Changes in my parish

[jp54321]

Hi, my parish pastor just retired and now the diocese told us that we will no longer have a resident priest. The new priest will serve three different parishes. Some Sundays we may have to hold parish communion services only. No Mass? Why are the parishioners being treated this way? Does the diocese want us closed? Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

There is a shortage of priests. As Pope Paul VI predicted, as the contraceptive attitude amongst Catholics grew, so would the shortage of vocations.

 

[Kielbasi]

Hi, my parish pastor just retired and now the diocese told us that we will no longer have a resident priest. The new priest will serve three different parishes. Some Sundays we may have to hold parish communion services only. No Mass? Why are the parishioners being treated this way? Does the diocese want us closed? Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

This may be the best they can do at this point in time.

Nothing new under the sun, “circuit preachers” are usually associated with 19th Century Methodism, but there were “circuit” priests back in the day as well. St. Neumann traveled far and wide reaching groups of Catholics in western New York before he got his more stationary gig at St. Philomena’s here in Pittsburgh.

The reasons, a shortage of priests and a relatively scattered population remains the same.

 

[SMHW]

Hi, my parish pastor just retired and now the diocese told us that we will no longer have a resident priest. The new priest will serve three different parishes. Some Sundays we may have to hold parish communion services only. No Mass? Why are the parishioners being treated this way? Does the diocese want us closed? Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

It seems as if you feel like your parish is being punished.

I don’t know where you live, what the Catholic density is, how far apart the parishes are, the costs of operating your parish, or anything else about your situation but it seems as if your parish members are being called upon to share the burden of your sister parish members.

 

[1ke]

Hi, my parish pastor just retired and now the diocese told us that we will no longer have a resident priest.

Pray for vocations. Your bishop is providing you with a pastor, although not in residence. Be thankful for that. Some do not have a pastor at all.

The new priest will serve three different parishes.

God bless him.

Our pastor also serves three parishes.

Some Sundays we may have to hold parish communion services only. No Mass?

We don’t have communion services.

We have one daily mass a week, on Thursdays. We have one Sunday Mass, on Sunday morning. And we have one feast day mass on holy days of obligation.

We have no other Masses at our parish and we have no communion services at our parish.

Why are the parishioners being treated this way?

This sounds rather self-absorbed, as if the bishop sits around thinking of ways to make things miserable for parishioners. He is responding to all the needs of his flock as best he can with limited resources.

BE THANKFUL, not UNGRATEFUL.

And pray for vocations.

Does the diocese want us closed?

If the bishop wanted or needed you closed, you’d be closed.

Our parish has been in the position of a shared pastor who has responsibility for 2 other parishes for 25 years now. There used to be 4 parishes, but declining membership forced the closure of one of those-- that was 23 year ago.

Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

Be thankful it’s not zero.

 

[marlap2]

Blessings.

Back in 2002, (remember that year…) we lost two priests. We are a religious, not diocesan parish. We were without a full time pastor for quite a time. It was unnerving, and people were starting to grumble quite a bit. We started to pray for a new priest to come, and one that would be able to stay.

Fast forward. It’s 2015. We have five priests serving our parish now. Five.

Oh and there’s 28 seminarians at the Seminary working towards permanent diaconate (priesthood). Pray for our seminarians.

Pray for your new priest. I know you don’t know him, but God does

Gosh, I sound prideful. NO. Just so grateful. Grateful Grateful. I remember how hard that was, being without a priest. I was afraid. I will pray for your intentions, today.

 

[tawny]

Many Parishes are being consolodated & Priests & Deacons will be shared by Parishes. Pray for vocations to the Priesthood. Pray for all of the Priests & Deacons.

 

[Phemie]

Hi, my parish pastor just retired and now the diocese told us that we will no longer have a resident priest. The new priest will serve three different parishes. Some Sundays we may have to hold parish communion services only. No Mass? Why are the parishioners being treated this way? Does the diocese want us closed? Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

Several years ago my birth parish went from daily Mass with a resident Pastor and two Sunday Masses (one on Saturday evening and one on Sunday morning) to one Mass on Wednesday and one of Saturday evening with a priest administrator who was Pastor of 1 parish and Administrator of 4 others.

