Pilot program is for potential sponsors

As congregations continue to prepare for the future, they focus particularly on the identification and development of potential new sponsors. The Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Chicago has launched an initiative to identify persons who might be appropriate for sponsorship ministry. Working with the sisters in the region, we who served on the congregation's leadership team began by looking at changing forms of sponsorship. We sensed that our congregation would need to place laypeople in positions once held by women religious. We saw that we would be placing other-than-sisters not just on leadership teams but in governance as well. In 2005, select board members from the various institutions sponsored by the congregation attended workshops. Following the workshops, we met with the participants to discuss the results and plan next steps. We decided to conduct a brief introduction-to-sponsorship program that would run from January to May 2006. The program, called the "Sponsorship Pilot," would offer such persons a "taste" of what it means to be a sponsor. Those attending could then discern whether this is something they would like to pursue-whether they would like to be contacted and offered an opportunity as positions opened in sponsored works. One important lesson learned from the Sponsorship Pilot has to do with the people invited to participate in it. In our early discussions, we focused on the development of lay sponsors. However, in later feedback from the congregation at large, we were asked why no sisters had been considered to participate. It was a valid point. As for those of who led the Sponsorship Pilot, we admit that our original focus on laity alone was a mistake. We also learned that it is important that the key leaders of the congregation's ministries increase their understanding of sponsorship through experiences such as that provided by Sponsorship Pilot, even if they do not become sponsors.