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Clergy Day addresses pastoring multiple parishes

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

One pastor for one parish is the ideal ministry model but more and more dioceses throughout the nation are finding that this is no longer a realistic option in most cases.

The same is true for the Diocese of Sioux City. That’s why the diocese recently brought in keynote speakers to address the topic of multiple-parish ministry.

According to Father Armand Bertrand, a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force for the Diocese of Sioux City, about 90 priests were on hand June 12 for a Clergy Day held in Early.

Father Bertrand and Father Bill Schreiber, another member of the Strategic Planning Task Force, had attended a conference on the concept of pastoring multiple parishes and felt priests of the diocese could benefit from the information.

“We wanted to bring back these ideas and present them to the whole presbyterate because the entire presbyterate will be affected by the reality we are going to face,” Father Bertrand said. “One pastor, one parish is the ideal – there’s no doubt about that, but we have to do the best we can with a less than ideal situation.”

The speakers
Speakers Dr. Kate Wiskus and Mark Mogilka, experts in this emerging ministry, gave the presentation. Wiskus is a member of the faculty and associate dean of formation at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill. Mogilka is the director of Stewardship and Pastoral Services for the Green Bay Diocese. He chairs the national study committee on Multiple-parish Pastoring for the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project. The two authored a book on pastoring multiple parishes.

The two speakers presented six parish models. These ranged from separate parishes that coordinate activities together (similar to the clustering concept), to a merged parish with multiple worship sites model and one unified parish with one church building.

“They very much emphasized the fact that no one model will fit all, and that’s even within a diocese,” Father Bertrand said. “There may be several different models used within one diocese.”

Choosing a model
Many factors play into determining the model of preference. For instance, geographic locations can make a difference. Three parishes within the city limits may have different needs and realities than three parishes in a rural area due to the distance between sites.

Other factors that impact which model is adopted include present demographics, future demographic trends, economics, administrative leadership skills and pastoral leadership skills.

“As we get into the long-range plan, I would anticipate that pastors will have to use their creativity and pastoral leadership to look at these models and determine what works best,” Father Schreiber said. “They may even have to use a variation on some of the models. You don’t have to use the models as is, you can adapt to your local situation.”

He pointed out that each parish is unique with its own culture and history. The various models will allow the pastor and the parish leadership team to select the path that works best for their own situation.
Determining which model to use will be a collaborative venture of the parishes – both priests and parish leaders.

“But it is a time-limited process,” said Father Bertrand, who added that they must act at some point soon rather than continuing to merely think about options.

He said something must be done in order to lighten the workload of the priests.

“We have to do this for survival, because one priest can’t be running to three parish council meetings, three finance council meetings. We will be burned out,” he stressed. “We have to be thinking in terms of lay, local leadership.”

One of the speakers had the priests write down what they did everyday for a week. Then he told them to cut that in half. The speakers tried to emphasize the fact that the pastors can’t do it all.

“What we are going to have to do is learn how to better manage our time as pastors and we are going to have to depend on the lay leadership,” Father Bertrand said.

Some already pastoring multiples
For some of the priests in attendance at the meeting, the concept of pastoring multiple parishes has already been a reality of their priesthood for a number of years.

Father Patrick O’Kane, pastor at St. Bernard’s in Blencoe, St. John’s in Onawa and St. Joseph’s in Salix, said that as a pastor of multiple parishes it verified some of the things he has been doing. He agreed with the speakers points on the importance of lay involvement.

“What I have found while being a pastor of multiple parishes is rather than having it be something to be afraid of, it’s really been a wonderful experience because the people understand that you can’t do everything,” he said. “They have allowed me to concentrate on the things that a priest should do. I can spend time in prayer, time in spiritual direction and celebrating the sacraments.”

Father O’Kane has found pastoring multiple parishes “to be a real gift,” which has enabled him to prioritize his responsibilities on being a spiritual father to the people.

Father Ed Girres, pastor at St. Cecelia in Algona, said that what stood out for him as a former pastor of multiple parishes in Webster County was that pastors can’t do it all.

“You can’t duplicate everything you do in one parish in the second parish,” he said. “We need to delegate some of the tasks to other people. I think the speakers gave us some real practical areas where we can get some help – to help remind us of what is essential.”

Plus, Father Girres added, the priests were reminded that if they have a passion for a particular area of ministry that they should put some time and energy into it because that can breathe life into their ministry and priesthood. Again, some of the other duties can be delegated.

He acknowledged that working together at times can be difficult. Some people are more open to and comfortable with collaboration.

Working together
“We need to help people realize that we can do some things together that doesn’t take away from our individual identity, but helps us grow in our faith,” Father Girres said. “There are things we can do together that we can’t do alone.”

Not only is some of this collaboration and merging necessary due to the priest numbers, but he said some of it “is good for us because when we work together, we can be better about what we are called to do. It’s not all negative; there are some great things that can happen for our spiritual and church life. There are some real positive sides to this.”

Even for Father Bertrand, he said since he was ordained 15 years ago, he has never been pastor of just one parish. He has always been a pastor of multiple parishes.

“But things will get a lot trickier in the diocese when we start linking larger entities together,” he said.

Some parishes will start with one model and then move or evolve to another model as collaboration increases and the needs are more readily identified.

The priests on the task force pointed out that this Clergy Day wasn’t offered as part of coming up with the long-range strategic plan of the diocese. That has been created and is waiting the promulgation of Bishop R. Walker Nickless.

“The planning has been done for five years and now it’s a matter of implementing and getting those necessary skills and tools for each of the pastors so that we can help them as much as we can to deal with the reality we have,” Father Schreiber said.

This educational day was offered because the strategic plan will create the necessity for pastoring multiple parishes.