live in St. Mary’s parish, 1,800 in St. Anne’s, and 700 in St. Mary of the Hills. Clustering makes these parishes into a sort of extended family. The cluster events for Lent (click here for the list of events) demonstrate one application. Extend this concept to religious education work, special programs, holyday celebrations, youth ministry, parish nursing, and work with elderly people, and the practicality of the approach is evident. According to Father Paul, parishes in cluster 15 are already covering one another in terms of days off and staff.