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The Study of the Impact of Fewer Priests on the Pastoral Ministry
June 2000
Introduction
by Bishop Richard C. Hanifen
Chairman, Bishops' Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry
In 1998, at the request of Bishop Tony Pilla, then President of the Bishops' Conference, the Priestly Life and Ministry Committee was asked to serve as the lead agent on a study of the I impact of fewer priests on the pastoral ministry . Bishop Pilla also mandated that the Pastoral Practices Committee, the Committee for African American Catholics, and the Committee for Hispanic Affairs be a part of this study. Eventually, the Committees on Vocations, Permanent Diaconate, Home Missions, and the Sub-Committee on Lay Ecclesial Ministry were asked participate in phases of this project. The Administrative Committee has been kept abreast of the phases and the progress of this project.
Today I am pleased to bring to the body of bishops the work of many Committees and many individuals. Over the past two years, with the capable assistance of our staff members, and the professional skills of the researchers at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, we have been able to obtain a much more accurate portrait of the fact of fewer priests, and its impact on the pastoral ministry .Let me express my gratitude to the chairman of the seven other committees involved in this project, to our members and to our conference staff for a great deal of hard work on this project. We are appreciative of the assistance of Sister Ann Rehrauer, OSF of our Liturgy staff for assistance with our prayer components. We are also grateful to Dr. Bryan Froehle and the CARA staff for conducting the three phases of this study:
- Phase One was a gathering of general data on our Catholic population, number of parishes, and number of priests from an historical perspective.
- Phase Two was a gathering of data on the actual number, age, and distribution of diocesan and religious priests, as well as data on current and anticipated pastoral practices in view of fewer priests available for future pastoral ministry. Again we are grateful to the diocesan bishops and eparchs who rendered a 100% return to CARA for this phase of the study, and to the superiors of clerical religious institutes, which rendered an 89% return for this study.
- Finally, Phase Three had used two instruments to measure the impact of fewer priests on priests, on permanent deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers, and upon "the people in the pews." Fifteen focus groups of priests across the country , and a number of focus groups for deacons, and lay ministers, provide a measure of the impact on those engaged in ministry. A random telephone sample survey was utilized to solicit a measure of the impact of fewer priests on the on the faithful themselves.'
Along the way, as new questions arose from the data, as it came in, we also turned to some other existing studies to round out the picture.
What is the purpose of this study? From the outset, we did not want to collect yet another book of data. Our hope all along has been simply to provide reliable data to enable a dialogue among us as brother bishops. We have resisted interpreting the data that we are about to present to you. We have, however, asked each of the eight chairmen to include in our resource book a reflection on the data from the point of view of his committee. These same committees have also raised questions in their reflections that we hope will assist to focus the ensuing dialogue. Today we will begin this dialogue. We believe it will continue for a while. It will need to, and it will need to be done carefully. We look for no action items at the end of today's dialogue. We do ask that as we go through the workshop you might make notes that you might later on develop into suggestions for action, or further study by various conference committees.
For today's workshop we have involved each of the Chairmen of our eight committees in the program. From the beginning of this project up to today all of the members of this conference have expressed great interest and support. We were very pleased to report earlier that our request for information from the dioceses resulted in a one hundred percent return from the dioceses. This is extraordinary and we are grateful to all of you.
One final comment: It has been our belief since initiating this study that all of its phases, from data gathering, to information sharing, to reflection, and to dialogue, all must be done in the context of prayer and discernment. As we begin, let us seek the Holy Spirit's continued guidance.
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