Our Bishop has ordered all pastors in the diocese to select three “key leaders” from each parish who, along with the pastor, will meet to discuss the current ministerial landscape and explore future strategies for an effective Catholic presence in the area. This effort is prompted by the challenge we are facing to maintain and staff parishes in our diocese. As the Bishop points out, numerous priests are going to be retiring in the next few years with a shortage of seminarians to take their place. Many churches are old and difficult to maintain with reduced revenues and increasing costs.
He recognizes the need to be proactive and develop a plan to meet these challenges. Furthermore, I think he wants to get the parishioners involved in making recommendations because many parishes are going to be faced with difficult decisions, reduction in staffing and possible closings. It’s a reality we are facing. Having parishioners involved in the process helps them accept tough outcomes rather than feeling like they were blindsided.
According to our pastor, prior bishops in our diocese kept parishes open as long as they were financially viable, but this may no longer be an option. Many pastors now serve more than one parish. At some point, priests may become so sparse that Sunday Mass might not be available in some churches. Even financially stable parishes may find themselves facing closure.
I counted sixty-three Catholic Churches in our diocese spread over four counties. Our county is the smallest of the four with only four churches and one mission. Presently, there are three priests serving in the county. Two of them are beyond retirement age. I would hope we could support at least two priests in the county for the foreseeable future. That would still present a challenge in keeping all five sites afloat. The mission is near the county line and could possibly be staffed part time from the adjacent county. One parish already shares a pastor with our parish. One of the other parishes is small and would need to share a pastor if it stays open. All of this is conjecture at this point.
The diocese ordained two priests last year and has two more who will be ordained this year. They are far outnumbered by the priests who will be retiring soon. The last priest to come from our parish is long retired. Our sister parish has one young man in the seminary now. He will be ordained in about three years. I completely understand why our Bishop is preparing us for some painful decisions coming in the not too distant future. Please keep praying for vocations.