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[ Back to index of June articles ] Paul E. Cooney,
canon to the ordinary By Diane Ney This month the Window begins a new feature, “What are you up to?” in which a member of the diocesan staff discusses his or her work with writer Diane Ney. This month’s subject is Paul E. Cooney, canon to the ordinary. If you met someone while you were on vacation and they asked what you do, without mentioning a title or where you work, how would you describe your job? I’m a listener. I think that’s the most important thing I do. How does that relate to your job as Canon to the Ordinary? My role here is very much a kind of combination chief of staff and advisor. And when you drill down to the next level, that’s where the listening comes in. It’s my job to be as close as I can to as many of our constituencies as possible, to understand what their needs are, and particularly, at this stage, understand how we can meet their needs more effectively. And also understanding Bishop Chane’s areas of priority and his passions, and merging those with the needs and concerns of the constituencies – that’s an integral part of my job. So, you’re the go-between, the eyes and ears of the constituencies and of the bishop? The bishop certainly has his own eyes and ears and he is a voracious meeter and greeter. But there are 42,000 Episcopalians in the diocese, so I’m the supplemental eyes and ears. There are a lot of things people might like to tell the bishop but don’t feel comfortable doing so, and that can lead to a kind of isolation. And though the course of least resistance sometimes is to hear the things people think you’d like to know, for us it’s more important hearing about the things we can do better and the things we haven’t done. So when I have lunches with people from the diocese, and I try to do that at least twice a week, there’s usually a point when I’m asking them, “Where are the soft spots, what can we do better?” There’s that old chestnut about the difference between managing and leading: Management is doing things right, leading is doing the right things. We’re trying to do the right things and I try to facilitate that. That is the heart of what I do. You’ve talked about the fact that this diocese has a diverse and constantly shifting population. How do you deal with that situation? Again, this is where listening becomes so important because it’s only by intentionally seeking out what’s going on that you find out just how diverse the needs and how varied the concerns of this diocese are. We do our best to avoid the mentality that one size fits all in anything, whether it’s liturgical or strategies for congregational growth or conflict resolution or anything else impacting on congregations. Uppermost in our minds is that we have to look very carefully at the detailed facts involved with each circumstance. How does that relate to working with the Latino Ministry Committee or with the congregations that have African American majorities? There’s a rich heritage of historic African American congregations in this diocese, many of which are in city locations that have undergone incredible change. For instance, we have one historic African American congregation that serves an area that’s becoming overwhelmingly white – a real identity challenge when a congregation’s sense of history is linked with being an African American congregation. We’re exploring how that congregation, and others in the same situation, can sustain itself and grow, at the same time recognizing the importance of continuing to evolve its mission as its immediate surroundings evolve. And with the Latino community? We have a number of thriving Latino congregations, all of which are nested in other congregations. Two things, we’re finding there’s a shortage of clergy with the linguistic and cultural expertise, and there’s a funding challenge. At this point in the life of Spanish-speaking people of the diocese the reality is that to start these congregations requires financial support, either from these congregations or from the diocese. That means we have to find the money to do this, which the Diocesan Council did last month. It was a struggle, but this is a high priority. Is balancing priorities part of your job? Yes, and that’s made it so important to have evolved an increasingly crisp understanding of what the diocesan priorities are. We focus on three areas: youth and academic ministries, congregational support, and global mission. When we’re benchmarking a new initiative, we come back to those three and ask ourselves, “Does it fit into any of those buckets and, if it doesn’t, why should we be devoting resources, energy, and time to it?” We try not to be totally wooden about it, but establishing internal priorities is an incredible challenge. The needs far outstrip our ability to respond. You’ve also spoken about the ministry of gathering. That’s very much a theme of Bishop Chane’s episcopate, a bringing together, both in a sense of coming together for special programs and in working together for problem solving. Assisting our congregations often is a matter of gathering, networking, making connections. We’re not smart enough to know all the answers, but we’re smart enough to refine the questions and look for answers in the network. We have a lot of strong lay leaders and a really wonderfully sophisticated and experienced clergy, so often very good solutions or approaches to problems are just a matter of making a connection between a parish with a challenge and one that has successfully managed that challenge. [ Back to index of June articles ]
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