Appreciative Inquiry... Impacting Black Catholic Communities
The National Black Catholic Congress' Leadership Commissions
By Christopher Anne Easley, Ph.D.
(Article: Page 1 of 2)
If Black Catholics are to successfully impact issues that face our communities, should we consider moving away from strategies that do not effectively work or sustain progress? More to the point, when addressing the issues identified within the
Eight Principles (Spirituality, Parish Life, Youth and Young Adults, Catholic Education, Social Justice, Racism, African and HIV/AIDS), is it fair to say that Black Catholics must emerge with strategies that help effectively communicate and rebuild
hope in our communities, while we concurrently develop action plans that will drive change and
positively impact problem areas where we are suffering the most? And, in doing so, shouldn't our strategies build upon the natural strengths that have been demonstrated for years throughout Black Catholic communities?
The utilization of an appreciative approach as a catalyst for change is critical for our communities. For far too many years, we have focused on change from a problem solving orientation, which tends to be grounded in social service models, where we look at what is broken and not working within our lives, communities and families. This approach/perspective typically results in a negative deficit orientation that continues a cycle of hopelessness, lack and failure.
In an effort to address these voids, a little over three years ago, the National Black Catholic Congress examined Appreciative Inquiry, which is an organizational change process. In April 2003, 175 participants at the Convocation XV conference explored how Appreciative Inquiry could facilitate their work with the Eight Principles as they built positive change within parishes, communities and families.
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was first developed by Dr. David Cooperrider in the mid 1980s at Case Western Reserve University (Cooperrider, 1986). Since then, AI has become an international phenomena utilized in many different types of organizations, including religious institutions all over the world. However, its utilization has not been as wide spread in the Black community. While the theory and practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) originates from the behavioral sciences, during the course of the conference, participants easily understood how the use of an appreciative perspective and the fundamental principles of AI, versus a deficit orientation and resulting change process, not only brings forth rapid and sustaining change, but are grounded in Biblical text, supporting the values of the Catholic Church.
Appreciative Inquiry Initiatives
Following the 2003 conference, additional training ensued that focused on expanding our knowledge of Appreciative Inquiry and understanding how it is tied into effective leadership. In addition to those initiatives, two critical projects developed...the parish pilot programs and the leadership commissions.
Parish Pilot Programs
The Parish Pilot Programs were launched in January 2005. They are designed to engage Black Catholic parishioners in incorporating the Appreciative Inquiry methodology into change projects they have developed for their parishes and communities. One of the outcomes of the parish pilot program is to emerge with a recommended national model for our Black Catholic parishes.
In the first stage of an Appreciative Inquiry process, parish participants focus on their past accomplishments from a strength-based perspective. Building upon their acknowledgement of past strengths, competencies and accomplishments, parishioners engage in the second stage of Appreciative Inquiry, which is an invitation to dream of a future state for their parish...one that will unfold as a result of those strengths and competencies they previously demonstrated.
The last two stages of the Appreciative Inquiry process invite parishioners to develop definitive strategic plans and examine how they can incorporate an appreciative focus into all aspects of their implementation processes.
The Leadership Commissions
The Leadership Commissions were launched in May 2005. Their focus, utilizing an Appreciative Inquiry approach, is to emerge with national models and resources that will help parishes, organizations and Black Catholic communities develop the Pastoral Plan of Action for each of the Eight Principles. A three day training session was held in Baltimore in May 2005. The agenda for this three day event was intense. The first day entailed an all day training session for the eight facilitators. The second and third days entailed 11 people per principle (10 commissioners and their facilitator) working through the Appreciative Inquiry process, as it pertained to their assigned principle.
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