Last fall the diocese was forced to close two parishes and now that same priest is Pastor of 1 and Administrator of 8 parishes. Our parish now has one Saturday evening Mass a month. This is how it stacks up for all 9 parishes now

1 has Sunday Mass every Saturday at 4 p.m.
4 have Sunday Mass once a month on Saturday at 7 p.m., including the parish that used to be the largest and which, for decades, had both a Pastor and a Vicar.
In this group they seem to have decided to use the newest church (1960s) for weekly Mass, probably because it seats many and is easier to heat due to its design (low ceiling).

1 has Sunday Mass every Sunday at 11 a.m.
3 have Sunday Mass once a month on Sunday at 9 a.m.
In this case the one with the weekly Masses is the one that at one time would have been the richest parish in my part of the diocese so was probably best looked after even if it’s not the newest.

I have no idea if people from my birth parish attend Mass in any of the other parishes. I usually do when I’m home for the holidays, going to whichever parish is most convenient on Sunday morning. When I’ve been to Mass back home there never seem to be any young people; the congregation is made up of mostly people my age (late 50s, early 60s) and the elders of the village. The seniors who live in the apartments close to the church who don’t drive but can stroll to the church in about 8 minutes are unlikely to get to Mass unless it’s in our village.

 

[Gorgias]

Some Sundays we may have to hold parish communion services only.

There’s not a parish nearby where there will be Mass offered on those Sundays? There’s not really a need for a Sunday communion service unless there’s no Mass – anywhere! – nearby…

Why are the parishioners being treated this way?

Because we Catholics have treated ourselves to this mess, by not encouraging vocations.

Some here have suggested that you pray for vocations. That’s nice, but it’s not enough. Encourage the young men of the parish to consider the priesthood! If we pray, but don’t create a culture of vocations, we’ll continue to see these shortages… :sad_yes:

Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

Actually, there’s no canonical requirement that a church have a daily Mass. With few priests to serve, less frequent daily Mass will become the norm… :sad_yes:

 

[KCT]

It’s not as if there is a surplus of priests sitting around waiting for a parish.

This is reality. Hopefully your diocese can give the parish help in making the transition.

Also, I highly recommend reading Divine Renovation by Fr. James Mallon. It’s about what he did when he had the opportunity to merge 3 parishes into one.

 

[1ke]

There’s not a parish nearby where there will be Mass offered on those Sundays? There’s not really a need for a Sunday communion service unless there’s no Mass – anywhere! – nearby…

Correct. Which is why we have one daily mass a week and one Sunday mass a week and no Sunday celebrations in absence of a priest.

Our pastor offers one mass at each parish: one on Saturday afternoon and two on Sunday morning.

If you can’t make your own parish time you go to one of his other parishes or to another in the area.

 

[phil19034]

There are many parishes around the country that are either being merged or “twinned.”

A merged parish is when two (or more) parishes are being officially combined into one, effectively closing the other parishes.

Twin parishes are two (or more) separate parishes that have their own individual bank accounts, parish councils, deacons, etc; but share priests.

Twin parishes usually happen due to priest shortage, while merged parishes usually happen due to financial difficulties.

The Diocese of Wilmington (Delaware), where I grew up has many “twin parishes.” The parish I grew up in has two daily masses every weekday (3 during lent), 2 on Saturday (1 daily mass and 1 Anticipated Sunday Mass), plus 5 masses on Sunday. And until recently, they also used to have a Latin Mass once a month too. They currently have 4 priests (1 pastor, 2 vicars, and the pastor emeritus in residence). They also have 5 Deacons.

But due to priest shortage, they are twined with a smaller parish 20-30 minutes away.

That smaller parish still has 3 Masses on Sunday and 1 daily Mass on Thursday evenings. The smaller parish also has 2 Deacons for itself.

So the 3 full time priests (plus 1 retired priest) has to cover 8 Masses every Sunday.

That’s a lot of work, very tough on the priests. Obviously, the larger parish is where the priests spend most of their time.

So please pray and realize that this isn’t happening because the Bishop doesn’t care. It’s happening because there are not enough priests who can be pastors.

 

[Bonnie]

Does the diocese want us closed? Mass will now be 2 times a week instead of Daily.

No - the diocese can’t find enough priests. They don’t just materialize out of thin air. Our priest serves 3 parishes. This has been the case for years. At my favorite parish, there is only 1 Mass - Saturday evening. At the smallest parish, they have Mass early afternoon on Sunday (used to be just twice a month). Daily Mass at the largest parish & at the hospital chapel. Except Monday - no Mass at all then.

If we want more priests we have to encourage our sons. I tried!

