When the Parish IS the Job!

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OutinChgoburbs

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Do any of you work as an employee part or full time for your parish or diocese? What are some of the pitfalls of this? I know the joys of it, but there seem to be some snags, and I want to make sure I’m not a nut or crackpot ofr answering this call.
 
I work for my diocese (as support staff, not in a ministerial capacity), and I’m not sure where to begin. At least here in the Bay area, it’s rather depressing.

I hear my collegues talking about their enneagrams, more than half the women in my department are former religious (that just makes me sad), and I didn’t talk to anyone at work that believed that Terri Shiavo’s parents were right to fight for her life (in fairness I should point out that after the first couple of conversations I overheard I wasn’t enthusiastic about starting any conversations on that topic).

Working for the Church, you get acquainted with a lot of yucky politics and hear a lot of things you wish maybe you didn’t. But you learn to be much more patient with your bishop. I am learning to be truly thankful to God that the Church is all that she is, despite the human element! But I’ve learned working here that, now more than ever, I have to make my spiritual life a priority. I think my husband and I have grown a lot in faith because of all the miserable things that go on at work.

That help? 🙂
 
Yep.

I’m going to pm you on some of this.

Any other takers on the question?
 
I think it depends on your position/situation. Working for the diocese is definatley different than working for a parish.
Unless you are in a large parish, there is going to be a lot more “staff” and more of a business like environment at the diocese.

Also, it will depend a lot if the job is a 9-5 office type job (bookkeeper, admin assistant, etc.) or a “ministerial” job (director of a parish program like religous ed, music, youth gruop, etc.) In all cases I agree with leahbrahms, you will learn stuff (political ****) that you probably would have been happier NOT knowing, but You get the satisfaction of knowing who your ultimate boss is!

On the down side of parish ministerial work, you will be amazed at how many people think they ARE your boss, and that they have a right to know your salary, becasue you are always paid TOO much, and your job should really be a volunter position anyway. (sarcasm, but these people really think that. Just look over these boards at how often people say “you have paid people doing that?!” And do you know any companies that publish a list of every employee’s salary for all to see?)

For the record, all parish staff is employed by the Pastor, who would be the boss. The Parish Council, Trustees, or anybody else in the parish has no right to tell the staff what to do, what they can or can’t do, or fire them.

There ARE lots of good points too, but you asked for the bad ones, so please don’t think I am being negative. I’m just trying to answer what you asked.
 
Since you asked for the pitfalls, I’ll share some I noted in my limited experience. I interned and did some freelance work in one of the offices at our diocesan offices for two years. My experience involved hearing a great deal of gossip and negative traits of priests in our diocese as well as our bishop. There was also quite a bit of an “adversarial” tone between my office and the bishop as staff in my office wanted to have journalistic freedom and the bishop wanted to make sure any journalistic freedoms stayed within the parameters he set forth.

I learned way more about Church politics and the “good old boys” attitude in the diocesan office than I ever wanted. It could be real drudgery, and made it hard for me to see and love the same church I saw portrayed negatively at my job.

A friend of mine also experienced first-hand what it’s like when new priest assignments are made: being let go because the new priest wanted to hire all his staff new. It was unfortunate for my friend particularly since this priest did not seem to let him go as charitably as he could have.
 
i’ve taught at 3 different catholic schools in 3 different diocese and i was always happiest when i was attending church at a different parish. it is so hard to go to church where you work. the hardest thing is knowing too much about office politics, really more than i ever wanted to know. i think i’ve also decided that i don’t want to teach where my kids go to school, not planning on returning to work any time soon though…
 
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TAS2000:
I think it depends on your position/situation. Working for the diocese is definatley different than working for a parish…On the down side of parish ministerial work, you will be amazed at how many people think they ARE your boss, and that they have a right to know your salary, becasue you are always paid TOO much, and your job should really be a volunter position anyway. (sarcasm, but these people really think that. Just look over these boards at how often people say “you have paid people doing that?!” And do you know any companies that publish a list of every employee’s salary for all to see?)

For the record, all parish staff is employed by the Pastor, who would be the boss. The Parish Council, Trustees, or anybody else in the parish has no right to tell the staff what to do, what they can or can’t do, or fire them.

There ARE lots of good points too, but you asked for the bad ones, so please don’t think I am being negative. I’m just trying to answer what you asked.
No, those are just what I want to hear. There has to be a down side to everything.
 
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spacecadet:
i’ve taught at 3 different catholic schools in 3 different diocese and i was always happiest when i was attending church at a different parish. it is so hard to go to church where you work. the hardest thing is knowing too much about office politics, really more than i ever wanted to know. i think i’ve also decided that i don’t want to teach where my kids go to school, not planning on returning to work any time soon though…
Well, this is my problem, without getting into too many of the details.

