Baptized, schooled and wed at Ss. Peter & Paul Parish in Hortonville, Bernie and Floy Olk’s second oldest child, Rose Mary, now 84, didn’t stop there.Post Crescent
After she and Paul Kreul married in 1950, the young Hortonville couple went on to have five children of their own, all of them blessed at the church’s baptismal font. And they all learned their ABCs at its former school.
Rose Mary Kreul is among the more seasoned members of the parish, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a 4:30 p.m. Mass Aug. 6, led by Bishop David Ricken and church sacramental minister, the Rev. James Feely.
I cant even go any further. There's more information at the link. The parish website shows something called a "parish director" with a welcome message. This phrase is also in their parish bulletin so it's not the writer of the article making such a shallow and utilitarian commentary on the holy priesthood. Maybe we could call Bp. Ricken the "episcopal minister?" I wonder how many priestly vocations this parish is sending out.....
Now that I'm thinking about this, what is a priest called if a parish doesn't have a pastor? Wouldn't you just call him a visiting pastor or something like that?
6 comments:
Oo, boy. Hadn't seen this one before and got really curious. In the Wis. pastoral handbook, Fr. Feely is, indeed, named "sacramental minister," with Fr. David J. Lewis as "priest moderator" and "parish director" Greg Layton.
I located a few papers and such that described this set up, but this was probably the most complete: http://www.answers.com/topic/team-of-priests-in-solidum Let's just say the first article I came across used "post-Vatican II" in the first sentence. It didn't inspire hope.
As to your other question, it depends. Around here I've known quite a few parishes to have parochial administrators, rather than pastors, with associate pastors if available. I don't really understand trying to puff up a layperson's title/role except in the name of pride. What was wrong with "pastoral associate"?
Fr. Feely is a retired priest. He comes in for Mass. Other than the sacraments, he is not connected to the parish. This is only an official title. Within the parish he is still Father. In fact, this priest, even though he is retired, has been there longer than their parish director. It is better than closing the parish and telling them to go to the big parish where they have a pastor.
The terms used to describe various roles can perhaps be confusing when discussing parish leadership by one who is not a priest.
Greg Layton has, it seems, been appointed by the Ordinary as the Parish Director. He serves as the leader of the parish in many of the same ways a Pastor would. EXCEPT, as an unordained person, he cannot, obviously, perform any sacramental function.
Fr. Feely, then, likely is appointed, again by the Ordinary, to some other position and serves the sacramental needs of the people of that parish, (funerals, Masses, confessions, etc.). Though the title Sacramental Minister may not be the most eloquent one, he IS the ordinary minister of the sacraments.
When a parish is led by someone who isn't a priest, a priest is appointed as a supervising priest . Whatever title they may be given, they don't have responsibility for the day to day operations of the parish like a pastor would. That responsibility is vested with the parish director.
I would surmise that a title such as "visiting Pastor" would be more confusing as people might rightly guess that the pastor was on vacation or otherwise away from the parish, instead of the canonically allowed leadership model in place.
Thank you all for clarification. To me the term in general has a negative connotation since a priest's role in a community whether pastor or assisting with the sacraments is much more than a sacramental minister. Admittedly I don't have a better answer for his role, but I would hope there is some alternative out there perhaps that has been used in the past.
I think the term is rather unfortunate – conjuring up images of a lay-dominated parish where the priest is brought in merely to provide the Sacraments. Kind of like that Polish parish in St. Louis that Cdl. Burke had to set straight or some English parishes where the Ordinary seems to be promoting the ‘priesthood of the laity’.
But that doesn’t appear to be the case here and I doubt that Bp. Ricken would be of that mind. Just another unfortunate consequence of the shortage of priests.
In the Diocese of La Crosse we have three parishes that are led by Deacons (entitled "Parish Directors")who are then supervised by a "Priest Moderator" who also administers the sacraments.
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