The State of a Parish in Transition

Years ago, when we were parishioners at St. Rita, our long-time pastor retired. At that time, I wrote what has oddly become one of the most Googled posts on this blog, Hopes and Prayers for a New Pastor.

At that time, I said:

Being a pastor is one of the most difficult jobs in the world, I think. The responsibility of shepherding souls must be a great weight, though God provides graces to all priests to persevere in their vocation. I try not to stress pastors any more than they already are – I really only expect two things from any priest, never mind a pastor.

I expect that they will be faithful to the Magisterium – the teaching authority of the Church – and I expect them to show reverence to the sacred liturgy – to “say the black and do the red”.

These two things are foundational; it would seem to me that they flow naturally from a great love of God and His Church.

I still stand by those words.

As I have observed before, we at Holy Rosary are blessed with a most faithful and reverent pastor, Rev. Jacob Maurer.

Saturday was the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, and I was privileged to serve at Mass for the sixth anniversary of the ordination of this good and holy priest.

We had six servers for the feast – our normal Saturday Mass gets by with one or two.

The following day, yesterday, Fr. Maurer announced to the congregation that he is being transferred, effective September 1, to a nine-parish cluster centered in Chehalis.

We are all a bit shattered to be losing Fr. Maurer.

No matter how you present these sort of changes, they are difficult. The word “pastor” is from the Latin, meaning “shepherd”. The sheep come to know and trust the shepherd. It takes years to build up that knowledge and trust, and until then the sheep have a tendency to wander around aimlessly or even wander off.

Let’s face it, it’s basically the equivalent of saying, “Dad’s gone, kids – meet your new Dad!” Not easy for the parish; not easy for the pastor.

The shortage of priests in the archdiocese of Seattle is becoming acute. Parishes are suffering, and I feel like there is a great danger of acedia in our people.

Pray for us, and pray for good vocations to the holy priesthood.

Our new pastor will be Very Rev. Nicholas Wichert, who will become pastor of Holy Rosary, St. Joseph, and Visitation parishes.

That’s three parishes and two schools. (In an odd coincidence, it’s both schools for which I worked back in the day.)

This is a tall order for any pastor, and he will need our prayers and support.

Like any parish, we have our good points and our bad.

On the positive side, our parish is vibrant and growing. There is a dedicated group of volunteers that keep the various ministries tootling along. We do need more volunteers, though this is I find a perennial problem within the Church.

Our liturgy is reverent and strictly by the book. We endeavour to worship almighty God with the mind of the Church, and so join our liturgy with the heavenly liturgy.

On the negative side, the church building suffers from (conservatively) forty years of deferred maintenance. There’s plaster coming down in the interior, crumbling on the exterior, a series of leaks that we’ve been playing whack-a-mole with for years, and a even butterfly bush growing out of one of the gutters.

Our sense of community needs some help. We have no real church hall, so there isn’t as much fellowship as there ought to be.

We’ve also got any number of projects in various stages of development. Some of these have started gathering momentum, but this change in leadership will of necessity bring any number of things to a screeching halt as projects and priorities are re-examined.

From many sources, I hear that Fr. Wichert is a good man and a faithful priest, obedient to the Magisterium and liturgically sound. This is a source of cheer in the midst of this transition.

Fr. Wichert will need all the help he can get to continue the good work of growing these parishes and ministering to the people of God. I will do my bit, as the Lord gives me strength.

I only hope Fr. Wichert has a biretta.

O God, you sent Your Son
to bring eternal life to those who believe.
We join Him in praying for laborers for Your harvest.
May Your Holy Spirit inspire men and women
to continue His mission
through Your holy priesthood, diaconate, and religious life.

Amen.