My diocese is planning on cutting the number of parishes in half

[hedgehog]

over the next two or three years. This is supposed to take care of the problem of having half our priests reach retirement age except that the ones who are left aren't much younger. What's the Pope doing these days? Debating Intelligent Design at his summer palace. Jesus wept.

[AngryOldDem]

1. This is no answer to the priest shortage

I think the Church will find out that most of us will not "make do" with less when there is a completely sensible and viable alternative. My archdiocese is slowly phasing this in as well. Many inner city parishes have already been combined, with one priest serving them all. Suburban parishes will be "zoned" with one priest serving them as well (except for my parish, which is a zoneish-unto-itself because it is huge).

Already some churches here have no Saturday vigil while others have only one Sunday Mass. A larger church in another part of town, I was shocked to see, also has only one Sunday Mass now. I'm thinking it's because the priest is also doing some circuit riding. Scolding articles in the archdiocesan newspaper and the bulletins are warning of communion services in place of Mass, and priest maybe not being able to officiate at funerals, etc.

This is so unnecessary, and ultimately so destructive.

But what can you do? I know -- pray for vocations!

[Matilda]

2. Pray that the hierarchy will see the light!

We have the same problems here in Australia - we are fortunate in having six priests, but they
serve three parishes. Our church is one of the few that has three masses every weekday and on
Sundays, and two on Saturdays, but I don't know how long that will last.

Two of our priests have retired this week - one is dying of cancer, and the other has been forced
to retire because he's becoming forgetful (onset of dementia?). One new priest has been appointed
to take the place of the two who have just left. Of the six priests, one is over 80, and the two
youngest are around 50.

A communion service without a priest isn't the same - I heard one woman who attended such a service
describe it as "a football match without a referee".

[hedgehog]

3. I can't wait until the first Christmas.

As a member of the Pastoral Council, I pointed out that it was one thing to consolidate parishes into one building so the church is full every Sunday, but what about Christmas and Easter? There were some chuckles from the priests and a joke about Christmas Catholics. Later the consolidation committee report suggested that Christmas Masses might be held off-site in a large auditorium. So far, so good, except that this is a small city/rural area in upstate New York. It turns out that one of the church buildings is the largest auditorium for about 10 miles around. Community groups hosting concerts use our church building when they need large seating capacity! There is a University Field house 10 miles away in the next city.....

[The Jacobin]

4. We are.

My family is participating in a program where we keep a chalice for a week in an honored spot in out home. During that week we pray constantly for vocations. Its nice because our whole family is involved.

[hedgehog]

5. What if God is sending us vocations and we aren't listening?

Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

[AngryOldDem]

6. That's fine, I respect that.

But I think the time has come for the serious reconsideration of the tradition of celebacy and an all-male priesthood. The Church, at least in the United States, can't take much more of circuit-rider priests, consolidated parishes, communion services instead of Mass, having to travel unreasonable distances for a Mass, placing increasing workloads on the backs of aging and already-overworked priests, etc.

It's time. I just think constructive action and thought can be combined with prayer to find an answer to this crisis.

(And at my church, it's a crucifix that is transferred from family to family.)

[hedgehog]

7. Part of that reconsideration should be to take a look at what a

priest should be doing. Our pastor complains almost every Sunday because people ask him about why the parking lot was black-topped, who put up the fence on church grounds, who re-finished the doors, etc. IMO, it's his own fault that people criticize him because he's made these changes unilaterally. Let the Building and Grounds committee take care of these things. Maybe if so many priests weren't such micromanagers treating the parish as their private Sym City then they would have time to prepare some decent homilies! It's not as if the priest is the only person in the parish to have gone past 8th grade any more!

[AngryOldDem]

8. I have a problem with a priest treating his church as a little fiefdom

I'm sure your priest means well, but too often I've heard of "micromanagers" doing some shady things to parish finances, etc...that's why you do need some oversight such as a parish council, and finance council, although a priest could basically hamstring those groups, too.

That's not been my experience with my priest...he delegates until the cows come home, and that's good, because it takes a lot of the little stuff off of his plate which frees him up to do other things. He started a Social Outreach committee (of which I was a founding member) because he got so many requests for parish funds from social groups, etc., that he could not deal with them all. He was afraid that some deserving groups were falling through the cracks, so he instituted this group. And it's been very successful. I think the finance committee is pretty strong, too. As it should be.

[hedgehog]

9. I think too many priests and especially bishops have no idea

w3hat the special charism of a priest is. Who else can preside at Mass, anoint the sick or hear confessions? Yet so many think of themselves as experts in real estate, architecture, plant management and financial planning, etc. Even worse are the ones who hang out with folks who tell them what experts they are and offer little inside tips. There is so much fear among so many priests of turning those areas over to the laity. At the same time, they are too busy to properly meet with and counsel engaged couples and too many behave as if a wedding is a terrible burden. They've forgotten what they're supposed to be doing. I'm scared by what is happening to our parishes, but sometimes I think God has decided to sweep out all the older priests and start over.

[tjwmason]

10. This is one area which I think that the Church of England does better.

Each parish has 2 "church wardens" who have all sorts of legal responsibilities to look after the church - the office goes back hundreds of years, and there are wardens accounts from pre-Reformation times (so there's nothing un-Catholic about it), they are elected by the parish each year; there is also a church council to assist the Priest in running the parish.

An Anglo-Catholic Priest I used to know (R.I.P.) started at a new parish and said that among the clergy that sort was referred to as an F.K.B. place - or "Father knows best" - which wasn't really complimentary. Even the clergy wanted the laity to take an active role - as you imply, this frees them up for the sacramental role to which they are called.

[AngryOldDem]

11. I believe by canon law

all parishes are to have a finance committee, and (I think) a parish committee. Now whether or not that comes to pass is another question. The more the laity are involved in all levels of the Church, the better off everyone will be, especially as it concerns financial matters.

[hedgehog]

12. It's fascinating how Canon Law gets applied.

For example, Rome insists on appointing all of our bishops, but declares that Canon Law ties its hands should the bishop turn out to be a big mistake. Each bishop is sole ruler in his domain.

[demosincebirth]

14. I say "if you're praying for potatoes, grab a hoe."

[pnwmom]

13. I love it when they tell us to pray for vocations.

When they're so busy alienating the mothers of the young men they want in their seminaries.

I'm still not over being silenced and "bound" on the subject of women's ordination.