Hello, all! Happy Third Week of Advent: we are that much closer to celebrating God taking flesh and transforming us…praise Him!
I want to share with you all some struggles I am working through, in order to help you understand a decision I am making in regard to my schedule.
I have, quite simply, hit a wall in trying to keep up. Between phone calls, emails, appointment requests, building meetings, trying to get the finances on track at our parishes, marriage preparation sessions, weddings, funerals, hospital calls, annulments, committees, personnel things, sacramental preparation, helping at the school, preparing for Masses, writing Faith magazine articles, hearing confessions, visiting the sick and numerous other duties, I simply can’t keep up and as a result, some of you are feeling let down.
For those of you hurt because I haven’t responded to you or responded way too late, I ask for your forgiveness. I type this with a clear conscience: I am absolutely giving all I can to serve here, but I’m learning that is shallow comfort to those who feel they need my help and did not get a timely response. So, I’ve spoken to my priest support group and the Bishop asking for guidance and, as a result of that and some prayer, I am changing how I do my scheduling. I honestly cannot keep this pace or anything approximating this pace. My desire is to serve you well over a long time and I am sabotaging my own efforts to do so by pushing myself way too hard. In the words of my confessor: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I’m too old and fat to run when no one is chasing me, so I will take his word for it.
Anyway, I’m booked up all through December and January and we are already plugging in appointments in February, but from now on, I’m going to prioritize my calendar based on some core principles: First, we are going to add some flex time to my calendar so that I can respond to emergencies without cancelling appointments, as much as possible. Right now, the calendar is so jammed that one death or emergency call can put me in a spot of cancelling a lot of appointments.
Second, I am going to make sure that the sacraments get highest priority in my calendar. Fr. Peter and I are the only ones who can do most sacraments, so that’s where our focus needs to go. Third, I need some time each day to pause and think about the many, many decisions I am asked to make. I need some time built into my calendar to do this and to follow up on the tasks that my meetings produce. Fourth, I find a lot of life in doing Bible Studies and we’re going to build regular Bible Studies into my calendar: I think that is good for all involved.
That’s what I am going to do. Here is what I’ll ask of you: Pray that I listen to God and follow His lead. Pray that God sends us more priests. Our beautiful parishes are growing, but the number of priests here is not. As you are probably aware, the number of Catholics in the US is larger than ever, but the numbers of priests have not risen, but in fact shrunk. Please ask for help when you need it and please keep in mind that Fr. Peter is here too and Fr. Bill is sometimes able to jump in.
If the secretary explains that there is no more room on my calendar, please do not yell at her or chastise her for my limitations.
I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m unhappy: quite the opposite. Most days, I feel like a kid in a candy store and I absolutely love being your priest. What I’m realizing is that I need to change things so that I can serve you better, make good decisions and keep my sanity in the process.
Thank you for your mercy…I can’t tell you how grateful I am that God put us together.
Fjk
