The business of pastoring

Some examples of what a pastor does:

Last night, I was on the move. The other priest had Mass last night with the Sisters of Charity, at their convent; afterward, they always fix dinner for all the priests, so I stopped over at 6.

After a nice dinner and conversation, we all had meetings to attend. I stopped over at the Mission Commission, briefly, to say hello; then stopped in at a girls' basketball game. Those were at the north parish. Then to the south parish, for a PTO meeting, where I thanked all involved for helping with promoting SCRIP. Then to a maintenance meeting; finally to the Knights of Saint John.

This morning I got to stay home and work on my homily. It is fortuitous that I actually did, because I had some other parish business intrude. I should back up and explain we have a property for sale, the house I used to live in, at the south parish, but which is no longer needed since I now live in the rectory at the north parish. This house, I should explain, is apart from the traditional rectory at the south parish, which is used for offices. So it really is no use to us, now that its not a residence for the pastor. I should also explain that no one in the parish wants to keep it; selling it is hugely popular.

Well, anyway, yesterday afternoon, we received an offer, and so I had to fire off some emails to Pastoral Council, Finance Council and to the Archdiocese, advising all concerned. I expected to get some calls this morning, but not too many, so I did get my Sunday homily finished.

Into the office around 1 pm, at which time I found replies from many I had written; including from the finance guy for the Archdiocese--turns out I need to jump through a few more hoops on this. So I had to scramble to make that happen, and get people to pray (including you, dear reader!) that red tape won't mess up a deal on this property.

Meanwhile, I needed to spend some time with several staff members, and I had some phone calls. Oh, and guess who opens the mail? I do. Reason? I examine all bills and financial statements first, that serves as an accountability control, and it reassures all concerned.

Oh, and along the way, I was googling some recipes for a dinner I'm hosting Friday, for some parishioners who helped with an important project.

Well, it's almost 5 pm, time to go hear confessions and offer Mass. Later tonight I have my Bible study, then...I get to go home early, around 8 pm!