Bishop Larry Silva is changing the name of the Office of Welcoming Parish to one that he says more accurately describes the office’s present focus and its connection with the diocesan strategic plan.

On July 1, it will be the Office of Parish Resources.

It’s a name that “seems to be more descriptive of the scope of services offered — and to be offered in the future,” the bishop told the Hawaii Catholic Herald on June 18.

Sharon Chiarucci, the director of the Office of Welcoming Parish, will continue as head of the newly-labeled, one-person department under the title Director of Parish Resources. Her office will remain at the same location at St. Stephen Diocesan Center.

According to her job description she will provide “general support, training, and development of primary parish resources that are responsive to parish needs and not covered by other diocesan offices or Diocesan Road Map task forces.”

Explaining the change, Bishop Silva said, “I see the Office of Parish Resources more as an evolution rather than a closing of the Welcoming Parish Office. I think it is a more accurate description of many of the things that Sharon Chiarucci has already been doing.”

The Welcoming Parish Office gave Hawaii parishes a process of self-evaluation, a process now embedded in many parishes, according to Chiarucci.

The follow-up to a parish self-evaluation was finding the right resources to help the parish improve.

The bishop said that just as the Welcoming Parish Office put parish leaders in touch with diocesan departments and other resources, “this will continue to be the case with the Office of Parish Resources.”

The new focus will be particularly helpful in the development of parish “leadership groups,” he said, such as pastoral councils and finance councils.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo created Welcoming Parish in 1997 as a way for each parish to evaluate itself against its “essential mission” to “bring its members closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He saw the notion of “welcoming” — being generous and hospitable — as a key component in each parish’s vision of community, worship, evangelization and service.

The program included a written appraisal of a parish’s “strengths and challenges” and culminated by a weekend visit by the bishop with special Masses, discussion sessions with parishioners, and fellowship.

Each parish took about nine months to complete the process, which Chiarucci directed.

Nearly every parish has gone through the program at least once. Bishop DiLorenzo visited about 15 parishes a year.

Bishop Silva, two years ago, announced that he would continue the Welcoming Parish Program.

“The Welcoming Parish Process has been a very important part of the life of the Diocese of Honolulu,” the bishop wrote in a letter to island priests in 2006. “Now that I am more settled in my role as Bishop of Honolulu, I would like to take up the Welcoming Parish Process once again.”

Now, even with the office’s change of title, the bishop said that “parish self-assessments may still be done in the mode of the Welcoming Parish Program.”

Here are the major areas of responsibility of the Director of Parish Resources as listed in its new job description:

• Provides board, council, and committee support, training and development.
• Develops and maintains a comprehensive catalog of training resources available through other diocesan offices and community resources.
• Identifies and develops resources that are responsive to parish needs.
• Supports and staffs the Diocesan Pastoral Council.