Father Kevin’s Posts

My Priest Was Moved – Now What?  (excerpt from Gulf Coast Catholic)

Question:  Why do we move priests?  How do I adapt to a new priest?

Answer:  Change is never easy, especially when it involves spiritually significant people in our lives.  Adjusting to new parish leadership, especially someone with a different personality or style, can be a real challenge.

However, the Bishop bears the responsibility for the pastoral care of the entire Diocese:  laity, religious, and clergy.  In fulfilling this duty, he must remain attentive to the needs of each parish and diocesan ministry, while also showing fatherly care for his priests.

With the help of the Priest Personnel Board, the Bishop prayerfully discerns assignments based on many factors:  the unique spiritual and pastoral needs of each parish, language fluency, proximity to hospitals, financial resources, and the health, gifts, and vocational growth of each priest.  A single change – due to retirement, death, ordinations, or a priest’s personal needs – can create ripple effects, prompting other necessary moves.  Every effort is made to limit changes and only make them once a year, usually in July, still various pastoral needs sometime require exceptions.

Here are a few thoughts for parishioners when facing clergy changes:

Expect Movement – Especially for Young Priests:  Parochial vicars (associate pastors) are often moved in the early years of ministry to gain varied pastoral experience.  Pastors typically serve longer terms, but sometimes pastoral needs require an earlier change.

Avoid Comparisons – Each priest brings his own personality and ministerial style.  Rather than comparing him to a predecessor, try to appreciate the new priest’s gifts and how they might bless you and your parish.  In God’s providence, this priest may be there for a reason known only to the Lord.

Respect Boundaries – A priest is sent to serve your spiritual and sacramental needs.  While friendships may arise, a priest cannot be equally close to everyone.  Priests must avoid clericalism but also need space for rest and personal renewal.  Healthy boundaries and realistic expectations go a long way.

Last year, we ran a series of articles on St. Anne’s beautiful stained-glass windows but stopped before tackling the eight small depictions at the front of the church. Each one represents a Beatitude – the short statements by Jesus that describe people who are blessed in God’s kingdom.

 The image at the far-left in the photo shows praying hands and corresponds to the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Confused? You won’t be alone. What do praying hands have to do with poverty? Is the artist saying I need to be poor to have a healthy prayer life?

It’s not hard to find examples where poverty and prayer are connected. Some in our area who suffered significant losses from last year’s hurricane will talk of drawing closer to God because of it. When they could no longer rely on the comforts and security of their material things, they turned to God. The tragedy provided an opportunity that their normal situation did not offer.

But this connection between prayer and poverty does not always exist. You likely have met poor people who are mean, greedy, and dishonest. In no way is their faith and prayer improved by being poor. For them, God either doesn’t exist or God is a mean bully keeping them from doing better.

Jesus isn’t suggesting that being poor is something we should seek out as a guaranteed way to draw closer to God. Instead, He seems to be noticing that those who are materially poor have an opportunity that others do not. “Unlike the rich and comfortable, the poor are too often forced to see that there is no hope in anything but God, that if they want to survive, they must choose Him above all else.”

Notice that there is still a choice to be made. Jesus is after a complete commitment. He wants us to recognize the futility of relying on our things and surrender entirely to God. Those who are poor by circumstance and those who live a simple life have less that can distract them from complete trust in God. Jesus often told people to “come follow me” and that request always meant giving up their prior way of living. He asks them for a complete surrender of their life and wants the same from us.

“Jesus is not after suffering or destitution; he’s after humility, trust, and complete dependence on God. Blessed are those who surrender completely to God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

 The quotes are from chapter 1 of The Way of Beatitude by Casey Cole, OFM. Ave Maria Press. 2022.