The second a part of America’s latest documentary “People of God: How Catholic parish life is changing in the USA” focuses on a small community within the Diocese of Green Bay where parishes are being merged and clustered under the responsibility of 1 pastor, assisted by a priest from Pakistan and a deacon. As we hear about how vibrant this community within the small city of Antigo in rural Wisconsin once was, you’re feeling a twinge of loss. However the people themselves appear to see that with these changes also come some fresh insights about parish life.
Mergers and clustering can find yourself empowering deacons and the laity to assume greater responsibility within the church community and streamline management. The addition of foreign-born priests can bring latest ways of desirous about church. And diminishment also brings humility and wisdom. Because the pastor, Father Joel Sember, points out, having big parishes shouldn’t be similar to changing hearts: “I would like to only be content to serve Jesus without worrying in regards to the numbers. Are hearts changing? Are minds changing? Are people growing of their faith? That’s what matters.”
It’s inspiring to see how the persons are allowing the challenges of their community to operate as inspiration reasonably than reason for grievance.
It’s inspiring to see how the persons are allowing the challenges of their community to operate as inspiration and a source of growth reasonably than reason for grievance. But there are burdens here that prompt further reflection. Because the film lays out, foreign-born priests now make up one-sixth of clergy in the USA. They’re utilized all around the country as a stop-gap to fill the growing holes in priestly vocations. As Father Sember rightly points out, clergy from other countries and cultures bring not only more men who can have a good time the sacraments but other experiences of community and God, fresh ideas about being church.
But I’m undecided I do know a Catholic at this point who has not also had some frustrating experiences coping with clergy from other countries. Most importantly, people talk in regards to the difficulty in understanding some accents—a difficulty that’s exacerbated by the general aging of the Anglo-Catholic community in the USA and the hearing issues that always include that. Foreign-born priests may also sometimes bring points of view on culture, gender and power that don’t fit within the American context, and even do harm.
How are bishops and other church leaders responding to those Catholics and what they’re facing?
To a big extent, these issues will not be those priests’ fault. What kind of formation are they given before they start work in the USA? Are they required to attend ongoing language classes? Are they mentored and given regular feedback? Mechanisms like these are essential each for the parish and for their very own sense of connection and well-being.
The situation in communities like Antigo prompts other questions: How are bishops and other church leaders responding to those Catholics and what they’re facing? We rarely hear them discuss these problems. While our leaders are busy arguing about whether the church may even consider making women deacons, a process that would thoroughly take a long time, the people of God need priests now, and so do their clergy. Truly, just how much do atypical Catholics should suffer and their communities wither up for local leaders to speak more seriously about ordaining married men or women?
The people of Antigo and their parish staff are making the most effective of a difficult situation. They’re an actual model of what it looks prefer to put your life within the hands of God and trust that what lies before you shouldn’t be only manageable but a present. But a part of what they face is a function not of crucial realities but the choices of church leaders. And that’s lots harder for some Catholics to grasp.
Questions for reflection and conversation:
- What’s life like in your parish? Has your community seen diminishment within the time that you just’ve been there?
- What number of priests do you will have? And what number of full-time parish staff? How are their spirits?
- Have you ever had foreign-born priests in your parish? What things have gone well? What has not gone so well?
- Are your deacons and priests, foreign born and American, given support and feedback to enhance their work as priests? If not, what sort of feedback mechanisms may be helpful?
- Where do you think that your parish goes to be in 20 years?
Listen next:
On this bonus episode of the Jesuitical podcast, hosts Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis speak with Jim McDermott, S.J., and Sebastian Gomes, the producer of “People of God,” in regards to the many parishes across the USA where churches are closing, there’s a shortage of priests and lots of younger Catholics are leaving the religion.
