Last Fall, the Archbishop asked me to serve on the Priest Personnel Board. My mentor said that that was the one board he least desired to serve in because it took the most amount of time. In the Fall, the Board would only meet once a month for 2 ½ hours. However, in January and February, it would meet twice a month. From March until June, it would meet weekly and sometimes even twice a week to make recommendations to the Archbishop, regarding priests’ assignments. One thing that I was deeply touched, was the care of the Archbishop and the priests who serve on that board, to assign the right priest to suit the needs of a given community. There are no favoritisms, no politics, and the goal of everyone on the Board, is to send the “best” priest that will be meet the needs of a particular community.
The second thing I was impressed with, was the thoughtfulness and kindness of the Archbishop to his priests. Even though there are policies in place regarding priests, like a Pastor who is retiring may not retire and live in the same parish (to give the new incoming Pastor the freedom to act), however, the Archbishop would consider the requests of his priests and struggle with them. Even though his decision in the end might be the same as if it was in the Clergy Personnel Policy, however, he does take the requests from his priests seriously.
The goal of the Priest Personnel Board is to try to send the “best” priest that will suit the needs of a particular community. But one thing that has made this task difficult, is the shortage of priests. This year, 8 priests will be retiring on July 1st. And only one candidate was ordained, Fr. John Chung, on Saturday June 25th at the Cathedral. To make up the difference, parishes that previously had associate pastors will no longer have one, or if they had two, they will only have one. We are also blessed with religious order priests that desire to serve in our Diocese. Through them, we are able to cover most of the needs of the parishes this year.
Because of the shortage of priests, this year, 3 pastors from smaller parishes were reassigned to become
pastors of 3 bigger parishes before their 6-year term was completed. As Bishop Justice explained to parishioners who were upset with the move of their pastor, the reason he gave was that the shortage of priests is very real. There is no bench where qualified priests are sitting around doing nothing. In fact, one priest delayed his retirement to cover a parish, and another was called out of retirement to cover another.
The Archbishop himself is 75 (born June 14, 1936) and according to church law, at age 75, he has submitted his resignation to the Pope. However, his retirement may be delayed if they do not find a suitable bishop to take his place. So pray for vocations. Pray for our Archbishop, and for our Pope, who is 84 years old. May they find the Wisdom of God to guide them, to be their hope and strength. If you would like to send the Archbishop a congratulatory note for his birthday, you may send it to:
The Most Reverend George Niederauer
Archdiocese of San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109.
Fr. Dan
