Decisions Before July 01, 2024
Archdiocesan Messaging
The Promise
One of the great promises of Partners in the Gospel is that the lay faithful will be deeply involved in the process of solving the problems that have prompted this need to consolidate parishes. Yes, we are short on priests, short on money, short on volunteers; yes, we feel stretched too thin between too many locations and too many needs - BUT the solutions to these problems cannot be made by the bishop alone or the clergy alone. The members of the affected communities need to be partners in solving these problems, because of their co-responsibility for the mission of the Church and because community buy-in creates better solutions that will last.
Instructions to Pastors
To that end, the Archdiocese is strongly recommending that, in the lead up to July 01, incoming pastors make only those changes which are necessary, so that the great majority of changes can be discussed first with the parishioners and parish consultative bodies after the pastor has arrived. And there are necessary changes: Some Parish Families, for example, will have conflicting Mass times that their new number of priests cannot cover. (The Whatcom County Family, thankfully, does not have this problem.)
Other changes, however, are logical even if they are not strictly necessary, and the Archdiocese has said these can be undertaken cautiously. Imagine a Parish Family, for example, where all the parish rectories are currently used for parish staff or faith formation programs (because the previous pastors had their own homes). A necessary change is that one of these rectories needs to be converted back to a living space for priests. A logical change is that this might be the time to consolidate staff onto one campus, if they already have to move out of the offices previously located in the new rectory. This is not strictly necessary, since there might be other spaces for them on campus, but it does not make sense to move them once just to move them again in 9 months.
In other words, if something is already changing, the Archdiocese has said that it is sometimes okay to bring that change to its logical conclusion with its accompanying changes. What the Archdiocese is asking is that incoming pastors not introduce new or extra change that could easily wait until the Family is formed and consultation is happening.
(You can see some of this language in the Partners’ Handbook for Parishes, Phase 0. The rest was communicated at in-person trainings for current staff and pastors held in March 2024.)
Whatcom Changes
Already Changing
What is already changing in Whatcom County are our priests. We are going from 4 pastors at four distinct communities/clusters to 1 pastor and 3 vicars who all belong to the entire county. This will necessarily change how we think about our priests and what it means for our priests to belong to us. Defining these relationships and planning how our priests will be present to our communities has to happen before July 01. The below changes are logical extensions of this one major change.
Specific Decisions
Before July 01, the following specific decisions need to be made. NB: These are all temporary decisions that will allow us to get through the first year as a family. All of them can be revisited as we live in to the reality of our new Parish Family.
Decision #01 - Viking Catholic. Previously, the pastor of Sacred Heart also served as the chaplain to Viking Catholic (previously the Newman Center). Now that the Viking Catholic chaplain is a vicar in the Family, what are his specific responsibilities and how does he divide his time between Viking Catholic and the Parish Family?
Decision #02 - Weekend Mass Rotation. The pastor needs to be present to all of the communities regularly. How do we schedule priests for weekend Masses in a way that balances sanity and availability?
Decision #03 - Shared Expenses. How will parishes share the burden of regional expenses, like priests?
Decision #04 - Weekday Mass Rotation, Office Hours, and Priest Offices. With four historical parish offices and eight locations with scheduled daily Mass, how do we schedule priests for our daily Masses and offices in a way that balances sanity and availability and that allows the pastor to work closely with his vicars?
Decision #05 - Priest Housing. Where will our priests live?
Decision #06 - Weddings, Baptisms, and Quinceañeras. How do we schedule upcoming weddings, baptisms, and quinceañeras in a way that respects canonical norms and preserves priest sanity?
We will try to create a post for each of these decisions, so that you can stay updated and provide comments.