Bishop to name collaborators to manage priestless parishes
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In response to shrinking numbers of priests, Bishop Donald Wuerl of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will begin appointing "parish life collaborators" to coordinate pastoral ministry in parishes with no resident priest.
They can be deacons or laity, and many are likely to be sisters. The plan was unveiled yesterday at a priests meeting. Up to three pilot programs are expected to start by year's end.
Although it comes in response to a shortage, "it is an opportunity to recognize the many gifts among the people of God. This is another tool in the toolbox that the bishop has provided for pastoral care of the faithful," said the Rev. Frank Almade, pastor of St. John Vianney, Allentown, and St. Mary of the Mount, Mount Washington. He is one of 14 pastors with more than one parish, and served on the planning committee for the new position.
Diocesan literature described the parish life collaborator as a deacon or professional lay minister appointed by the bishop to participate in pastoral care of a parish under the direction of a nonresident "priest director."
That priest might be a neighboring pastor, a dean or a diocesan official. He could appoint another priest to offer sacraments. A parish life collaborator will only be appointed if no resident priest is available, said Sister Pat Rogan, director of the Institute for Ministries, who is guiding the project.
The diocese has 214 parishes and 289 priests in active ministry. Some of those priests are in critical nonparish ministries -- such as health care -- or lack leadership skills needed to be a pastor, Father Almade said.
There were 525 priests in 1978 and 350 in 1999, he said. The diocese anticipates a net loss of 10 priests per year, primarily due to retirement and death, he said.
In 1992 the diocese had 120 more parishes than it does now. Bishop Wuerl carried out a sweeping series of mergers and closures, without which he has said there would have been 75 priestless parishes by 1995. The parish life collaborators are part of many ongoing efforts to provide ministry with fewer priests.
The diocese lists 40 different responsibilities for the parish life collaborator in worship, education, pastoral service and administration. They range from scheduling ushers and altar servers to coordinating burial services when a priest or deacon cannot be present.
Professional qualifications include master of divinity, master of arts in theology or equivalent degree and at least five years pastoral experience in the Catholic Church.
Many parish directors of religious education already meet those qualifications, Sister Pat said. The diocese will hold "listening sessions" in June for qualified people interested in applying for the positions. Once applications are in, the bishop can create a pool of candidates from which to choose when he has an available parish, she said.
Before the parish life collaborator arrives, the diocese will send a team to prepare the parishioners, Sister Pat said.
The salary and benefit scale has yet to be decided, she said. Priests earn $16,000 to $21,000 per year, plus benefits. Parish life collaborators will not live in the rectory, she said.
These positions have been common in Midwestern, Western and Southern dioceses for 20 years, said the Rev. Eugene Lauer, director of the National Pastoral Life Center in New York. Of 19,000 U.S. parishes, about 700 are overseen by people other than priests, he said.
"They do everything involved in running a parish other than sacramental administration," he said.
Bishop David Zubik of Green Bay, Wis., formerly an auxiliary bishop in Pittsburgh, has 109 priests to serve 169 parishes. To help make up the difference, he has 10 "parish directors" who cover 15 parishes. One is a deacon, eight are sisters and one is a woman who is not a sister.
The first parish director was assigned in the mid-1980s. But he has not noticed any difference between the spiritual life of parishes with a parish director and those with a resident priest.
Most parishioners become as close to the priest who comes to say Mass as they would be to a resident pastor, but they form an additional relationship with the parish director, Bishop Zubik said.
"The people are grateful that their parish church continues to remain open and for the sacramental minister who comes to say Mass every weekend," he said.
The Rev. Daniel Valentine, pastor of Holy Spirit parish in West Mifflin and dean of the Steel Valley deanery, said the parish life collaborators could be very helpful to shrinking parishes in mill towns that have lost most of their young.
The Rev. John Bachkay, pastor of Incarnation and Risen Lord parishes on the North Side, has also discussed it with some lay leaders who endured the merger of five earlier parishes.
"It's scary for some of them. It's the unknown and they've already gone through so much change. They want to know if they will still have a parish identity," he said.
Something similar was done here once before.
Sister Dolores Partsch was the "pastoral associate" at the former SS. Mary & Ann parish in Marianna, from 1987 until it merged with the former St. Michael Archangel parish in Fredricktown in 1994 to form St. Oliver Plunkett. The priest for both parishes lived in Fredericktown, while Sister Dolores provided pastoral care in Marianna.
She was the parish representative to gatherings of local clergy, did all of the outreach to the community.
"I did all the visitation of the sick, and I did most of the wake services," she said.
She was so well accepted 20 years ago that some parishioners still keep in touch with her. And she enjoyed the work so much that, after the merger, she did similar ministry in Southern states.
"I'm happy they're doing this now. It's needed," she said.
First Published April 26, 2006 12:00 am
