Q. Why do some priests stay much longer at a parish than others? What is the process used to appoint priests to parishes?
A. Really good question. Thank you for asking it.
The task of assigning priests to parishes is one of the most important roles a bishop fulfills in his episcopal ministry. Ordinarily, priests are appointed to a parish as pastor. In that role, a pastor is responsible for all of the souls within his parish boundaries—not only those who have self-identified themselves as Catholics. That is why the pastor of a local parish has a duty and responsibility to reach out to all people in his parish boundaries to make known to them the truthfulness of the Catholic Church as the one true religion established by Jesus, and to introduce them to the Good News of Jesus risen from the dead.
Different bishops approach the duty of assigning priests to parishes in different ways. Some dioceses have a personnel board, normally comprised of priests, in which priests can submit requests for a certain parish or assignment. The priests on these personnel boards will gather background information, e.g. the needs, wants, history, and perhaps the ethnic sensibilities of the parish, as well as the needs, talents, and strengths of a priest who may be well suited for that particular parish. The personnel board then can make a recommendation to the bishop of one or more priests to be appointed as pastor of a particular parish.
Some dioceses also have terms of office for pastors. In these cases, priests are assigned as pastor of a parish, say, for five or six years with the possibility of that term being renewed once. Therefore, a pastor might be assigned to a parish for 10 or 12 years.
Other bishops, weighing the same above-mentioned criteria and listening to the recommendations of advisors, try to combine the needs of the parish with the talents and gifts of a certain priest. The bishop then makes the appointment of that priest as pastor of the parish without a certain term of years.
Ordinarily, a bishop will have a conversation with the priest he believes would be a good fit with a particular parish, explains his reasoning process with that priest, and asks the priest if he would be willing to accept the parish he has in mind for him. Both bishop and priest spend a lot of time researching the needs and wants of both the parish and the priest, and pray through the process.
If a parish works together well with the priest, that priest might remain in a parish as pastor indefinitely. In the history of the Diocese of Lincoln, there are a number of examples where priests were pastors for 30, 40, and even 50 years. Of course, that is the exception.
This question was answered by a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
