Rural parish placement; what to expect?

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bardegaulois

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I am a seminary candidate in a diocese in the Northeastern U.S. Recently I got my summer pastoral assignment (should I not need to work – and I have leave to decline this if I need to due to lost salary due to COVID-19) at a small parish in a rural part of the diocese. I’ve never met my pastoral supervisor there, and, frankly, I’d never even heard of the place where the parish was located and had to look it up on a map.

I’m not averse to rural areas. In fact, I grew up in a town of about the same population as that in which this parish is located and have been isolating myself there amid the present pandemic, and have always lived in small towns. However, I’ve always traveled to the city for Mass and have been fortunate to have my weekend placement in an active urban parish. I’ve found my local rural parish life (granted, in a different diocese than the one I’m presently discerning with) to be rather, for lack of a better term, rather lacking in vigor. The liturgies, in particular, have always struck me as rather banal, as though next to no attention is paid in the least to subjects like liturgical arts and music. And considering that this is a summer placement, religious ed will be out of session. As my prior job is as a teacher and I’m a trained Extraordinary Form liturgist who has been working on his chant, I question exactly how this placement will play to my strengths, or even what they may have in store for me there. So, I approach this with some trepidation, fearing at worst a very boring summer.

Am I justified in thinking so, or is there something I might be missing?
 
I think what you are missing is that you should be obedient and willing to serve wherever you are sent without whining about it. It is not going to do you any good to compare parishes and honestly I found your description of rural parish life to be insulting and thoughtless. I think you need to examine your motives for feeling like this and for thinking that this is the place to seek answers. Why not bring this up with your spiritual director instead?
 
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Add these concerns to your prayers of discernment.

For what its worth, you may be in good company. I’ve just got this hunch that at the ascension when Christ told his Apostles to witness in Jerusalem, in Judea, and to the ends of the earth, that many of the 12 (and soon to be 13 with the addition of Paul), felt out of their element in the areas they were sent to.

Hoping you find peace!
 
bardegaulois said:
However, I’ve always traveled to the city for Mass and have been fortunate to have my weekend placement in an active urban parish. I’ve found my local rural parish life (granted, in a different diocese than the one I’m presently discerning with) to be rather, for lack of a better term, rather lacking in vigor. The liturgies, in particular, have always struck me as rather banal, as though next to no attention is paid in the least to subjects like liturgical arts and music. And considering that this is a summer placement, religious ed will be out of session. As my prior job is as a teacher and I’m a trained Extraordinary Form liturgist who has been working on his chant, I question exactly how this placement will play to my strengths, or even what they may have in store for me there. So, I approach this with some trepidation, fearing at worst a very boring summer.

Am I justified in thinking so, or is there something I might be missing?
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With anyplace small, what you get in terms of lay help is the luck of the draw. You might get no one with any talent or only people lacking dedication doing the music or maybe nobody wants to sing at all or else you might get a Catholic version of the Carter Family Singers.
I’d say that in my experience the rural parishes are very used to taking what they get. A seminarian who can actually sing would usually be extremely welcome. If the pastor wants to have a week-long summer Bible school since you are at his disposal, soldier in and do your best. But you’re from a small place; just do what the pastor asks and for such a short assignment, know your place. Look for work to do, regardless of whether it is in your wheelhouse or not. If what they need is someone who can paint, well, have someone teach you how to do a good job of it, how to do the clean up, and so on, and then do your best. Since you’ve lived in low-population parishes, you know the drill. Nothing beats willingness to step up and quietly do what needs done until the job is all finished.
 
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bardegaulois said:
The liturgies, in particular, have always struck me as rather banal, as though next to no attention is paid in the least to subjects like liturgical arts and music.
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And who pray tell is the head liturgist in the parish??

Oh, yeah, the pastor.
 
Don’t get me wrong, please; my intent is to obey if I am financially able (Covid-19 has done a number on me due to the loss of my day job). And I would love to speak to my spiritual director about this, but that isn’t possible now due to the pandemic advisories. I plan on doing so as soon as visiting a nonagenarian priest is prudent. Until that point, we must do what we can.
 
Alas, he has no email, and he never gave me his number.
 
Obedience
Obedience
Obedience
You can’t do ANY vocation without obedience. Christ models obedience if nothing else.
 
He’s the one making the placement. His role, moreover, is not to direct us; he refuses to hear the confessions of any seminarian or candidate, as he doesn’t want any internal-forum issues to chequer the decisions he makes about us.

