Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A will be done

Our pastor had a letter to the editor published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week. Noting an earlier article about a married Episcopal priest being ordained a deacon, he wrote, "At a time when our church is in serious need of priests, it is my hope and prayer that the Holy Spirit will inspire a change in the current law and permit baptized married Catholics to serve as priests." (The reference to law presumably is meant to eliminate any potential ambiguity that might otherwise leave the impression he's advocating women's ordination while avoiding saying so explicitly.)

His letter, though, brings to mind something that suggests another cause for a need for more priests. When the Milwaukee Archdiocese Priest Alliance, the local priests' union, was formed earlier in this decade, its members suggested the issues of most concern to them. One was vocations. The next step was to form committees to address these issues. The minutes of the March 24, 2004 meeting of MAPA's Convening Board [executive committee] say, in the review of the previous (February 25, 2004) meeting's minutes, that "Alan Jurkus said that he had no interest in heading up the committee to work on vocations issues." That is, for him and many other priests, vocations may be an issue of concern in some sense, but do not come across as a priority in the use of their time.

8 comments:

  1. I don't think your pastor much likes the "quality" of the vocations in the Archdiocese...much too "rigid" and "nostalgic"...one wonders what would happen if Frs. Reeseman, Granger, or Weiss ever took over at St. Alphonsus...

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  2. My sympathy to you, Terry.

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  3. Dave, I have to wonder if expecting a lot from a change of priests is like expecting a lot from a change in rules.

    Dad29, sympathy harkens back to the days of parish as community, not now when pastors of every stripe seem to have accepted parish shopping. It's regarded as strange if one stays with a parish while raising issues about its line of products. I've literally heard the word "loyal" applied as if it were a diagnosis.

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  4. So, presumably, the married former Episcopal priest once ordained would be acceptable to Fr. Jurkus, while a newly ordained non-married priest was not?

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  5. GOR, I don't see that he's saying that. Or doing that.

    You might recall he once appeared to pass on a offer of a newly-ordained associate and fashioned an alterative with visiting priests. It looks to me that this did not work out as hoped, and next time around the parish took on our current associate.

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  6. Yes Terrence, I was referring to his earlier 'passing' on an associate. I didn't know that you now have one. I've got to get out more!

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  7. If I were in your shoes, I would have shopped for a new parish(or maybe a new religion after listening to Rev Jurkus).

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  8. B.C., parish shopping has come to be taken for granted pretty much across the board, from what I've seen. In operation at St. Al's, it resembles the relationship of local merchants and their customers on Seinfeld, all cordially first-name-basis until you raise an issue.

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