Phil19034 - I just read your post. Wow! Your parish has a lot of priests. Could you convince one of them to come out here? It would be a big help. The reservation is also in dire need of priests. There is one full-time and one part-time priest for the entire Colville Reservation. And neither of them are young. When they retire/die, there won’t be any priests there.

 

[jp54321]

Op here

I know many who attended Daily Mass and are devastated by this. Such a cutdown in Mass less times receiving Eucharist

 

[Kielbasi]

There have always been changes in parishes, and always will be.

New housing is built, old housing is torn down elsewhere, people migrate from point A to point B, populations change- Catholics move in and sometimes move out of areas.

Its always been a fluid situation, and sometimes it mean parish closings, openings, cutbacks, mergers, etc. Got to go with the flow.

 

[peter26]

This thread has made me realise how lucky I am with the provision in my area. My parish has two Sunday Masses, a Saturday Vigil and Daily Mass Tuesday to Friday. There are other parishes nearby with daily Mass every day and I’m only aware of one parish in my town that has to rely on a couple of Communion services in the week, and none that don’t have a Mass on Sundays. There are some pluses of living in a fairly large town.

 

[phil19034]

Phil19034 - I just read your post. Wow! Your parish has a lot of priests. Could you convince one of them to come out here? It would be a big help. The reservation is also in dire need of priests. There is one full-time and one part-time priest for the entire Colville Reservation. And neither of them are young. When they retire/die, there won’t be any priests there.

That’s not my parish anymore. It’s where I was baptized at. But again, that parish is HUGE and the priests cover 2 parishes. So it’s 8 Masses for 3 priests and 1 retired priest.

The parish I’m currently at in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has 2 priests. Plus there is a weekend assistant who prays mass at two area parishes.

One of the ways Bishops can help with the priest shortage is by using religious priests as weekend assistants (if they are willing).

But if your area doesn’t have any monasteries, abbeys, and/or friaries; it is hard to take advantage of that. Also, it’s hard for Bishops to invite religious orders to come to their diocese because it’s not like Religious Orders have a surplus of priests either.

So pray and pray hard for vocations in your area. Plus, if there is anything the laity can do to help support vocations in your parish or region, please do so. Organize trips to a local seminary for middle school and high school boys. You need to start young… start identifying potential priests when they are in elementary and middle school; not just high school.

Provide names to your pastor of boys you think would make good priests.

If you work at a Catholic High School, see about starting a “vocations program” that is focused on helping boys discern a vocation to the priesthood (and girls to be nuns).

Encourage kids to attend faithful Catholic colleges like Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Make sure your parish advertises this college and other faithful colleges, like the ones on the Cardinal Newman Society list and/or the college guide from the National Catholic Register

You can even organize trips to visit some of them. Many of the colleges are not only faithful, but they are also affordable. University of Mary (for example) can be as cheap as $15,440 for kids who when to Catholic school, and they have a program which allows kids to finish a BA in 2.5 years or with a Masters in 4 years of school.

Anything and everything you can do to help find priests will be worth it in the end.

God Bless!

 

[Gorgias]

If we want more priests we have to encourage our sons. I tried!

Phil19034 - I just read your post. Wow! Your parish has a lot of priests. Could you convince one of them to come out here?

I don’t know if you’re being facetious or serious, but in case you’re being serious: remember that priests are ordained to serve a particular bishop – in the case of a diocesan priest, he’s incardinated into a diocese, and promises to obey his bishop and successors. That means that he can’t just get up and get outta town.

If a priest does want to go to another diocese, he has to get his current bishop to agree to it. So, as you might imagine, it would be pretty difficult for a priest to say “I want to move from here to Washington in order to help out there” and have the bishop not think “but I can’t afford to lose you – I need you to serve here!”

 

[Bonnie]

I don’t know if you’re being facetious or serious, but in case you’re being serious: remember that priests are ordained to serve a particular bishop – in the case of a diocesan priest, he’s incardinated into a diocese, and promises to obey his bishop and successors. That means that he can’t just get up and get outta town.

Half ‘n’ half.

I know priests aren’t bosses of themselves, but they can ask. Altho I know a Jesuit who does as he pleases. It doesn’t work out well most of the time.

 

[1ke]

I know many who attended Daily Mass and are devastated by this. Such a cutdown in Mass less times receiving Eucharist

Yes, welcome to the club. It’s a serious problem.

Those who go to daily mass will either make a point to travel to other parishes for daily mass or they can offer up their inability to receive daily to God in reparation for our sins and to ask for more to respond to the call to priestly vocations.