Can a Priest say no to a Bishop?

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Nelka

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If a Bishop tells a priest that he needs to move to a different parish he must be obedient but is he allowed to say no?

Does the Bishop say I’d like you to go what do you think?

I knew a priest who told the Bishop that he wasn’t strong enough to run a big parish and asked to move somewhere smaller and that happened.

So how does it work?

Thanks.
 
I’m aware of several priests in my diocese who flat-out refused the bishop when he tried to assign them to a different parish. What their grounds were, I don’t know, but they didn’t move.
 
Priests, particularly pastors, do enjoy certain rights under canon law. I know many pastors who have declined a request to transfer to a new parish.
 
AnnArbor said:
Priests, particularly pastors, do enjoy certain rights under canon law. I know many pastors who have declined a request to transfer to a new parish.
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Can you elaborate on these “certain rights”?

It doesn’t seem to me that a priest who has been assigned to a parish has any ownership over it whatsoever. For him to flatly refuse to be moved would be very inappropriate.

I’m pretty sure the bishop would have all the power necessary to forcibly move the priest - this might have all sorts of other consequences, but I doubt that there is ever a case where the bishop has no legal recourse.
 
Our priest was appointed administrator of our parish, but not pastor. There was some reason for that, but I cannot recall it off the top of my head. I think it had to do with the fact that we have more parishes in our diocese than we can serve and that number is likely to decrease soon.
 
There was a retired priest that was sent a couple of years ago as an administrator because of an issue with the priest that we had at the time. I won’t say what that issue was but we eventually got the priest that we have now and he has been with us for about a year and a half.
 
dshix said:
Can you elaborate on these “certain rights”?

It doesn’t seem to me that a priest who has been assigned to a parish has any ownership over it whatsoever. For him to flatly refuse to be moved would be very inappropriate.

I’m pretty sure the bishop would have all the power necessary to forcibly move the priest - this might have all sorts of other consequences, but I doubt that there is ever a case where the bishop has no legal recourse.
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I think Deacon Jeff has answered it well. In our diocese, for example, priests apply for parishes that are open – the bishop is unlikely to try to “force” anyone to move, barring the scandals Deacon Jeff mentioned. Among other things, a bishop is not likely to want to alienate the priests of his diocese – and overriding their pastoral rights to stability is not a move designed to garner loyalty and cooperation.
 
That’s interesting. A priest still under the 1917 code would have to be in the same parish at least 35 years at this point (assigned no later than 1982, correct?).
 
I don’t know if any bishops read CAF, but I can imagine that some would get a very good laugh out of reading this thread. I imagine them saying: “If only you knew!”
 
IN this Archdiocese, they are permitted 2 refusals.
Most “save” them for a particularly bad one, OR…for movement to a parish near their elderly parents in the future.
 
Due respect, Deacon, but the 1917 Code is null and void, no grandfathering, as per the 1983 Code:
Can. 6 §1. When this Code takes force, the following are abrogated:
1/ the Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1917;
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Fr ACEGC
 
Nelka said:
If a Bishop tells a priest that he needs to move to a different parish he must be obedient but is he allowed to say no?

Does the Bishop say I’d like you to go what do you think?

I knew a priest who told the Bishop that he wasn’t strong enough to run a big parish and asked to move somewhere smaller and that happened.

So how does it work?

Thanks.
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Like squatters rights for priests?
 
The pastor of my former parish is still there, and has been pastor there since 1982.
 
There seems to be a policy in my diocese that Monsignors are not transferred to a new parish after their 12 years are up unless they want to be. I have no idea if that is an official policy or not. I believe that older pastors (not pastors emeritus) are usually offered the courtesy of staying at the same parish.

What I do know is that pastors (and for that matter, all priests) start looking around when they are about 2 years away from the end of their term at their current parish to see which other parishes are going to have openings. While there is no guarantee they will get what they want, you can be assured that they are making their preferences known to the bishop.
 
Nelka said:
If a Bishop tells a priest that he needs to move to a different parish he must be obedient but is he allowed to say no?

Does the Bishop say I’d like you to go what do you think?

I knew a priest who told the Bishop that he wasn’t strong enough to run a big parish and asked to move somewhere smaller and that happened.

So how does it work?

Thanks.
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It depends upon the Bishop. I have worked with Bishops who engaged the priests in a genuine conversation. I have worked with Bishops to whom the only answer possible to whatever they said was “Yes, Your Excellency” with that answer delivered to them on bended knee.
 
Nelka said:
12 years?
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In my archdiocese pastors are assigned for 6 year terms and that can usually be extended for a second term. After that they are assigned to a new parish.

But Monsignors who are pastors are often allowed to stay at a parish rather than be reassigned.
 
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