Parish Politics

[queenkimie]

I have a question… Who exactly is supposed to be in charge of a parish? I assumed it is the pastor, yet our “business manager” seems to be the one running everything, including decisions of staffing and even who can cantor at Mass! I was wondering if this is typical, or just someone getting out of hand Thanks, you all give the best advice!

 

[Ace86]

I have a question… Who exactly is supposed to be in charge of a parish? I assumed it is the pastor, yet our “business manager” seems to be the one running everything, including decisions of staffing and even who can cantor at Mass! I was wondering if this is typical, or just someone getting out of hand Thanks, you all give the best advice!

The pastor or parish priest is the one in charge. Sometimes, for large parishes, the pastor can delegate some authority to the “business manager”, but of course the manager’s boss is of course the priest. Laity are under the authority of the clergy.

 

[Texas_Roofer]

From my experience your situation is common, and the sad truth is our donation is your most powerful weapon, so send to another parish, the diocese, or church mission if needed. However do not forget the administration job is very tough so be reasonably forgiving.

 

[Della]

Many pastors who aren’t the managerial type turn the running of the parish staff, etc. over to parish administrator. Unfortunately, as you cited, such administrators often overstep their bounds, while the pastor doesn’t want to be bothered with such details. I know how it is–our parish too has (had, he’s leaving, but I don’t have high hopes for whoever replaces him) such an administrator because our senior pastor is more of a spiritual leader than a parish leader. But, with priests a bit scarce, more and more lay people are running parishes these days, which I think often creates more problems than it’s worth.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I have a question… Who exactly is supposed to be in charge of a parish? I assumed it is the pastor, yet our “business manager” seems to be the one running everything, including decisions of staffing and even who can cantor at Mass! I was wondering if this is typical, or just someone getting out of hand Thanks, you all give the best advice!

Canon Law says that the Pastor assigned to that parish by the Bishop is responsible to the Bishop for the parish.

 

[BlestOne]

Canon Law says that the Pastor assigned to that parish by the Bishop is responsible to the Bishop for the parish.

This is something I have to say my pastor is very good at…being responsible to the bishop. Last year our pastor made a very unpopular decision to stop all funding for our high school tuition so we would not go into debt. Many of the “old” families threw a fit because they had kids in the HS. Some of them even had to take their kids out of private school and move them to the public school. If he had not done this our parish would have gone broke last year and he would be responsible for it. I know it makes my life harder but I would rather my life harder than a broke parish. Yeah I benefitted from the tuition assistance, but even though I struggle, it is worth it!!! I have to respect the pastor even more for doing this knowing all the opposition he was going to get.

 

[plato3]

After seeing the shocking story about the financial abuses in the Florida diocese, I think you will see more lay persons being given roles in parish finances and administration. There is a Canon on the requirement of a parish advisory financial group, but in the past some parishes just went through the motions on this and the pastor could do what he wanted.

(See also the Catholic News forum on these boards)

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

After seeing the shocking story about the financial abuses in the Florida diocese, I think you will see more lay persons being given roles in parish finances and administration. There is a Canon on the requirement of a parish advisory financial group, but in the past some parishes just went through the motions on this and the pastor could do what he wanted.

(See also the Catholic News forum on these boards)

That is the one required advisory council in a parish, the Finance Council.

 

[chicago]

Business managers in the Church are one of my pet peeves. while there are some good ones, often what happens is that the pastor leaves most of the day to day administration to this person, to the point that things are no longer being run on a pastoral level but a business one. Now, the Church certainly has something to learn from the business world as to operating effectively and getting our own act in order. But, in the end, we are a Church not an business organization. We shouldn’t run simply on concern over financial expedience. Plus, business managers tend to get all caught up in a lot of detailed worries about this rule and that regulation, leaving no real room for reasonability. A sad observation which I have made is that lawyers and accountants do much in the Church to get in the way of the Holy Spirit.