A scary trend

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Petertherock

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In our bulletin this week there was a letter from the Bishop about how our diocese is being “clustered” because of the lack of priests. Basically the plan is still being worked out but it includes combining parishes and having the lay people run the day to day activities of the parishes from a central location and having the priests just focus on the sacramental ministries that only a priest can do.

Unfortunately I think this is going to be the rule rather than the exception all over the country and I think it’s going to set a dangerous precedence.
 
It’s been that way in the south for a long time. Most of the churches in the smaller towns have one priest assigned to two, three, or even four churches. The Colombian priest in a town near here where I sometimes attend mass has the entire peach growing area of central SC and tries to cover about six churches and missions, albeit with some help from the neighboring parishes.

The clusters of larger churches are for cooperation in other ministries and, so far, have been mostly in name only.
 
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Petertherock:
In our bulletin this week there was a letter from the Bishop about how our diocese is being “clustered” because of the lack of priests. Basically the plan is still being worked out but it includes combining parishes and having the lay people run the day to day activities of the parishes from a central location and having the priests just focus on the sacramental ministries that only a priest can do.

Unfortunately I think this is going to be the rule rather than the exception all over the country and I think it’s going to set a dangerous precedence.
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Why would this be a scary trend? Our parish is run day to day by an administrator and I think it works very well.
We (the parishoners) are the community and the pastor and preists are our shepards, they lead us. If they are bogged down everyday trying to set up appointments for repair men, and other day to day tasks, then when do they have time to lead us spiritually? This doesn’t mean that the Pastor is totally removed from the the day to day business. It just means that he has put his trust in who he has choosen to do this task, and that person reports back to him. I think this frees our spiritual leaders to do exactally what they are called by God to do…be spiritual leaders.
 
faithfulSteward said:
? This doesn’t mean that the Pastor is totally removed from the the day to day business. It just means that he has put his trust in who he has choosen to do this task,
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I too do not find this situation a problem for the same reason. As long as enough time is dedicated to oversight and the administrator competantly carries out operations in accordance with pastoral direction, who cares who calls the plumber or signs the check?
 
There is a similar plan where the parish priests in an area live in community, where they can have fellow priests to talk to and discuss problems with. They then go out to the different parishes to say Mass and administer Sacraments. The local parish is administered by a deacon, religious, or lay person.

Deacon Tony
 
For my 2cents, I see no problem with this. Lay people can be in charge of “building and grounds” as good as anyone while the Priest can concentrate on ministry. I can see far more financial accountability and openess with such a situation.

XAnglican
 
I don’t see a problem, either, as long as laypeople are not taking on tasks that properly belong to the priest.

The bigger prpoblem is that we need more vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

We already have twinned parishes where I live, and if the priests get spread too thin, and have to travel too far to reach all their assigned parishes, there is the possibility that we might have Sundays without the Mass.

Thank God it’s not a big problem here yet. I have five Catholic churches within two miles of home. But let’s pray for more vocations, anyway.

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My parents’ parish is run by a nun; a diocesan priest comes down Sat/Sun to say Mass. That’s just the way things are. Until we can get more priests, that’s the way it will be. It’s much better than the alternative; they could always shut the door and make people drive distances to get to Mass.
 
I agree that the real need is to pray for more vocations to the priesthood. We have one priest for about 8,000 parishioners. It frightens me to think of a day without Holy Mass, especially a Sunday. I know that is happening now in some remote areas. Prayer and fasting is what we need to do.
Blessings. :cool:
 
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