I will, however, reach out to several priests I know, some of whom have served in rural areas.
 
for some reason Doc Hollywood comes to mind.

Good luck. You’ll get some great experience out of the assignment.
 
bardegaulois said:
He’s the one making the placement. His role, moreover, is not to direct us; he refuses to hear the confessions of any seminarian or candidate, as he doesn’t want any internal-forum issues to chequer the decisions he makes about us.

I will, however, reach out to several priests I know, some of whom have served in rural areas.
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My advice is to talk to somebody who loved working in a rural area.
People can tell right away if someone new is on the lookout to see whether they “measure up,” and you know from living in a low-population place that getting the “are-you-good-enough” once-over by outsiders isn’t that rare. It is not pleasant. Don’t be “that guy” for them, whatever you do.
We had the same pastor for a long time. He said when he was a seminarian, he had no interest whatsoever in going out into the sticks to someplace like we were on the map. His religious order sent him, though, and he found it was right down his alley. You can’t see the people by looking at the map.
I remember talking to a priest about problems I was having in a parish. He pointed out that I was free to go where ever I wanted, but the priests get to bloom where they’re planted. As a seminarian, this is a chance to go in and serve regardless of whether or not you like the place. That’s the life of a priest. May as well get started.
 
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The “banal” liturgy, because it is the OF? OF will be the majority of Masses celebrated in any US Diocese.

Because of the music? Maybe one volunteer is all the parish has, and he only plays the guitar by ear.

Humility is important for priests.

You are not yet a Seminarian, so, take this as a chance to grow in grace and to be a gift to the Pastor and the parishioners.
 
bardegaulois said:
I question exactly how this placement will play to my strengths,
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One possibility that occurs to me is this. Do you think the priests in charge of the seminary may perhaps be satisfied that your strengths, such as liturgical arts and chant, are strong enough already? Could they be encouraging you to develop some other ability that is not one of your strengths? Might they have detected a gap in your experience that they would like you to fill in?
 
Remember that a diocesan priest is not only a liturgist but also a teacher and a spiritual director!

The EF is all fine but seminarians should not make it the sole focus of their Faith.
 
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That’s a question I’d frankly like to ask my formators… but everything I say can and will be used against me, and so it’s best to hold my tongue. I hate to say it, but clerical formation is much more Machiavellian than you’d like to imagine.
 
Yeah, I can understand what you say, it’s also true that some priests are more willing to explain their reasoning that others. But about that we can’t do anything, they are human. Maybe the new Pastor that God leads you too is nothing like that, or another member of that Parish 🤔 Have Hope (at least until the quarantine is in force).
 
bardegaulois said:
I question exactly how this placement will play to my strengths, or even what they may have in store for me there. So, I approach this with some trepidation, fearing at worst a very boring summer.

Am I justified in thinking so, or is there something I might be missing?
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Well, one thing you’re missing is that the parish doesn’t exist to “play to your strengths.” A priest is there to serve his parish, not the other way around.

Priests who visit our parish - whether for a weekend, or a month – some of whom are from a “big city,” always talk about how welcomed they feel, how much they appreciate the closeness of the community and admire the strong faith of the parishioners.
You might actually learn something from this “very boring” assignment. But I warn you – we rural folk aren’t stupid. If you walk in there with the attitude you show in this post, they will pick up on it. They will be respectful, just the same, because that’s how we are to priests. But you will miss out on a huge opportunity to learn and grow.
It’s your choice.
 
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The St Paul is estimated to have spent TEN YEARS…waiting for his superiors in the early Church to utilize his gifts. Historians here may have more details.
 
puer.dei said:
Priests who visit our parish - whether for a weekend, or a month – some of whom are from a “big city,” always talk about how welcomed they feel, how much they appreciate the closeness of the community and admire the strong faith of the parishioners.
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That’s I think the issue. Part of the reason I enjoyed working in the city was the respectful distance everyone kept from one another. It actually allowed some great professional and eventually even personal relationships to form. I didn’t experience that in my rural youth. Boundaries weren’t so strict, and I felt like people were walking on mine all the time. When I called people on it, they were taken aback. Eventually, I just personally detached from my neighbours in all but the most utilitarian senses and focused on my small group of friends, my work, and my church life elsewhere. My worry is that I just don’t “speak rural.” It’s a very different way of relating that I sometimes find offputting, and I wouldn’t doubt that they might find my way of relating somewhat offputting as well.
 
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