Officers elected for Presbyteral Council

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Feb.1, 2007

Bishop R. Walker Nickless announced appointments to the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Sioux City on Jan. 11. The appointments were effective Jan. 15.

At the council's first meeting, officers were elected. Father Merlin Schrad, pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City was elected chairman; Father Roger Linnan, pastor at Assumption Church in Merrill and St. Joseph Church in Neptune was elected the vice chair and Father Matthew Hewitt, interim director of Hispanic Ministry in the diocese and Hispanic minister at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, was elected the secretary/treasurer.

"I am looking forward to having open communication between the priests and chancery," said Father Schrad. "I sense that the bishop is very open to the needs and the concerns of the priests."

As chairman of the council, it will be Father Schrad's task to establish an agenda with the bishop's input and to conduct the meetings as well as followup with any decisions that were made. He is no stranger to this responsibility, having served as chairman of the Presbyteral Council under Bishop Daniel DiNardo for two years.

In addition to Blessed Sacrament, Father Schrad has served at Holy Family Lidderdale, Kuemper Catholic Schools of Carroll, St. Joseph's Le Mars, Gehlen Catholic in Le Mars, St. Mary's High School and Parish in Storm Lake and Holy Spirit in Carroll.

"It's a good group of priests," said Father Linnan. "I think we can accomplish some good things."

Father Linnan, who has served on the council in the past, said such a council is important because it facilitates communication between the bishop and the priests.

In addition to his present assignment, Father Linnan has served at Spencer Sacred Heart, St. Francis Rockwell City, Jefferson St. Joseph, Manson St. Thomas, Cathedral in Sioux City, Sioux City Bishop Heelan High School, and as the assistant superintendent of religious education for the diocese.

Father Hewitt was appointed to the council by the bishop.

"It will be great to work with this great group of guys that I don't know well and don't get to see often," he said. "I look forward to hearing their input and also having input to the future of this diocese and where it is going."

Father Hewitt, who was ordained in 2004, worked at St. Mary's Parish and School in Storm Lake prior to his assignment in Sioux City.

He said that the council is a great means for the needs and the voice of the priests throughout the diocese to be heard.

"The Presbyteral Council is a council made up of priests," noted Father Schrad. "One of the things that the bishop would like every person from the deaneries to do is to bring up to the Presbyteral Council any concerns, sicknesses or celebrations that we may want to be aware of as a whole diocese."

The diocese is divided into six deaneries. All priests in each of the deaneries nominated priests to represent them. The top two from each deanery become representatives on the Presbyteral Council and out of those two, the bishop selected one of the priests to serve as the vicar forane, also known as dean.

In addition to two representatives from each of the deaneries, other members of the Presbyteral Council consists of one priest who represents retired priests, one representative of priests ordained less than 10 years as well as three special appointments by the bishop such as the director of vocations.

Father Schrad mentioned that Bishop Nickless has suggested that when the priests gather for their monthly Holy Hour that they meet one-half hour early in order to express concerns or other information they wish to share with the bishop and the diocese to the vicar foranes (deans) or the other representative of the Presbyteral Council. Every deanery will have the flexibility to decide if that format works best for them.

"I am looking forward to seeing if we can followup on the October Priests Convocation that addressed making our presbyterate (the priests of the diocese) become more unified," noted Father Schrad, who added that as there are fewer priests they need to have some vehicle in which the concerns can be addressed. The Presbyteral Council is the vehicle he hopes will do that.

Generally appointments to this council are for three years. But given that it was reorganized, the length of terms for members were staggered with representatives from two of the deaneries appointed for three years, representatives from another two deaneries appointed for four years and the representatives from the final two deaneries were appointed for five years.

This council meets monthly at the chancery except during the summer and at Christmastime.