Dialog Editor
Bishop Malooly has issued a pastoral letter, “Together in the Spirit, A Pastoral Vision,” for this Sunday’s feast of Pentecost.
His letter reviews the four priorities for the Diocese of Wilmington that the bishop announced in 2012, and also directs neighboring parishes to find new ways to increase their partnerships in sharing liturgies, sacraments and resources.
Bishop Malooly also outlines three models of parish leadership and administration that are both in place now and will emerge in the coming years when fewer priests are available to minister at parishes.
(The pastoral is included in a pullout section of this week’s Dialog.)
Parish partnerships
“We can no longer proceed in the same manner as we have in the past,” Bishop Malooly said May 10.
“Going forward I expect that neighboring parishes will find creative ways to consolidate and collaborate on matters like Mass times, confirmations and reconciliation services,” the bishop writes in the new pastoral letter.
“The level of partnership I am envisioning is quickly becoming a necessity rather than a preference,” the bishop adds.
Parish cooperation can also involve: saving on expenses, sharing staff, faith-formation events, jointly sponsored RCIA programs, and joint outreach and evangelization efforts.
Leadership models
The bishop’s pastoral letter outlines three models for parish leadership, two of which are already in place in the diocese.
l First, the “resident pastor model” is one pastor running a parish. That’s the traditional arrangement at most parishes in the diocese.
l Second is the “linkage model.” This parish administration includes a pastor, with or without an associate pastor, who is assigned to two or more parishes. It’s the model already in place at the Cathedral of St. Peter, St. Patrick and St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception parishes in Wilmington, the bishop notes. Holy Cross in Dover and Immaculate Conception in Marydel, Md., are also linked by one pastor.
l The third model of parish administration discussed by Bishop Malooly is the “parish life coordinator model.” It’s an administration that the bishop says he doesn’t foresee happening for a few years, but it would consist of a parish life coordinator, who is a deacon, religious or layperson trained in ministry and entrusted by the bishop to lead a parish community. The parish would also have a sacramental minister, who would be a priest named by the bishop to provide Masses and the sacraments at the parish, and also a priest moderator, a direct representative of the bishop, with the faculties of pastor to supervise pastoral care of the parish.
In his pastoral, Bishop Malooly says parish life coordinators would “represent a new model of ministry, which draws on the gifts of many parish leaders, promising unique opportunities for church service and ensuring parish vitality.”
Other priorities
The remaining 2012 bishop’s priorities for the diocese are evangelization, catechesis and vocation efforts.
The fact there have been fewer vocations to the priesthood in recent decades is one of the situations causing the new models of parish leadership to be developed.
“The ‘vocation crisis,’ as it has been referred to over the last decade or so, is indeed a concern for all of us,” Bishop Malooly writes in the pastoral letter.
“I want to assure you that my vocation director and his assistants are engaged in efforts to invite many more young men to consider the possibility of answering a call to the priesthood. The young men that we currently have in priestly formation are quality individuals and if they are eventually ordained, I am confident that they will serve you in an exemplary manner. Keep them in your prayers and remember, and this is critical, that promoting priestly vocations is not simply the job of a few priests; it is the obligation of every Catholic man and woman.”
The evangelization priority is the ongoing work of each parish and each parishioner, the bishop writes.
“The Holy Spirit can set the church on fire as in that Easter season in the early Church,” the bishop said May 10. “It’s what the Spirit did then and what we can do now. I think we need to speak more about our faith to others as best we can. We don’t have the luxury to be a ‘maintenance church’ any longer.”
The pastoral also praises Catholic schools in the diocese for their work in catechesis, transmitting the Gospel and Gospel values to the community.
“I am also thankful of the outstanding work of my Department of Catholic Education, which includes the Schools Office, Office of Religious Education, Youth and Young Adult Ministry, and the Office of Marriage and Family Life. The guidance that they provide through professional development opportunities and ongoing support to our parishes and schools is essential in our renewal of catechesis.”
Bishop Malooly notes that change can “make us anxious, and all of us resist it to some degree,” but he promises that parishioners:
l Will still have access to Mass and be able to receive the sacraments
l Will still have access to religious education and sacramental preparation, and
l Will still be able to have funerals and weddings.
“The difference is that you may not be able to have them at the time and place of your desire. The choices will diminish to some degree and this is something to which we all must begin to get accustomed. I believe this is an opportunity to bring us closer together.”
Stronger, united
Bishop Malooly writes he is optimistic that the changes outlined in “Together in the Spirit” will “make us stronger, more united, and more sound in our pastoral operations.
“Let us patiently allow God’s wondrous love for us to empower our Church with the peace that is beyond all understanding, the peace only Christ can give, the remarkable peace that the whole world knew on that first Pentecost day.”
