Working for the Church

[birdie74]

Hi, I wanted to start a thread for people who are working for the church or have worked for the church in the past to share their experiences and how these experiences have shaped their spirituality. I guess for me, the biggest thing that surprised me was that in the past, when I’ve had other jobs, the church has been a place to “escape” to and recollect myself, like an oasis of calm and somewhere “different.” When you work for the church, that place IS the source of your stress, so it’s not like you can go there to calm down! Of course I did adjust to this eventually, but I find now that I have an easier time praying at HOME than at church, because at church I am thinking of work! A lot of people predicted I would become disillusioned with the church being so close to it, and I will say that did happen to an extent, but I also saw up close and personally how much our priest had to deal with, how much good work my parish did in the community that I didn’t even know about, and what wonderful faith was being nurtured in the schools. The bad I saw was, awful awful gossiping, some truly unpleasant and inept priests, very poor pay and insurance benefits for everyone but the priests. I also saw the importance of good leadership - if the pastor was a capable, kind guy, everything went smoothly. If he was divisive, somehow it all got taken out on us and the level of cliques and drama went waaaay up.

But mainly I want to hear about what other people have seen. Please share! I am currently discerning whether or not I want to keep my job and I would love your perspectives.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

You have described, for the most part, the same experiences I have had. I work for the church in a support capacity, and see priests not only when they are “working”, but also when they are at “home”.

IMHO, Good leadership from the Pastor is the single most important thing in a parish. When that is lacking, the parish will be lacking.

As far as how seeing the “inner workings” of the Church has affected my spirituality, it has been a rocky road! There have been more than a few times when I was just so disillusioned and/or disgusted with decisions that were made or how pastoral care needs were attended to. There have been more than a few times when I have thought about leaving (and not just my job, the Church, too!) and not looking back.

In the end though, I truly feel that I am called to care for the holy men that I do, by using the talents that God has given me. And I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to meet so many wonderful priests, sisters and lay people, who really love the Church. As to all the other stuff, I try to just offer it up, and remember that I am doing God’s work.

 

[Joannm]

I keep saying that someday I am going to write a book about working in a parish office…people have no idea what goes on.

As far as finding the church as a place of solace when working in the parish, I find that sitting in the church for 1/2 - 45 minutes before daily mass begins is wonderful. Usually there is no one there, it is dark, and even when people start coming in they usually just want to pray and be quiet. I also find after the last mass on Sunday is a good time if we don’t have baptisms.

The politics can be a bit disheartening. You find out that priests have just as much idiosyncracies as the rest of us…who is not talking to who, you sense their annoyances at people, you listen to their problems…in other words, they are knocked off their pedestals (which is a good thing).

We also hear from the parishioners, some of whom are so demanding but just don’t have any idea of what it takes to run a parish, about canon law that we don’t have the ability to do anything about, about the demands on the time of our priests so they can’t just pop over three times a week to give someone’s eldery parent communion, the pastor can’t come to the wake so he sends the associate or (God forbid) the deacon. We are so mean because we won’t allow two female Godparents, won’t let the grooms bull terrier walk down the asile at the wedding (even though he will be wearing a tux - I kid you not), why we can’t add an extra reading to the First Holy Communion Mass so that someone’s darling can read because she is upset she wasn’t picked. You get the picture. It’s enough to drive one crazy.

But on the other hand I love dealing with most of the people. I love serving God. I am a Pastoral Associate in our parish so I get very involved in many of the goings on and make a lot of decisions that affect the parish. It is a great responsibility that I have to take very seriously. It also requires a lot of prayer and discernment, which is necessary for anyone who works in a parish in order not to get dissillusioned.

Thanks for starting this thread. I look forward to some thoughts.

 

[FCEGM]

I worked in a parish office some years ago (my particular office was in the church itself); while it was lovely to work so close to the Blessed Sacrament, I found that it was also akin to working in a sausage factory: you don’t always want to know what goes into the end product.

 

[Joannm]

I worked in a parish office some years ago (my particular office was in the church itself); while it was lovely to work so close to the Blessed Sacrament, I found that it was also akin to working in a sausage factory: you don’t always want to know what goes into the end product.

Ain’t that the truth.

 

[birdie74]

I really loved getting to see the human side of the priests I worked with - eating with them, sharing movies with them, talking and laughing - that I would say really helped my spirituality, because it helps so much to have real fellowship and encouragement along the road of your faith journey, not just a few minutes of coffee after mass with some random people, but a real close working relationship who have the same goals you do. But as I said before, when it’s bad, it’s really bad! Heaven help you if you work with a priest/pastor/boss you DON’T share a vision with!

I would also say that changes in a parish are a lot harder on the people working there. Things that I barely would have noticed as a parishioner became a huge deal when I was the one who had to “make it happen” or whose daily life was actually affected by it. That’s obvious, but it’s something you don’t quite expect!!