Disrespect
Does the Bishop care about the morale of the parish?
Last Sunday, we found out *at mass* via an announcement read at the end that Fr. Brendan was moving on, having completed a month of fill-in for the Bishop at our parish. That’s right, no advance warning, no way for people to prepare themselves for another transition.
It gets even better, or worse depending on your level of cynicism.
Who is supposed to be coming next? Will this be a permanent pastor or temporary?
“No one knows, not even Jesus” as my good pastor friend told me last night. Well, we do know now. Veronica, our parish secretary didn’t know this morning, but I found out from another priest at the 11th hour that Bishop Plouffe assigned Yet Another Priest (YAP), an African fellow to the parish for a month. I didn’t get the name.
Fr. Hamish was kept busy, showing the guy where (and perhaps how) to buy groceries and other life essentials. The African pastor doesn’t have a car, either so taxis are his only means of getting around.
I am looking forward to meeting him, and helping him out in whatever way I can. Our family, having lived overseas in Bangladesh for 2.5 years, has a soft spot for immigrants and visitors from other cultures. Hopefully I can get to know him over dinner – no doubt he’ll be happy for someone to cook. In Africa, men do not do housework. He might even be accustomed to having hired help. Let’s hope for his sake someone comes to clean the toilets.
More on the new pastor later.
So here we are, 2 months after Fr. George left suddenly. Two months of rent-a-priests coming in, and another month coming up. After that, we’re off to mingle with St. Jerome’s for a month, effectively giving Bishop Plouffe another two months to delay the inevitable. It’s not like new options are going to turn up.
The Bishop seems to think all that matters is there is someone here to consecrate mass. If that is the case, we all might as well go to St. Jerome’s.
Meanwhile, parish attendance continues to drop as morale goes unchecked. What the Bishop is doing is disrespectful and uncaring for the parishioners of St. Gerard. Besides procrastinating, we’re neither consulted nor communicated to on the matter. We deserve better, and the Bishop ought to be told this can’t continue from leadership within the parish. Right now, the Parish Leadership Team (PLT) seems the logical choice, in the absence of a parish council.
That reminds me I need to write about our PLT, something I keep putting off.
Enough with band-aid solutions. We need to move forward, which includes dealing constructively with the recent past.
Nelson Mandela, a South African, once said “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
We need visible leadership, either from a pastor or from a parish executive, ideally from both.
Should you feel inspired to contact the Bishop directly, you can call him at 705-674-2727 ext. 222 or email jlplouffe@diocesecentre.com. If you do, please let me know. I’d like to keep a running total.
