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Excerpted from an
article in The Tablet
(May 24,
2003), written by Roger Payne.
Msgr. John Brown, director of clergy personnel
for the diocese, has nearly completed a speaking tour which offers a
dose of reality on the current priest staffing situation in our
diocese. He's already spoken to more than 2,000 people. Another 200
or so from Queens North Clusters Four and Five, which encompass
Queens Village, Floral Park, Bayside, Bellerose, Jamaica, Kew
Gardens Hills, Hollis, and Richmond Hill, showed up at Our Lady of
the Snows, North Floral Park, last Thursday. They heard about some
sobering numbers, and what the diocese plans to do about them.
"They keep telling me not
to scare everybody," Msgr. Brown grinned. "So here's the good news:
Jesus Christ is with us to the end of time. We're not here tonight
to say, last one out turn out the lights."
Nonetheless, "We're in a time of real
challenge," Msgr. Brown admitted quickly. Before focusing on the
numbers, however, he was quick to highlight the context of his
presentation.
"We need to see the shortage of priests in
light of Jesus' mandate to spread the Good News," said Msgr. Brown.
"That mandate is the real issue. Christ does not say, you have fewer
priests, do less. We have to be in this together. We must all
fulfill our ministries."
To a great extent, the numbers
speak for themselves. The number of available, active priests in
the Brooklyn diocese has declined 46% since 1979. Perhaps more
alarming, nearly a quarter of those priests will reach retirement
age in the next five years, 42% within the next ten, and 81% within
the next 20 years. Sadly, during this same period, if current trends
hold, new ordinations will only serve to replace the active priests
who die before reaching retirement.
The numbers highlight other issues as well. "Every
once in a while a pastor loses his mind briefly and says to
me, 'I need a young priest.' In our diocese, that's any priest
under 57," Msgr. Brown laughed.
More seriously, he continued, "Nobody likes
change. But we cannot continue business as usual. If we do not
change, we will not be a healthy Church, and we will not fulfill the
mandate."
Msgr. Brown went on to explain that a Task Force had been
formed in 1998 to study the issue, and had presented the bishop (Thomas
V. Daily) with a plan which was accepted in June 1999. A study of
how to efficiently distribute priests within the diocese was
conducted, which more or less reaffirmed the status quo. The
bishop's pastoral letter of 2000, entitled "Pray the Lord of the
Harvest," called for a number of other steps which are already
underway. These included formation of a Cluster Office, promulgation
of sacramental guidelines so that everyone understands the
requirements. As Msgr. Brown put it, "If we're going to say that
priests aren't going to do everything, we have to know what's
required for each ministry." In addition, Bishop Daily directed the
Pastoral Institute to develop more structured programs for ongoing
formation of priests, religious, deacons, and the faithful.
In March of 2002, Bishop Daily sent a followup
letter to pastors outlining additional steps to be taken. These
included reducing Mass schedules, primarily through coordination
within clusters. As Msgr. Brown says, "The idea was to preserve
choice (of times and languages), but not necessarily within each
parish." In that letter, the bishop also reinforced the idea that
priests should concentrate on central sacramental services and allow
lay ministers to handle other functions.
The bishop also asked in that letter that each
cluster submit a plan addressing his concerns, which would also
consider which parishes might be joined together. As of last
Thursday, Msgr. Brown reported, he had received 19 of the 32 plans
requested.
A partial solution is to obtain the services
of priests incardinated in other countries who can serve specific
foreign language populations. The bishop is already negotiating
five-year contracts with a number of foreign dioceses.
Nonetheless, a number of questions remain largely unaddressed, according
to Msgr. Brown, most relating to undercurrents of stress
experienced by current priests at least partly as a result of
diminishing numbers. How exactly to transfer temporal administration
responsibilities to others to free up priests to do sacramental ministry?
How to promote health among an overworked priestly
population faced with rising expectations from parishioners
rocked by the sex abuse scandal? How to help them find time to pray
and reflect?
And then, of course, the issue of vocations is
never far beyond the horizon. It requires no deep thinker to see
that a substantial increase in vocations would reverse the trend and
make the resulting issues more manageable.
According to Msgr. Brown, the answer lies with
everyone. "It's not good enough to say to ourselves, yes, we need
priests, but not my family," said Msgr. Brown. "Priesthood is a
great, sacred life. We have to ask ourselves and each other, what is
my attitude toward priesthood?"
By raising awareness of such issues and
alerting everyone to impending changes, Msgr. Brown's presentation
series is itself part of the bishop's strategy. It is hoped that
additional solutions will become apparent as participation in the
search for new approaches broadens.
"It's going to be
painful," Msgr. Brown summarized. "It's going to mean
change. This shortage affects everyone. We either plan or
we don't plan. But if we're going to lose 308 of our priests
in the next 20 years, it's better to plan together."
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