A tale of two parishes...

My parish is presently involved in a situation that, sadly, many Catholic parishes find themselves involved in these days.

Due to the fact that fewer men are answering the call to become priests, parishes are being forced to merge together, or in even worse cases, small parishes are forced to simply close their doors because of the lack of priests available to lead these flocks.

Note that I said “fewer men are answering the call to become priests.” Be certain that God is not calling any fewer men to the priesthood. It’s simply that fewer men are hearing and answering the call. In today’s society, how can we expect anything to be any different, really? The lure of money, success, women, materialism, etc, is very strong and many young men who are being called to be priests are plugging up their ears to the concept of sacrificing all of these worldly things and themselves for the bride for Christ. We all do that to some degree, whether God is asking us to sacrifice of ourselves to become a servant as a priest or if He is asking us to go back to mass regularly, stop gossiping, start praying a rosary, stop drinking, really develop a deep relationship with Him, etc. I am as guilty of it as anyone else.

So my parish is in the process of being merged with another parish in the next town. My parish was a relatively young parish, as far as Catholic churches go. The church was built in the mid- to late-70s. The road to get to this merger was long and tedious. There was what they called a “collaborative study,” which consisted of lay representatives and the pastor of several churches in our “cluster” of the diocese. They met for over a year. The saddest thing is that this decision of who was merging with who was very likely made before the collaborative study ever began and much of it was a pointless, albeit frustrating, exercise for those involved.

As a result of this merger, which is still in process and should be completed over the summer, we lost our pastor (all of the parishes who had to merge did, so no one could claim favoritism). We loved our pastor. He has only been with us for 3 or 4 years, but had made us a holier, more orthodox, and more devout group of Catholics.

There are a lot of hard feelings all the way around. I don’t have any really, but I see it all around me. Some people want to leave the parish and go elsewhere. While I believe a person needs to be comfortable in their parish and go where they feel they will be fed, I personally have no intention of leaving my parish. I am “fed” by the Lord and his servants on earth in a variety of ways in a variety of places and not just in the masses at my parish.

Jesus is still in my parish 24 hours a day in the Blessed Sacrament. I still receive Him at every mass. So while some folks are watching the new pastor under a microscope and picking apart everything he does that is different from our previous pastor (hey, they aren't twins!), I can’t help but constantly remember that God will never be outdone. He willed this merger. And, and the end of the day it will “be for our welfare, not our woe.” While it may not seem that way right now, with time, it will be revealed to us, just like everything else.

A blessed holy week and glorious Easter to all of you!