Do you know?

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EasterJoy

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There’s an interesting thread going on about what any of us would do, if given the job of pastor.

Here’s the flip side: Do you know the top three things your pastor would like to change about your parish? Do you have a guess on three things that are in his top ten?
  1. More people who look at their lives in terms of stewardship and discipleship: that is, not just whether they give some percentage of their income to the Church, but who look at all their income and all their time as belonging to God.
  2. More people frequenting the Sacraments: Mass every Sunday and frequent confession.
  3. More who participate: e.g., who participate fully at Mass and who participate in other aspects of parish life outside of it
 
I would think getting more people to Mass would be on the top…of course more people at Mass would mean higher collections, which are much needed to run the parish.

With more money coming in the pastor could afford to offer more quality programs for adults and children, to get more resourses for the parish, maybe start a parish library, bring in speakers, improve the facilities, fix the organ, etc.

The final thing I think my pastor would like to change is people who think they know better how to run a parish and constantly bombard him with letters and e-mails about how things should be run.
 
EasterJoy said:
Here’s the flip side: Do you know the top three things your pastor would like to change about your parish? Do you have a guess on three things that are in his top ten?
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I think my pastor’s top 3 would look like OP, with the specification that he especially would like to see more men active.
 
If my pastor could have his wishes come true he’d:
  1. Not have to do anything except the sacraments. Don’t you know it’s “your parish and I’m only here for crisis management”.
  2. Get rid of the secretary who actually knows something about liturgy and put in a secretary who doesn’t question anything he does. But then who’d remind him that the pre-nuptial investigation documents aren’t completed properly and that he’s forgotten to mention to the Catholic of a mixed-marriage couple that he has to promise to do his best to raise the children in the Catholic faith?
  3. Be a teacher and never have to be a pastor again.
 
I have an idea.

Make a time to meet with the Pastor and say, “What are your top three wishes for our parish? How can I help them come true.”

Wouldn’t that be more to the point than speculation here?
 
bpbasilphx said:
I have an idea.

Make a time to meet with the Pastor and say, “What are your top three wishes for our parish? How can I help them come true.”

Wouldn’t that be more to the point than speculation here?
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This is a great idea…well, unless you’re going to get you put up on conspiracy charges, but we’d hope not! 😉
 
I don’t know if it’s the same in Catholic parishes as in Protestant churches, but all the Protestant pastors I ever served under wanted one thing more than anything: People who pray.

I’m guessing that a lot of priests would say that they would love to have all of their parishioners pray the Rosary everyday (or at least more often than when they go to a funeral Rosary), and pray for more vocations daily, and pray for their priests, deacons, and lay workers daily.

IMO, this would take care of a lot of the other problems in many parishes!
 
EasterJoy said:
  1. More who participate: e.g., who participate fully at Mass
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Hopefully, the pastor would explain just what he means by “participate fully”. I mean, it used to mean prayerfully paying attention at Mass. Somehow it has come to mean "doing something, anything–become a lector, become an extraordinary minister join the choir, etc. Whatever happened to praying, recognizing the majesty of God, and “Be still and know that I am God”?
 
Based on the sermons I hear from my pastor and the associate priests at my NO English-language Mass parish, here’s what I would say they want from the laity:
  1. If you are a Catholic parent wishing to enroll your child in the parish Catholic school, please make sure that you are bringing your child to Sunday Mass each week.
  2. Avail yourself of the Sacrament of Confession.
  3. Visit Our Lord in the parish’s Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel.
As far as what the pastor at my TLM Latin-language Mass parish wants from / for the laity:
  1. Vocations.
  2. Penance above and beyond merely in the season of Lent.
  3. Our salvation.
Please note that I’m not trying to say that one parish’s pastor wants things that the other parish doesn’t … In fact, I’m pretty sure that if both pastors got together, they would agree that all of their wants put together are extremely worthy. My answers are just based off of my gut feeling / memory as to what seems to be emphasized. IMHO, both parishes are excellent.

~~ the phoenix
 
AMDGtoo said:
Hopefully, the pastor would explain just what he means by “participate fully”. I mean, it used to mean prayerfully paying attention at Mass. Somehow it has come to mean "doing something, anything–become a lector, become an extraordinary minister join the choir, etc. Whatever happened to praying, recognizing the majesty of God, and “Be still and know that I am God”?
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He has said that if we participated at Mass as we really ought to, we would all leave the church exhausted. He clearly was not talking about taking a monthly turn as lector.

He would go so far as to say that really participating at Mass starts before you get there; that is, that when it is possible, you have already read the Scriptures that will be proclaimed. You have incorporated daily prayer, regular confession, almsgiving, and penance into your life. You come needing a refill of grace, because you know you’re going to go back out into the fray on the mission God has given you. You live your life so as to know how much you need it.

He has also said, “Faith is always personal, but it is never private.” We are the Body of Christ. We need a regular reconnection to those who worship with us, whose fellowship sustains us in the secular world. He would mean that, too.

No, he wasn’t just looking for more lectors. He means that when we say that the Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life, we ought to walk that talk.
 
EasterJoy said:
Here’s the flip side: Do you know the top three things your pastor would like to change about your parish?
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I can tell you some of the things that are obviously of interest to him, based on what I have seen:
  1. encouraging people to come to confession. He’s a number of homilies about it (or at least mentioned it), and has expanded the hours for it.
  2. making the parish look more like it used to (moved the tabernacle back to the center, changed the art to more traditional art again)
  3. adult catechesis, bible study, teaching sermons, etc.
  4. following the rubrics and the like. (no pouring precious blood, etc.)
That’s why those weren’t on my list in the other thread. I didn’t need to list them, they are already being done. 😃
 
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