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Social Compass
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The Positioning of the Parish in a Context of Individualization

Kees DE GROOT

Tilburg Faculty of Theology, c.degroot{at}uvt.nl

Joris KREGTING

Institute for Applied Research on Religion (KASKI) of the Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, j.kregting{at}kaski.ru.nl

Erik BORGMAN

Heyendaal Institute for Theology, Sciences and Culture at the Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, e.borgman{at}hin.ru.nl

English

Now that religious participation largely depends on individual choice, existing religious congregations find themselves confronted with the challenge of organizational renewal. Both sociological and theological authors disagree on two strategies as successful ways of coping with this new "market situation". The first strategy is that of the service institution; the second, that of the exclusive firm. We conducted a survey among parish councils in the Netherlands regarding the positioning of Roman Catholic parishes in this respect. Factor analysis shows that these parishes do not differentiate along these lines. They do differentiate, however, on the factors of "perceived accessibility" and "Christian pro-file". Thus, three parish types could be discerned: the open parish, the inviting parish and the "parochial" parish. These types reflect different ways of coping with the strategic challenge parishes are faced with: holding on to a Christian profile, while trying to stay in contact with the public.

French

Le contexte de l'individualisation des choix religieux oblige les paroisses à une remise en question de leur positionnement. Du côté des sociologues et des théologiens, le débat est analogue et porte sur l'efficacité des stratégies paroissiales. Mais les premiers favorisent la stratégie de l'organisation de services religieux, tandis que les autres celle de la "firme exclusive''. Or, l'analyse d'une enquête parmi les paroisses catholiques aux Pays-Bas montre que les paroisses ne suivent pas cette ligne de partage. Confrontées au dilemme de choisir entre accessibilité et profil chrétien, les paroisses adoptent en fait une des trois positions suivantes: la paroisse publique, la paroisse accueillante et la paroisse "à l'esprit de clocher''.

Key Words: Catholicism • Christian profile • church policy • individualization • Netherlands • organizational renewal • religious market

Social Compass, Vol. 52, No. 2, 211-223 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0037768605052603
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