Priests being moved

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Jen7 said:
Due to social distancing we can’t even say goodbye.
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No social distancing can stop you from calling him, texting him, social media messaging him, sending him a letter, or card, Skyping him, even having a farewell gathering as long as you follow the rules for your Diocese.

Check into them, you may be able to arrange something outside where people come, give their regards, give a spiritual bouquet, and then leave so more can come in.

Why does this happen? To help us from forming a “cult of personality”, to help the priest, heck, he may have asked to be reassigned or he may have a special skillset that is needed elsewhere.
 
TheLittleLady said:
No social distancing can stop you from calling him, texting him, social media messaging him, sending him a letter, or card, Skyping him, even having a farewell gathering as long as you follow the rules for your Diocese.

Check into them, you may be able to arrange something outside where people come, give their regards, give a spiritual bouquet, and then leave so more can come in.
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Exactly!

A friend of ours had her retirement party canceled because everyone had to work from home during the pandemic, and her family arranged a surprise party for her on Zoom. One of their friends solicited people on the original party invitation list to send 15-30 second videos of their regards to her (no later than a deadline several days before the party) and she put them together in a video that everyone watched together. People joined up on party day as a Zoom meeting, the “attendees” included both people who had sent videos and people who had not, and it was a very nice time. It went maybe an hour or an hour and a half? People popped in and popped out. Some “showed up” with their camera on, some showed up but didn’t train a camera on themselves. Way shorter than a real retirement send-off, and the family actually kept it a surprise for her. All her friends and colleagues kind of got to “see each other,” too. It was actually fun.

Well, if so much of the parish has had to learn how to tune in to watch Mass live-streamed…
 
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Jen7 said:
I just don’t understand.
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A parallel circumstance happens with public school teachers and there may be some related issues contributing to both. Our two older kids had a couple of outstanding teachers when they began attending the public school system. By the time our youngest was to go those teachers had been moved on to other schools which we naturally found rather upsetting. As a home-schooler my wife had a few contacts on the school board so asked one of them why the best teachers never seemed to stay in one place very long. The reply she got made a lot of sense, and can as well when looking at the constant transfer of clergy in any denomination. The school board member said they have to move teachers regularly, not because they want to spread the best ones around, but to ensure the worst of them can never stay in one school for too long. Once they obtain tenure it’s very difficult to dismiss them.
 
My parish is served by five Oratorians and I’m glad they don’t move. We have had a few changes this year (one retirement from active service, one left to discern vocation, one newly ordained) but I like that I have fathers that will stay with us.
 
How long was St. John Vianney at Ars? What would he have been able to accomplish if he had been moved every 3 or 6 years?
 
Genesis315 said:
It should be pointed out that canon law seems to treat term appointments as an exception and favors indefinite terms for stability:
Can. 522 A pastor must possess stability and therefore is to be appointed for an indefinite period of time. The diocesan bishop can appoint him only for a specific period if the conference of bishops has permitted this by a decree.
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I assume the Conference in the US has allowed bishops to appoint for a term, as my diocese has done that for around 35 years. 6 year appointment, renewable possibly once. If a pastor is close to retirement he can linger a couple years more.
Religious orders have their own policies.
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commenter said:
I assume the Conference in the US has allowed bishops to appoint for a term, as my diocese has done that for around 35 years. 6 year appointment, renewable possibly once. If a pastor is close to retirement he can linger a couple years more.
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I’m pretty sure in some dioceses, pastors are allowed to renew more than once.
 
The norm in canon law is that a priest is assigned permanently as pastor, and can only be removed for a reason.

However, national bishops’ conferences can elect to have a term as the norm. For the RCC in the US, this is six years, renewable once.

There was a UCC priest that retired a couple of years ago just short, iirc, of 50 years of pastor. He was baptizing grandchildren of folks he had baptized . . .
 
dochawk said:
The norm in canon law is that a priest is assigned permanently as pastor, and can only be removed for a reason.

However, national bishops’ conferences can elect to have a term as the norm. For the RCC in the US, this is six years, renewable once.

