Le Mars area parishes merge into one cluster

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Posted Oct. 17, 2002

LE MARS - Looking to the future, parishes in the Le Mars area are taking a proactive approach to anticipated changes next summer. With the approval of the Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo, six parishes in the Le Mars area that were in two clusters recently merged into one.

Father Mark Stoll, pastor at St. Joseph Church in Neptune and president of the Le Mars Cluster Council, pointed out that in the mid-1990s when the diocese was implementing its long-range planning project titled Ministry 2000: Our Baptismal Call all six parishes in the Le Mars area were to be a part of one cluster.

"In 1997, people in the Le Mars area asked for a reorganization so the one cluster was split into two," he explained.

One cluster consisted of St. Joseph of Le Mars, St. Joseph of Struble and St. Joseph of Neptune. This cluster formed a cluster council and took on the name Holy Family Cluster. They began working together on several projects and/or services each year starting in 1999 such as a spring blessing service, Christmas caroling and jubilee pilgrimage. The other cluster was St. James of Le Mars, Assumption of Merrill, and St. Joseph of Ellendale.

When the Holy Family Cluster held activities, Father Stoll would hear comments questioning why the other Le Mars area parishes were not invited.

"For years, even before Ministry 2000 came along, we were already doing things together," said Father Stoll.

The six parishes do have a history of collaboration. For instance, they are all members of the Gehlen Catholic School System and they work together in the RCIA program. Four of the parishes - the two Le Mars, Struble and Neptune - have had a unified religious education programs for years.

When the priests assignments came out last summer, people of the Le Mars area clusters noticed how many parishes in the diocese lost resident pastors.

"We could see that the Le Mars area might be next," he said. "We want to be ready when we lose more resident pastors in this area - that we are not caught off guard."

When a parish loses its resident pastor, through collaboration, programs and services of the parishes can continue to run smoothly.

Less than 10 years from now the number of priests in the Diocese of Sioux City who will reach retirement age will skyrocket.

According to Kay Morrissey, vice chancellor, the diocese currently has 100 active priests within the diocese, 87 of that number are in parish ministry.

"We do know that our number of priests are shifting. Right now we have 87 whose primary ministry is parish ministry. Four of them are already beyond the age of 70. Of the 83 remaining, 39 reach the age of 70 by 2011," she explained. The diocese currently has 12 seminarians.

A map was prepared to show the priests that are primarily in parish ministry and the number of parishes per county. The pastor is listed in the county that he resides, even if he ministers in another county.

"It is time that we do cooperate more with one another," said Father Stoll. "In the past we have been greatly blessed with numerous priests and sisters but we do not have as many of them available to us. The Second Vatican Council called for more involvement of the lay people and that is one thing that clustering is about - getting more people of the parish involved in ministry."

Hand in hand with more lay involvement, the Neptune pastor sees the trend toward and need for more paid lay ministers. Through collaboration, the six parishes - sharing costs - should be able to hire a pastoral minister and a Director of Religious Education.

Plans of Ministry 2000 recommended that the Le Mars area have a pastoral minister by 1998 but one was not hired. There are many examples in the diocese right now where clusters successfully share a pastoral minister and/or a DRE.

Pastors of the six parishes and two representatives from each parish met in September to plan for the future. They looked at what it means to be a cluster and the future realities.

Currently the six parishes have five pastors. Two of those have additional duties beyond parish ministry. One of the five pastors is retiring in July.

"We will probably lose at least one priest next summer and he will probably not be replaced," said Father Stoll. "With the closeness of the parishes in the Le Mars area, we can have fewer priests taking care of them."

He pointed out that when you look back in history, many of these parishes were founded under similar circumstances. For example, in the Neptune parish's first 16 years, it was cared for first by a Le Mars pastor and then the Kingsley pastor. At that time, traveling by horse and buggy was more of a hardship for pastors and parishioners with occasional Sunday Masses at Neptune.

If there is a change in the number of pastors ministering in the six parishes, Father Stoll noted that come next summer all six parishes will most likely have a change in Mass times. The new Le Mars area cluster council will address this and other changes or collaborations in ministry.

"The whole goal of clustering is to help every parish to be more effective in ministries," he said. "The bottom line is looking at how we continue to minister to the people with fewer priests. We want everyone involved - the people and the priests - to go into this open-minded and with vision for the future."

Benefits include not only having a greater access to resources via a larger pool of human resources, but also the saving associated with buying items such as textbooks in greater quantities.

Along with hiring a lay pastoral minister, the pastor said they must look for ways to promote vocations to the priesthood and the permanent diaconate.

The situation with the Le Mars area parishes is not unique in that many other parishes will be looking at losing a resident pastor in the next 10 years.

"The Le Mars area parishes are being pro-active and I commend them for it," said Morrissey. "All parishes in the diocese are to be clustered - that means they are working together for good stewardship both of human and material resources. This is a message we have been sharing since 1995. The more cluster parishes work together now, the better they will be prepared for further change."

She pointed out that part of the challenge is not just the number of priests, but the distribution of priests.

Parishes are encouraged to become aware of potential parish leaders who would be interested in seeking theology formation in order to serve as in such capacities as pastoral ministers and DREs.

"It is not just in the future. We need to develop parish leaders now. We have some scholarship money to help with it." Morrissey added, "As people look at these realities, I would hope that they would consider if they are called to these positions or know of someone they could encourage to do so."