Things I’ve Seen and Heard
Musings of Fr. Bryan T. Reif
Last weekend, I wrote in this column about Fr. John’s sabbatical, and his leaving for sabbatical around the beginning of June. As a result of this, we will be losing our Sunday priest help, and that necessitates a schedule change so that the weekend Masses in our Pastoral Region can be accommodated by one priest. This means that the schedule on Sunday needs to not overlap and conflict as it currently does, and it also means, in keeping with Canons 904 and 905 that specify a limit to the number of Masses any one priest can say per day, including Sunday, that we will need to reduce the number of Masses in our Pastoral Region from six to four. In formulating a new schedule that will go into effect the first weekend of June, the parish pastoral councils and finance committees have been consulted for their advice and input, and a number of other factors weighed into the decision as well, including trends in Mass attendance, and the timing of the Religious Education program, as well as what is anticipated down the road with the new Beacons of Light initiative, which is still in development throughout the entire Archdiocese.
The new Mass schedule will be:
Saturday: 5 PM at St. Aloysius on the Ohio
7 PM at St. Simon the Apostle
Sunday: 9:30 AM at St. Aloysius on the Ohio
11 AM at St. Simon the Apostle
The daily Mass schedule, and the confession schedule will remain unchanged for now.
We are headed towards a future, in just a few years, where there will only be 65-75 priests available to serve the Church in the Archdiocese as pastors. This is going to change how priests are allocated, and how ecclesial ministry looks throughout the diocese. It is our hope that the work we are doing today will help each community to Radiate Christ, and promote committed intentional discipleship to the Lord Jesus. There will be groupings of parishes that will form one “family of parishes” ministered to by one priest. Given the numbers and the data, I think we can anticipate that each “family of parishes” unit will encompass more than two parishes, as we see the typical region today. All of this is driven by the growing priest shortage. We do need more priests. May we all continue to pray for an increase in priestly vocations.
Take Good Care
Fr. Bryan T. Reif, Pastor