PRIESTS MAKE URGENT PLEA TO USCCB BISHOPS

An association of nearly 1,200 U.S. Priests is in the final development stages of issuing an urgent "plea" to the U.S. bishops to "formulate a plan now to meet this emerging crisis" of parish closings and consolidations.

In a working draft it calls a Proposal for Pastoral Care In and Through Priestless Parishes, the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests exhorts the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and "dioceses nationwide" to quickly address the issue.

Core to the plan is "new and more specific exploration" of lay ecclesial ministers to oversee non-sacramental aspects of parish life and administration.  Priests note that:30 percent of U.S. Catholics have left the church; Church marriages have declined 60 percent since 1980;  Catholic total membership is declining.

In developing the plan, the Priests state, "We have relied on the USCCB's 2005 document Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, as well as the 2015 Tenth Anniversary Reflection on that document.”

The proposed text itself warns, "If the USA Church leadership postpones dealing with this issue, the window of opportunity will slowly close" and result in "greater collapse of parishes," "a loss of morale and health among priests," and "further decline of the morale and trust of people who depend upon us to meet their spiritual needs."

"As our Catholic presence diminishes, so will our presence in society in all of its aspects," the plan draft states.

"Obviously, the hard work of passing on the faith demands more, not less, personal presence of authorized pastoral ministers, ordained or non-ordained, working in collaboration and within the principle of subsidiarity," says the cover letter.

The letter adds, "We need a nationwide ... firm and uncontested basis for dioceses to employ lay pastoral ministers to lead parishes" and "we ... hope it will spark our bishops' collective attention to this critical issue.  “It is part of our growing concern with the continuing decline of priests available and the pattern of closing/merging parishes to deal with the lack of priests to serve communities.”

Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that the USCCB will take cognizance of the issues which these Priests are raising and do something positive in advancing and promoting the primary mission of the Church to sanctify God’s People by making the Sacraments readily and easily available to them.