A peek into the future of the Diocese

Such losses are part of the challenge facing the Albany Diocese as it struggles to meet the needs of an ever-changing Church. And the future, says one diocesan chancellor, may hold some surprises.

Sister Kathleen Turley, RSM, chancellor for planning and pastoral services, said that the Diocese has stepped up its pastoral planning process. Unexpected retirements, illnesses and deaths among priests, and the loss of some religious order priests who staffed parishes have all contributed to the need to put pastoral plans into action right away.

(Pastoral plans, created during a three-year process in the mid-1990s, clustered parishes in groups of three to six. Churches were asked to share ministries and anticipate a future when fewer priests would be available to serve them. Some Masses were eliminated or their times changed, allowing less priests to serve more parishes.)

Changing complexion

Many of the changes to the Church in the Albany Diocese have been unexpected. In 1994, for example, the "Diocesan Data Book" projected that the Albany Diocese would have 238 active priests in 1999. The reality is closer to 205.

While the book also projected that 3.4 priests would be ordained each year, this year's class consists of one new priest.

With the drop in clergy and the move by many Catholics to the suburbs, the Diocese has seen some parishes in Saratoga County swell to bursting, while other areas have watched their parish communities sharply decrease. Some parishes have closed. Although the number of Catholics in the Diocese has remained steady -- more than 400,000 -- in 1994, the Diocese had 193 parishes; today, there are 185.

Positive signs

* St. Bernard's Institute (SBI), the Diocese's graduate school of theology and ministry, has experienced a five-percent increase in enrollment. The Formation for Ministry Program [FMP], which trains laypersons for parish ministry, is also seeing an increase.

"There's a need and desire to learn about spirituality," Sister Kathleen explained. "There's a sense that people want to know more, an awareness that `we are Church.'"

* The chancellor named St. John Francis Regis in Grafton as one place where laity "are getting involved in ownership of the parish." St. John Francis Regis is one of eight parishes led by parish life directors; that number was only two back in 1994.

* One need parishes surfaced as they created their pastoral plans was youth ministry. Sister Kathleen noted that a number of parishes have since added either youth ministers or ministry teams to their staffs. "We have a stronger Diocesan Youth Council and involvement of youth in leadership," she added.

Even if the Diocese was not experiencing a loss of clergy, Sister Kathleen said that lay involvement in parishes would still be a focus. It's part of any Catholic's baptismal call to serve, she said, and an idea reaffirmed by Vatican II.

More to come

In deciding the future of a parish, "the two main structures we're using are parish life directors and sharing pastors," Sister Kathleen explained. "As our clergy continues to age, is it realistic to say they will be able to pastor two or three parishes? Those are questions we're looking at right now."

Another issue is that many men enter the priesthood today later than they once did. "We're very aware that the people entering seminaries are older," Sister Kathleen remarked. "When they take vows, they're not in their mid-20s. You have that mix."

Circuit riders?

But "the circuit rider concept scares me," the chancellor admitted. "I don't think it's fair to expect that someone is going to go from one community to another saying Mass. The important thing here is community and relationships. It is possible to have a good sense of community with two or three [parishes]. When you get to five or six, it's not possible."

One thing is for sure, she said: The number of parish life directors heading parishes will increase. To date, all but one of the Diocese's parish life directors have been women religious, but even sisters' religious communities are dwindling.

"Certainly, there will be laypeople in this [parish life director] position in the future," the chancellor stated. "When that's going to happen, I don't know. You also have deacons interested."

Options

"We do have a number of clergy who left the priesthood to become married," she remarked. "The question really is, what is the future of ordination? [But] until something happens in Rome, we need to work within the structures that are in place.

"God's ways aren't our ways. We need to look at the gifts that are needed; we need to look at `how are those gifts put to best use?' I truly believe there's a role for everybody."

Possibilities

"Decrease the number of Masses -- that's something we need to do," she said. "In terms of the number of people who attend a particular Mass, many of our churches are far from filled. We need to look at [the question of whether] we are offering Masses of convenience."

If a church is less than half-full at a particular Mass, Sister Kathleen believes that Mass could be eliminated. However, she was quick to note that doesn't mean small, rural parishes will lose their churches entirely.

"It's very important for us to provide services for those communities, even though they're very small," she said.

New life

She explained that "there are people who would say, `Why not close the churches that aren't viable and open churches elsewhere?'" But the Diocese must consider how much of a drop in membership a currently huge parish would experience if half of the parishioners left to join a newly established one, in effect creating yet another parish that was not viable.

The chancellor affirmed that Corpus Christi parish in Ushers will construct a new building. Other areas of the Diocese -- particularly in Saratoga County, between Greenfield Center and Corinth, and between Saratoga Springs and Galway -- are expected to see increases in population in the next ten years, which will also be a factor in the Diocese's decisions on building churches. Mission churches like St. Paul's in Rock City Falls (a mission of St. Joseph's in Greenfield Center) are already feeling the effects of new housing being built, and Sister Kathleen noted that "it's not too far-fetched" to consider some missions' becoming parishes.

Not easy

"One of the things priests are asking is, `How many parishes will there be in the year 2000?'" she said. "I don't think we've worked on it enough to know that. One of the things that will help us is the general studies that will come out of the 2000 census. "

But the goal, the chancellor said, is for laity to fulfill their role in parish life.

"What we're really trying to develop here is partnership -- working together to enhance the kingdom," she said. "We're saying, `Let's begin to plan now so we're not hit with the future.'"

(04-08-99) [[In-content Ad]]