Changing Pastors -- a lot

  • Thread starter Thread starter RosalieM
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In my opinion, it’s a dual-edged sword. In our diocese, pastors are not moved unless they request a move or the bishop has a compelling reason to move them. Some priests have suggested our bishop adopt the 6-12 year assignment protocol, but so far, it has not been adopted and we have pastors staying at the same parishes for years. Which can be a good thing…or not…when it’s a good fit for the parish, it’s great. But when it is not a good fit, well, people are stuck. And I say that with all respect and honor to the office of the priesthood. My parish (which I have left temporarily until the situation changes) had a holy and venerable pastor, but he was asked to take another assignment by the bishop, who replaced him with a pastor with an entirely different personality and spirituality who essentially turned the parish upside down from what it was, and not in a good way. He has been in the position for ten years now with no end in sight. So many of the faithful left for other parishes. I’ve tried to go back several times but just can’t take it (unfortunately, he has a very serious lack of reverence for the Sacrifice of the Mass). In any event, I think I like the 6-12 year protocol because it gives the parishioners the opportunity to avoid getting wrapped up into a cult of personality with any one priest, good or bad.
 
I agree it is a dual-edged sword in the ways you have mentioned.
I’m doing some ‘parish hopping’ these days.

I remember our well-liked and long-term (25-year) pastor saying “This is not a democracy.”
 
I still can’t get over how one priest/pastor can change so much about a parish, in almost every way, regardless of the pleas of the parishioners.
 
The former pastor of my parish served from 1963 until his retirement in 2014. He passed away in October of last year.
 
Wow!

As a convert I’ve often said that I do miss the movie Catholic Church… where the same priest baptized you and married you and baptized your kids, there was also a young vibrant priest who could be found sorting clothes for the poor while coaching the CYO ball team, where the church is open 24X7 and on a dark and stormy night you can come into the Confessional and the good priest is waiting for you.
 
I read in a Thomas Merton book -
He quotes a Ancient Father…
Something to the effect…
“ Like a tree, it won’t bare fruit, if continually replanted, so with a monk,
that goes about from monastery to monastery “
 
Update:

I was told (sadly) today the reason for the new pastor leaving after only a year.

It seems the mothers from the parish school didn’t approve of what he was doing or not doing as far as the school was concerned. I was also told he wasn’t informed he was responsible for school matters.

The school children’s mothers got together and actually created a petition to present to the Archbishop to have him ousted. I was a bit shocked to hear this. It seems the ousted pastor is okay with the situation, as he was having a very difficult time.

I guess I’ll be just fine with parish-hopping now.
 
Yes it’s very odd. One would think people would discuss matters.

Thanks everyone for your (name removed by moderator)ut. God bless you.
 
It sounds as if parents at the school exhausted their in-parish options. If the pastor claimed ignorance of his responsibility to the school, it’s not difficult to imagine that he wasn’t doing the best job with it.
 
I haven’t been around for a while and haven’t waded through all the comments so I may just be repeating the experiences of others.

Our parish follows the American model of the 6/12 year terms for pastors. However I also know it is the case that pastors start looking around at other parishes towards the end of their terms to see what parishes are “becoming available”. Our first pastor left after 11 years rather than remaining for his allowed 12. Both he and the archbishop agreed his particular skills were needed at his new assignment. He has been at that parish for more than 12 years and expects to stay until he retires because he was named a monsignor while at that parish and remaining at a parish for as long as he wants is a usual perk for a monsignor in this diocese.

When a pastor leaves a parish he will be replaced by a parish administrator. The parish administrator is often the candidate to be named as a new pastor but he will typically serve six to twelve months before he is named pastor.

There are all kinds of reasons why a priest might serve a short term as pastor or remain a parish administrator rather than being named pastor. Some of those reasons are due to the priest shortage but there are other reasons too. For example, a priest may be awaiting a transfer to a new diocese or an assignment to a non-pastoral position such as teaching. Or the bishop may want him at a parish where the current pastor will be retiring in a year or two.
 
Phemie said:
From now on the bishop will be appointing foreign missionaries as Administrators.
Click to expand...
Further to this, the bishop told us just a week or so ago that a Pastor – although our conference says 6 years, renewable once – has Canon Law on his side if he wants to stay in one parish for life, something that wasn’t rare in the early to mid 1900s.

He also pointed something out that I hadn’t thought of: our administrator is a religious priest and a very large part of that is community life. He’s the only one of his congregation within 600 km so community life for him is non-existent. His Superior may pull him out in the not-to-distant future.
 
My pastor has asked to remain in the parish until the debt is paid off. He’s a Vincentian, rather than a diocesan priest, so that makes a bit of a difference here. He rallied the parish to make some major renovations a few years ago and I believe it was a 10 year period to repay the loan, so he wants to stay at least that long. Otherwise, his assistant priests rotate in and out every 1-2 years which is a bit of a bummer because it seems like it can take a year to get to know them, but I get the idea of not wanting them to get attached. However, I also think that can be a contributing factor to the loneliness they feel especially if they have no family in their assigned diocese.
 
Phemie said:
– has Canon Law on his side if he wants to stay in one parish for life, something that wasn’t rare in the early to mid 1900s.
Click to expand...
General canon law indeed provides that. However, the national bishops may change elect terms, in which case that provision does not apply. The US bishops have made the elation.
Phemie said:
His Superior may pull him out in the not-to-distant future.
Click to expand...
We had that happen with our prior administrator. He was a bi-ritual Franciscan, and had a stroke family early while he was here. When he asked his order to retire, they basically told him, “oh, no! you stay right there with those people who take such good care of you.” (uhm, are there really parishes where a priest doesn’t get watched over like that???)

But a year or two later, with health problems gettin worse, he went to a retreat with his order–and they pulled them on the spot.

hawk
 
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