Greetings in Christ, all!
On Tuesday of this week, I’ll be gathering with all the priests in our Deanery. Please pray for me, that I will do a good job leading the deanery and that all of us will work together to help bring people closer to Christ.
On Friday of this week, I’ll be leaving to work the Marriage Cruise I wrote about this last week.
This brings to mind the next part of the Updates that I’ve been sharing for the last couple weeks.
One of the big issues that we are facing as a Church is that we have fewer priests than at any point in our country’s history.
In the US there are a little less than 25,000 priests covering our country. A little more than half of those are five years before retirement or working after retirement age. In the next few years we’ll see the situation get more and more difficult.
What this tends to mean is a couple things:
1. Priests absolutely need to focus on the sacraments.
Many people want me to serve as a counselor or spiritual director, but I lack the skills and the time to be either. In response to this, we have a number of properly trained people to fill these roles. Please, allow us to serve you as we can, not as we can’t.
2. Tragically, Masses will be canceled sometimes.
In 2023 Fr. Le and I set our vacation/retreat schedules for 2024. Priests were called to fill in for those dates over six months ago and many of the priests were already booked. Fr. Le and I both are deeply saddened that there will be Masses that simply can’t be covered, but we are unable to do anything about it. Whenever possible, we will be sure you know which Masses we could not cover. We invite you to attend another Mass here or one at a local parish that fits your schedule.
Some days, due to sickness or emergency calls, you may find Mass canceled at the last minute. We recognize this as a tragedy, but we ask that you do not chastise or complain. Instead, pray. Ask God to send us more priests. Ask God to help us learn to live as the Church is, not as She used to be.
So, that’s another update for us all. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I’ll miss you all next week and will pray for you faithfully.
Thank you for letting me be your priest
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