There was a UCC priest that retired a couple of years ago just short, iirc, of 50 years of pastor.
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When did the US Conference adopt this “norm”? Do other countries generally follow something like this?
I wonder if the norm is just an option for a diocese, or if it’s the Standard?

I think the former policy, unlimited terms, was based on the 1917 Canon Law.

My late cousin, who was a Carmelite priest, told me his Order (O. Carm) already had that policy in place, before the Diocesan policy. This, along with mandatory retirement age,
Made it easier to gracefully move along pastors who were no longer able to function in this parish, without proving them incompetent.

I suppose the 50 year Eastern pastor was appointed under the old rules, do the Easterns have terms today? My guess is not, since the parishes are so far apart, and there is usually a wife and children.

The Latins have to make exceptions of course, due to a pastor’s disability, or his unique ability in a language.
 
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I think sometimes we can forget what the word “parish” originally means : a sojourn, a temporary dwelling. In 1 Peter 2:11, that’s a word of the exact same family which is used for saying : “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles”…

It is a reminder that however much we may love our parish and parish priests, our true home is Heaven, not here, and that arriving and leaving are inescapable realities of our human condition.
 
commenter said:
I wonder if the norm is just an option for a diocese, or if it’s the Standard?
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AFAIK, it’s a suggested policy. My diocese has never adopted specific terms…one local parish had a pastor transferred a couple years ago after being in one place for 24 years.
 
Not only that, a US bishop can still go by the norm of indefinite appointments if he wants. I’m not sure if any bishop here does that though. Would be interesting to know.
 
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Given 24 is divisible by 6, your diocese may do the renewable 6 year term appointments–especially if this pastor was transferred without some negative reason (see link below)

It is more difficult for a bishop to remove or transfer a pastor appointed indefinitely or in the middle of their appointed term. See canon law here:

THE PROCEDURE IN THE REMOVAL OR TRANSFER OF PASTORS (Cann. 1740 - 1752)
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P6Z.HTM

On the other hand, if the pastor is appointed to a specific term, then they can be transferred or removed fat the whim of the bishop when the term is up (not saying any bishop treats it so lightly, just that they technically could–they are not allowed to under the primary norm of indefinite terms).
 
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My parish shares a priest with a neighboring smaller parish (30 miles away). He serves the English speaking and Spanish speaking communities in both towns. It is a demanding job, physically and emotionally. Priests don’t last long here, we tend to break them. Our latest priest is absolutely a gift from God. He’s from the Kerala region of India. He is young and energetic. He is particularly skilled at delegating the things that lay people can do, and thus our parish is more involved and engaged. He may have what it takes to minister to us. Many have tried, but found it draining.
 
The bishop can (and routinely does) make exceptions to the six-year rule. Most dioceses in the USA follow the six-year model.

Some rural dioceses rotate even more often (e.g. three-year terms) due to this point I mentioned earlier
Diaconia said:
Because of the declining number of priests, some assignments have two, three or even four parishes. Those assignments need rotated more often so as to not burn out a priest.
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Priests that have such assignments (and significant windshield time driving between them every weekend) need rotated more often to protect their physical health, particularly older ones with trouble driving at night.

In short, bishops (and priest’s personnel boards - who often guide him) follow canonical guidance generally, but make exceptions whenever needed.

Deacon Christopher
 
Genesis315 said:
Given 24 is divisible by 6, your diocese may do the renewable 6 year term appointments
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The fact that his 24-year tenure is divisible by six is just a coincidence - we don’t have specific terms in this diocese. I’ve had numerous priests tell me as much. When assignments are announced, no mention of a time frame is made. I’ve seen in neighboring dioceses where the appointments are made “…Pastor of St. Michael Church for a term of six years,” etc. Priests I know in that neighboring diocese talk about “bidding” on parishes they know are going to open up because a pastor is nearing the end of their six-year term. None of of that in my diocese. The priests serve at the sole discretion of the Bishop; when he says it’s time to move, they move.
 
A question I have is, why do the bishops of the US just routinely go against canon law in this matter? Do other countries also do this?
I understand that there are advantages to moving them around. I wonder if we had more priests in general, that would help with any deficiencies in any particular pastor.
 
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