Last week the presbyterate of Big D gathered in Denton for a few days of priestly fraternity and discussion. Bishop KJF was the featured speaker and few priests missed this opportunity to hear his plans for the future of the Diocese.
There was no earth-shattering news, but the message was clear and direct: it's time to move on! ("The time for lamenting is over! We have lamented more than Moses and Jeremiah combined. But that is the past, from which we will continue to learn. It's time to address the present and the future!") After almost six months the Bishop is struggling to understand the Church in Big D ... after over 20 years I'm still struggling to figure it out! We are the 10th largest Diocese in the US, having grown from 300,000 to one million in the past 10 years ... and we're still growing! We have only one-third the number of priests we should have for our size, and are in need of 7-10 new parishes to accommodate a growing Catholic population. It's not going to happen over night. He said he was well aware that there were some priests, out of "pastoral necessity," who had to celebrate 5-7 Masses on Sunday. He said we need to help one another more than we are currently, because we are a fraternity of "workers in the larger vineyard ... not "lone rangers." We also need to remember that we were ordained Priests and not CEO's ... a similar message to that of Archbishop Wuerle in Baltimore at the 2007 NCEA convention this past April, when he admitted that many pastors were thrust into roles more akin to a bishop than a parish priest.
He took some pains to bring us up to speed on the financial status of the Diocese ... for which I am most grateful! It's published yearly in the Texas Catholic but I've never understood it. Bottom line: the coffers are almost empty ... no deep pockets, only a hollow echo. The Diocese is operating on a day to day basis and we're going to have to find a way to better the situation. He remarked that in the midst of the abuse crisis in Boston that diocese was able to raise $80 million in an Archdiocesan Capital Campaign. He hopes to do the same in the nest few years. He also posited that Catholic Community Appeal (CCA) could be done better. [Pastors are calling it Catholic Community Assessment!]
He has made a few preliminary changes in the past five months. He has hired a Diocesan spokesperson and is in the search process for a Director of Safe Environment, rather than simply giving already over-worked personnel an added responsibility. He as also appointed a Vicar for Clergy to oversee all aspects of clerical life in Diocese ... something many of us have begged for in the past. He has reconstituted the Presbyteral Council.
So far he has visited more than 90% of the parishes and schools of the Diocese and hopes to bring that to 100% by the end of the year.
The message was positive and practical ... no pie-in-the-sky that was a hallmark of the last administration. As priests we have a sense of working for a real leader and one who supports our ministry ... and not surprisingly, there was a greater sense of unity and priestly fraternity at this year's convocation than any time in the past 10 years. KJF is beginning to resemble a beacon of hope to many discouraged priests. Please God, he continues.
