View from the pew: perspectives from the faithful
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Ascension ParishGail Rogers, Ogden, is a member of Ascension Parish, which includes Boone Sacred Heart and Madrid St. Malachy churches. She began attending Masses at St. John in Ogden 62 years ago and now travels to Boone for Mass.
St. John was merged into the former Sacred Heart Parish in Boone in June 2018 and is now classified as a church building with no regularly scheduled Masses. Ascension Parish of Boone County was then created through a canonical merger in January 2023 after several years of sharing a pastor between three communities. Rogers said the effects of the mergers and change in status for St. John affected the faith lives of parishioners. Rogers said the Catholics in her area “had to adjust” when the Ogden church closed such as traveling to another town for Mass including Madrid, Grand Junction and Perry in the Diocese of Des Moines. “I think there are lots of parishioners (who) stopped going to church because they didn’t want to go to Boone,” she said. Rogers said although she found Father Tim Johnson to be “so welcoming,” at Ascension Parish, she feels that Ogden parishioners attending Mass in Boone continue to feel like outsiders. Ida County changesSt. Therese of Lisieux Parish in Ida Grove was erected Jan. 1, 2023, through a canonical merger of Sacred Heart Parish in Ida Grove, St. Mary Parish in Danbury and St. Mary Parish in Mapleton. All three are secondary churches and are served by Father Bill McCarthy.
Diane Patera has been an active member of Sacred Heart Parish and now St. Therese for nearly 50 years. She said the merger creating St. Therese of Lisieux didn’t create much of a change for parishioners, unlike when Sacred Heart was “linked” with Our Lady of Good Counsel in Holstein and St. Martin in Odebolt. “I think I noticed more of a change when we first started joining with Holstein and then Odebolt,” she said, noting the Ida Grove and Holstein schools were sharing at the time. “We do miss our Saturday evening Mass at Odebolt.” St. Martin is now a church building with no weekend Masses and is now grouped with parishes in Sac City and Wall Lake. “Religious education is still being worked out with them and is still a mess. Some Odebolt families are going to Wall Lake, but many are transitioning to Ida Grove,” Patera explained. Mass times at St. Therese may not be “ideal,” she said, and scheduling confessions can be a challenge. However, her pastor is in the unusual situation with additional pastoral help. “Our particular parish has been exceptionally blessed with retired priests – Msgr. (Ken) Seifried and now Father (Rich) Ball. We still have four daily Masses, which is a huge blessing,” Patera explained. “I don’t think our parishioners feel that Father McCarthy is over-stressed…things seem to be running pretty smoothly.” |
Deaths affect parish“As parishes have been combined over the last 10 years or so, we’ve also transitioned to one priest for our parish,” Le Mars All Saints parishioner Chris Hausmann pointed out. “I know each parish is impacted by these transitions a little differently.”
Father Doug Klein is the only active priest at All Saints which includes secondary churches St. James and St. Joseph in Le Mars and St. Joseph in Ellendale, which has church building status, as well as the former parishioners of closed parishes in Merrill, Neptune and Struble. Leading All Saints Parish recently became more challenging. “Here at All Saints, that transition has also been sharply marked by the deaths of (retired priest) Father Paul Eisele and Deacon Paul Gengler. Each provided so much for the spiritual life of our parish,” Hausmann said. Parishioners at All Saints often attend Masses where the pews “are pretty full.” Hausmann said explaining this is positive for the parish but he concerned about the future. “Many Masses are elbow-to-elbow, which is a profound way to celebrate fellowship in Christ’s presence,” he said. “But I know those packed pews reflect two realities – our community’s vibrant faith and the challenge of so few priestly vocations. I often find myself praying and wondering what that juxtaposition means for the future of our parish and Catholic faith.” Awareness and supportHausmann, Patera and Rogers said they believed that parishioners are aware of the stressors placed upon their pastors being stretched to cover multiple worship sites and multiple communities. The three noted that the laity in their parishes understand the challenges and try to support their pastors.
“I think our parishioners have been very understanding and work with Father Bill,” Patera said, noting the parishioners “step up and help” in numerous ways. “I do think there’s an awareness that priests are stretched thin,” Hausmann said. “I hope that parishioners are graceful and understanding toward Father Doug and other priests, as they’re pulled in so many directions.” As diocesan priests face different challenges in their respective parishes, Amy Bloch, executive director for Catholic Charities explained how the laity can better understand how the shifting landscape affects priestly ministry today and how to support their pastors. “I think that sometimes we forget that they experience stress. They can have a stressful day. They experience anxiety. They have life stressors. They have families that they worry about,” she said. “Because of that, we have higher expectations of them and that’s not really fair to them. We expect that they are there to meet all of our needs all of the time. We forget they have a couple thousand people to meet the needs of – not just us.” (story continues below) |
She said it’s helpful for the laity to “step back and remember that (priests) are not superhuman,” they have the same mental health needs as any person.
“They need time to pray, take time for themselves, to relax, to have fun and fill their own buckets. We have to fill our own buckets before we can help people and be there for others. It’s no different for our priests,” the director said, noting it is easy to forget the personal needs of pastors. Due to juggling multiple responsibilities, priests may not be able to respond to communications as quickly as they could in the past when more active priests were serving parishes. “In our heads, we know that things have changed for priests, but sometimes when it comes to what we want or need, it goes out the window. I know there’s only one person here but in our time of need, we can forget about that,” the director explained. Bloch said it’s helpful to remember that priests are human and they will make mistakes and will have “bad days.” “It’s important for us to remember that. Maybe they forgot something or maybe we didn’t get called back right away. We do those things, too. Instead of being frustrated by that, think what we can do to help or support them. Maybe it’s something I can do in the church to allow my pastor to have more time to do those things,” Bloch said, noting the laity needs to have “some compassion, giving them some grace.” Parishioners can demonstrate gratitude, volunteer to help, pray for their priest, send a note, acknowledge their challenges and “also letting them know you are praying for them.” “How often do we say things like, great homily today, thanks for working in the school, thanks for taking this on. Sometimes we forget about those little things. Some of that can help go a long way,” Bloch pointed out. La vista desde el banco: Las perspectivas de los fieles
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