Wednesday, November 14, 2007

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!

8 comments:

ignorant redneck said...

These posts of yours, about what you do, so make me want to be a priest!

Unfortunatly, I don't have a vocation.

But man, I bet some young guys read this, and see if they couldn't put themselves in this position, and begine to think on it.

Unknown said...

IR - everyone has a vocation... yours just might not be to the priesthood...

Tom in Vegas said...

My goodness, you actually did ALL this in ONE day!! I have nothing to complain about.

Well...maybe a few things:0)

BTW, I went through discernment a few years ago under the direction of Father Tony, the vocations director for the Diocese of Las Vegas. And looking back on that experience, I can define a vocation as something you are on the inside that matches with what you do on the outside.

Blessings,
Tom

mrsdarwin said...

You priests are busy men, and I take my hat off to you. Posts like this remind me how necessary our nightly prayer for our priests is.

Rich Leonardi said...

And during all that, he managed to give yours truly some wonderful counsel about a thorny problem.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a busy day! With 10 kids & lots of schedules we tend to go to bed early...exhaustion for all us Catholics..Priests & parents..but i'm sure we wouldn't have it any other way..God bless..

Anonymous said...

Married priests ... right. Someone said a long time ago, "Those that want to be the greatest must be the least and the servant of all." You are an amazing servant to your parishes! May God bless you and keep you - thank you.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the post, Father. I've been reading your blog for awhile, and and have been discerning the priesthood for a long time. I really appreciate these looks into the daily life of a parish priest. I like the frank, matter-of-fact way you describe things and I think it's actually very inspiring to see the different ways you minister to people. Thanks for the gift of your priesthood!