Last year, I was called upon as a volunteer to work on a school network system. A parent who gave significant funds to the school wanted to call all the shots of the network. The tech the parent insisted do the work was not doing it, yet was charging the school extremely high rates for an uncertified technician. Work was not always completed, and if it broke, the tech insisted that payment again be made. The parent had not been to the school in over nine months, having stated the said parent did not want to volunteer again. Other techs would not touch this project, as there were obvious licensing and compliance issues. I also found evidence that at least the tech, and possibly the parent, was using the school’s servers for other purposes. I was encouraged by the principal and pastor not to make a big thing about it, as it would bring in the diocese and added expense to the parish.

I spent a good deal of time on this project, even during the holidays. I also managed to increase the number of pieces of equipment on the network by selling off equipment the school could not use, as well as encouarging big businesses to donate their owrking used equipment.

About 3 months into the project, the parent got me alone without signing first at the front desk. The parent verbally attacked me, accusing me of theft, and attempted to physically attack me. The parent had to be asked to be removed from the school. I was encouraged not to file charges against the parent. It seems the parent has a lot of money.

The parent then called other parents and told them I had stolen said parent’s property, this equipment the school purchased with the parent’s funds. I was repeatedly stopped by other parents at parish functions who expressed this concern. I had to prove via my wallet “tickets” that I was indeed qualified to get people to leave me alone. It would be equal to asking a priest to haul out the written copies of his faculties, or a teacher to hand over certification, at such functions as a pancake breakfast or game night.

I was also invited to what amounted to a “sit down” with this parent. I heard about these from other staff, how the parent was allowed to scream and yell at everybody with the pastor present, who did nothing to stop it. I insisted that if it occured, I have another tech and a neutral mediator from the diocese, and get paid for the time. This stance stopped the meeting from becoming a reality, although I was told the parent demanded that I be “ordered” to attend.

The parent was supposed to remove said parent’s children from the school, but came back and registered.

There were other issues that involved members of my family having trouble caused by this parent that I won’t describe.

Now the parent wants to volunteer to work in the part of the school that is connected to my workspace by only a pair of french doors that never stay close. When I questioned the sanity of this, I was told that the school HAD to let the parent volunteer, as said parent IS a parent. I was also told that the parent would be told not to go into my workspace. This did not seem to stop the parent last time. I am being give the option of being out of ht ebuilding when the parent is there.

When I expressed concerns for my safety, I was told that’s all that could be done. I was told I could not go to the Diocese, as this year I am on the payroll. This clearly violates policy in the Diocese handbook.

I am wondering at this point if it would be better to walk away, even if the project is half-done. I can’t take the harassment, and I certainly don’t want to respond to protect myself physically. The only other thing I can think to do is send a memo to my next-in-command, explaining that if I am harassed or harmed, or my family member is harassed or harmed, that I WILL act using the Diocese chain of command to the next step, and “other recourse”. I don’t want to be a coward, but I don’t want to have to waste time and resources on what appears to be a favored person.

That’s why I asked.

And I was looking at the negatives because I wanted to be sure I hadn’t stepped upon a unique situation.
 
I am a DRE, graduating from unpaid catechist to paid staff member. The differences are: if I try to attend Mass, adoration or other liturgical function in this parish I am not allowed to get through it without 20 interruptions asking about everything from CCD registration to where to drop off donations for ST. Vincent (all topics, interestingly enough, adequately covered in the bulletin. I conclude literacy is a problem here).

consequently I usually attend Mass on Saturday evening and adoration and a neighboring parish, since I am always “on duty” when at my workplace parish, and I would like to have at least one weekend Mass where I am completely attentive and reverent.

The other problem is the prayer life and spiritual climate which led to my discernment on taking this job have been compromised by the demands of the job, and it is a constant struggle to maintain them.

the third problem is the huge assault on Christian charity that anyone experiences who sees Catholic humans interacting daily during the course of conducting Church business, and the realization that office politics and all the Dilbert phenomena operate here as well, if you let them.
 
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puzzleannie:
…the third problem is the huge assault on Christian charity that anyone experiences who sees Catholic humans interacting daily during the course of conducting Church business, and the realization that office politics and all the Dilbert phenomena operate here as well, if you let them.
YES!!!
That’s a big problem!!!
I don’t know how to escape the Dilbertism!!!
I am tired of being told I have to “feel pity” for a person who tried to knock me one and caused harm to my reputation, but because she is a parent, I have to allow her another possibility at abuse!!! I am tired of being urged to allow this person to yell at me, out of charity.
It is one thing to forgive, and another to allow such an instance to happen again in the name of Christianity and charity. I surmise that I am supposed to put up with abuse because it is the “Christian” thing to do.

**Thank you, Annie. You put a name on what bothered me the most. **

**I did pray. I prayed a bunch before I said yes. I spent 3 weeks in the summer sitting like a log; because of these incidents, I simply couldn’t move. My whole acceptance of the assignment was that this parent was not going to interfere in any way, because the parent would not be there. I feel betrayed. I feel as if my work counts for nothing. I know it is not the Lord’s fault, but serving His people in this fashion has not been a good experience thus far. **


 
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