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When
I was named Bishop of Scranton, I
discovered a Diocese rich in
Catholic life and witness, beginning
in the nineteenth century and
extending through the twentieth.
However, in 2003, when I arrived as
your new Bishop, we were no longer
in the nineteenth or twentieth
centuries. We were in the very early
days of the twenty-first century.
Pope John Paul II had urged us to
embark into the deep, and I took
that challenge very much to heart.
In fact, Jesus’ command that we not
be afraid and go into the deep was
the subject of the homily at my
Installation Mass. In other words,
from the time I began my ministry
among you, my sole desire has been
to lead everyone here to
follow Jesus and become fishers of
souls.
Everyone has dreams as they begin
new work, but these dreams must
always be balanced against certain
realities of life. It soon became
clear to me that in order for us to
be good disciples of Christ and
launch into the deep of the New
Evangelization, certain
institutional reforms were required
in our Diocese. We needed to
streamline our Catholic School
system, which we accomplished in
2007. And we needed to reconfigure
our parishes and deploy our priests
in a better manner, which we are
currently aiming to do.
Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral
Planning in the Diocese of Scranton is aimed at the spiritual and pastoral
renewal of our Catholic Church in
Central and Northeastern
Pennsylvania. That renewal, in turn,
is directed at fulfilling the
mission of the Church as God calls
it to be accomplished in today’s
world, when the culture both cries
out in need for and, at the same
time, rejects the Church’s mission.
The mission of the Church, ever the
same and ever to be adapted, is
proclamation of the Gospel and the
ministry of reconciliation.
Currently, therefore, Called to
Holiness and Mission is engaged
only in laying the groundwork for
the labor of renewal which lies
ahead of us. This groundwork up to
now has completed five steps of an
eight-step process. Parochial Core
and Cluster teams have made
suggestions to the Diocesan Planning
Commission regarding future
configuration of our parishes. The
Planning Commission has reviewed
these suggestions and made
preliminary recommendations. The
Core and Cluster Teams have studied
the preliminary recommendations and
engaged in conversation about them
with the parish communities. A
response has been submitted back to
the Planning Commission. The
Planning Commission will now gather
for a retreat to study these
responses before making the final
recommendations to me.
As the
Planning Commission prepares for
this important task, I have asked
all pastors to conduct a day of
prayer this Sunday, October
nineteenth.
While
this study is occurring, I know that
it has become apparent to you that
it will be necessary to close some
of our parishes. To date, with
perhaps one exception, no decisions
have been made. However, I know that
the possibility that your parish
might close is a cause of pain and
anxiety for many of you. Please
allow me to assure you that I
understand very well why the closing
of one’s parish church is so
troublesome.
You
were baptized there. You received
your First Holy Communion there. You
were married there. You buried
deceased loved ones from there. And
many of your children and
grandchildren received the
sacraments there too.
In
some cases, your ancestors helped to
build the church – literally. Some
of our churches have connections to
particular ethnic groups. Some
parishes were established at a time
when the immigrants who settled in
the area did not speak English and
needed to hear the Word of God in
their native tongues.
So I
do realize that you will experience
sorrow, perhaps even anger, if the
church you are used to attending
should close. Even if your church
should remain open as the primary
worship site for a consolidated
parish, you might be feeling unsure
about how you will interact with a
whole new group of parishioners. I
trust and pray you will welcome them
with compassion and good will. I
hope you will recognize that they
are your brothers and sisters who
will enrich the life of the parish.
I know
that you love your churches. But I
also know that you love God and your
faith even more. You want to see the
faith preserved and handed down to
future generations. And so, I
believe you will recognize that
changes must be made to deal with
the realities of the 21st
century. The structures that served
us well in the 19th and
20th centuries may not be
the best ones for the future.
In
1966, the Diocese of Scranton had
476 priests in active service, the
most in its history. By 2001, that
number had fallen to 241. Today,
there are fewer than 190 priests
available for active service in the
11-county Diocese. We project that
the number of active priests will
fall even more – to 147 or fewer –
by 2012.
Many
of our priests have been serving
beyond the call of duty by taking
responsibility for two, three or
even more parishes. But as they
become older and fewer in number,
these arrangements will simply not
be possible.
Last
fall we took a survey of Mass
attendance. We found that, on
average, only 36 percent of
registered parishioners were
attending Mass on the weekend.
Sadly, the majority of the Catholics
in our Diocese are not taking this
obligation seriously. Many of our
churches have plenty of empty pews
each week. It is obvious that we
don’t need and cannot maintain all
of the buildings that are currently
open.
This
is the result of an aging population
and a general decline in church
membership in some areas. In other
areas, the population is growing and
there is a greater need for the Mass
and the sacraments. As a Bishop, I
am responsible for each and every
soul in this Diocese, wherever they
live and wherever they come from.
Many
other dioceses, especially in our
part of the country, are facing
these same challenges. That is
probably little consolation to you,
however. The sense of loss you may
be feeling is real. I am not immune
to this reality, for I bear a heavy
responsibility as I ponder the
difficult decisions that will have
to be made in the days ahead.
But we
can all take strength from our faith
and the example set by our
ancestors. They faced many
challenges, especially those who
came here from other countries. They
made great sacrifices and endured
many hardships. They gave up their
familiar surroundings, left their
homelands and cultures, and
emigrated here to build a better
life for themselves and their
families. I think of my own mother,
who as a young 14-year-old girl,
came here from Ireland by boat,
accompanied only by a friend of the
same age. How did she get through
it? Well, she and all the others
faced the future with courage and
faith.
It is
now up to us to carry on that legacy
by doing the same. The best way to
honor our ancestors and our history
is to move forward with the same
courage and faith they had.
As our
pastoral planning process continues,
you have been asked to pray, reflect
and have a respectful dialogue about
the preliminary recommendations, and
then formulate a response to them.
The Diocesan Planning Commission
will consider these responses before
making the final recommendations to
me. I will then have several months
to study and reflect on these
recommendations, and most
importantly, pray for the wisdom to
make the best decisions for the good
of our Diocese.
I ask
you to continue to pray for
vocations, pray for our Diocese, and
pray for me.
We
must trust that the Holy Spirit will
guide us to the path that Our Lord
has prepared. We must answer the
call to holiness and mission.
Thank
you and God bless you.
Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist.
E.D.
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