“The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus.” This saying of St. John Vianney speaks about how our Lord shows his love through the life and ministry of priests.
Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison has called all of the faithful in the Diocese of Madison to engage in the mission of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others.
For priests, this mission occurs primarily through their ministry in preaching, teaching, and celebrating the sacraments, especially in a parish context.
However, that mission to share the Good News of Jesus will take on new dimensions and challenges as our diocese implements its Into the Deep strategic plan.
Thus, in order to help priests with that transition in their daily life of ministry, all priests in the diocese have been invited since the early stages of Into the Deep to gather on the First Fridays of the month, a day specially dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for prayer, meetings, and fraternity.
Coming together
On May 5, this day took on a new dimension when the parochial administrators or pastors of the 30 pastorates were invited for the first time to gather together as a group for common study and discussion.
While a variety of subjects were discussed, the main topic of the administrator/pastor meeting focused on the various steps involved in completing a parish canonical and civil merger.
Additionally, a provisional timeline for accomplishing the various tasks was provided to assist the new administrators/pastors in their work and planning as they take on their new responsibilities beginning on July 1.
Following this meeting of administrators, all the priests were invited to a gathering focusing on the challenges inherent with any transition or change, especially how to respond to the losses that come with such changes.
An important part of dealing with transition is to clearly mark endings before moving on to new beginnings.
Just think of a graduation — it is an exciting moment to look forward to the future, but it also is important to bring an official end to high school or college and acknowledge that many of those friendships and activities done in school will either end or change as people move on to a new chapter in life.
It is similar with our current parish structures — there will be new opportunities to work together, but there is loss involved, like a priest moving or a Mass time being changed.
Thus, one of the topics of the meeting was to encourage thought and discussion amongst the priests about ways to ceremonialize the end of one reality before moving on to a new reality.
The day concluded with a period of Eucharistic Adoration and small social.
These meetings are one way to assist the priests serving in our diocese to confront the many challenges of becoming a pastorate comprised of multiple parishes.
‘Phase 0’
The diocese has released some helpful documents to consider the different facets involved with multiple priests assigned to a number of parishes.
This time before July 1, which is called “Phase 0,” is meant to be a time of preparation and assessment for the parishes prior to joining with other parishes in the pastorates.
The documents try to get a snapshot of the staff of the parish and any parochial schools, who the key contact people are, what the financial situation of each parish is, and how the parishes have addressed the Go Make Disciples initiative.
There is a lot to consider in Phase 0, so a timeline was included to give guidance about when certain tasks should be completed.
Some of the important pieces being discussed right now are where priests will live and what the Mass and Confession schedule will be.
While these are not easy decisions, they will only be more difficult if they are not made in a spirit of prayer and trust in the Lord’s guidance.
Our Lord’s Sacred Heart shows his love in many ways, but especially through the priestly ministry.
Continue to pray for all of our priests during this “Phase 0” time prior to July 1 so that their decisions will be guided by the Holy Spirit and that they will be able to take on their priestly ministry with joy and zeal.