News

Representative of Catholic laity wins honor

By Jeff Kurowski
Compass Assistant Editor

	NATIONAL AWARD: Mark Mogilka, director of Stewardship & Pastoral Services for the Green Bay Diocese, accepts the Yves Congar Award for his work in pastoral planning from the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development at the organization's national meeting. (CPPCD photo)

"He represents the best of the best of Catholic lay people who are a major part of the future of our church representing the spirit of Vatican II and the document Lumen Gentium."

That's how George Haggerty, managing director of the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development (CPPCD), describes Mark Mogilka, director of Stewardship & Pastoral Services for the Diocese of Green Bay. Last week, at the 2007 CPPCD convention in Pittsburgh, Mogilka received the Yves Congar Award, which recognizes extraordinary service, initiative and creativity in support of pastoral planning and/or council development. CPPCD members selected Mogilka for the honor.

"I thought about what Jimmy Stewart said when he won the Academy Award," said Mogilka. "There is no greater honor than to have your peers affirm you for a job well done, especially, when it's the people, who for so many years, I've held in high esteem, and have learned from, and laughed and cried with over the years."

In his acceptance comments, Mogilka recognized the support of staff and his family.

"I'm thankful for the many co-workers that I've had through the years in the diocesan offices and in the parishes," he said. "Thanks in a special way to the support staff."

"I also gave thanks to my family - my kids and especially my wife," he added. "They've been very understanding when I've had to spend a lot of nights in parishes. I also thank my God and the Holy Spirit. When I started this work, there weren't a lot of guidelines. I've spent a lot of time in prayer. A lot of good will has come out of what at first may not have been an obvious good."

Mogilka leads the diocesan parish planning process, conducted every five years. Parish mergers and closures are a difficult part of the process.

"At the convention, someone said that what we are about is facilitating change," said Mogilka. "There is constant change. We have a mission to practice good stewardship in the use of our priests and also with our physical properties."

"When you work with a community of faith where there are deep roots, there are going to be deep emotions and you need to treat the situation with a healthy respect," he added. "I welcome some of the tougher situations because you get to see the passion, concern and love that people have for the church."

"One of the crucial elements of growing the church is wise planning - good stewardship - an awareness of what gifts God gives us as church and how wisely we use them as church," said Bp. David Zubik. "For a number of years, the Diocese of Green Bay has embraced stewardship as a way of life and particularly in our planning for the future. Mark Mogilka, director of our Department of Stewardship and Pastoral Services, has used his many skills to be of significant assistance to wise planning. It doesn't surprise me that his efforts have been recognized nationally in his being selected as the 2006 recipient of the Yves Congar Award. This is both an honor for Mark as well as for the diocese."

Mogilka, who has served the Diocese of Green Bay since 1986, never envisioned work in pastoral planning. He served as diocesan director of the Department of Personal & Family Enrichment until 1993, when he was named director of Pastoral Services.

"I was at a conference when I was the director of Family Life for the Diocese of Columbus (Ohio)," said Mogilka. "I remember telling someone 'a Polish kid from the south side of Milwaukee had done good.' I thought I had reached the peak of ministry. You never know where God is going to lead you."

Mogilka also serves in pastoral planning at the national level. He chairs the Multiple Parish Pastoring Committee. The committee, supported by a Lilly Grant, seeks to provide resources to dioceses.

Michael Cieslak, director of Research Planning for the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., nominated Mogilka for the Congar Award and presented the honor at the convention.

"As a member of the Multiple Parish Pastoring Committee, I had much opportunity to see Mark's leadership in action," said Cieslak. "He always allowed significant discussion but also knew when to call the particular question. His leadership kept us focused on our task. He was always highly organized, and made sure that communication was such that everyone always knew what was going on. And he did this all with faith and vision."

"I've been doing quite a few workshops around the country about the study of multiple parish pastoring," said Mogilka. "We held our first major symposium at Mundelein Seminary (Chicago) in February of 2006. It was a great gathering of Catholic researchers. The focus is to really make the best of a less than ideal situation."

Mogilka's work in parish planning has also been published. A piece entitled "Multiple Parish Pastoring Models," by Mogilka appears in the March/April 2007 issue of Catechetical Leader magazine.

"When we started researching multiple parish pastoring, I knew there were a lot of pastors in our diocese serving more than one parish, but I didn't realize there were so many in all parts of the United States," he said. "We discovered that 33 to 44 % of parishes in 190 dioceses in the United States are served by multiple parish pastors. We thought we could gather resources from different dioceses, but only six are doing anything. As a diocese, we've had the foresight to develop programs, policies and processes that have been copied in dioceses throughout the country. I'm sometimes asked what was my source material. My source material was the experience working with parishes."

While parish planning challenges will continue, Mogilka is excited about the future of parishes in the diocese.

"We are working on being more intentional in how we grow the church and revitalize parishes," he said. "There are some interesting models and resources. I'm not sure where it will take us, but I'm excited about the possibilities."