Msgr. Roger J. Landry
The Anchor
Editorial
January 10, 2025
The Diocese of Fall River justly made national news last month with the launch of its insightful and bold three-year initiative entitled “Stronger Priests, Stronger Parishes, Stronger Church.”
It was introduced by a Dec. 8 pastoral letter by Bishop Edgar da Cunha entitled, “A Time for Fortitude,” and mentioned by priests throughout the Diocese at Masses for the Second Sunday of Advent.
The endeavor features the fortitude to which the bishop is calling all of the faithful, religious and clergy of the Diocese. It courageously confronts the data about priestly spiritual, physical, psychological health and the cultural and ecclesial realities that are negatively impacting priestly well-being. It bravely has come out with a plan to address those problems. And it has daringly, and prudently, sought to prioritize care for priests after decades in which any specialized attention given to the clergy has been erroneously attacked by some as a de facto form of clericalism or as a recapitulation of the prioritization of priests that exacerbated the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
As Bishop da Cunha describes in his pastoral letter, the renewal and flourishing of the priesthood is essential to the rejuvenation and thriving of the Diocese. “Without the Priesthood, there would be no Eucharist, and without the Eucharist, there would be no Church. By God’s design, our very existence as a Church is permanently tied to the priesthood,” he underlines. This is something that the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival is helping all believers more easily to grasp.
The Eucharistic Jesus makes the Church and is the source, summit, root and center of the Church’s life, and fewer priests, or priests who are in one way or another suffering, makes it more difficult for everyone to encounter Jesus Christ in the way he told us to remember him. “Thriving priests lead to vibrant parishes and apostolates. … There is a clear link between a priest’s personal well-being (both natural and spiritual) and the success of his ministries. This is a fundamental reality that must take deeper root within our Diocese.”
The bishop comments that there is a causal relationship between the priest’s holiness and the growth in holiness of his flock. As the spiritual writer Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard famously and penetratingly wrote in his 1946 spiritual classic The Soul of the Apostolate: “If the priest is a saint, the people will be fervent; if the priest is fervent, the people will be pious; if the priest is pious, the people will at least be decent; if the priest is only decent, the people will be godless. The spiritual generation is always one degree less intense in its life than the one who begets it in Christ.” To form people to live holy lives in the image and likeness of God, the faithful need not just men who are ordained but priests genuinely striving for sanctity themselves.
Bishop da Cunha notes, however, that “new unprecedented challenges and realities are being imposed on our priests, making it more difficult, perhaps at any time in our Diocesan history, for them to thrive.” He mentions many of those trials flowing from the demands of juggling multiple assignments and the consequences to which they can lead: stress, personal isolation, lack of time for fraternity, burnout, addictive behaviors, and chronic health issues that for middle age priests are twice the normal rate; the continued fallout from the sexual abuse crisis and its consequences not just on priests’ reputations and moral credibility but the chronic fear of catastrophic consequences through a false accusation; demoralization from trends within the Church like decreased faith practice; and a secularized culture that makes the basic proclamation of the Gospel today far more challenging.
“Despite its many joys,” writes the bishop, “the priesthood is in great need of healing and renewal.” He emphasizes, “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Although the Diocese, he states, “is blessed with many devoted, holy, and effective priests, it is imperative that we take decisive action to strengthen our priests and create a healthier environment that is more conducive to priestly thriving, holiness, and an impactful ministry. Our parishes and apostolates’ long-term health and vibrancy depend on such an outcome.”
The initiative to strengthen priests and thereby strengthen parishes and the Church involves six priorities.
The first is pastoral planning, to accelerate the Diocese’s work to consolidate parishes for the sake of priestly health. Studies have shown that the ratio of priests to practicing Catholics in the Diocese is actually sustainable — one priest for every 630 who practice — but that priests are often being overextended to manage multiple parishes to the demands of previous generations rather than present ones. The quickest way to improve presbyteral health, various experts argue, is to reduce the amount of hats individual priests must wear. Some parishes’ best days are long behind them and such assignments can often frustrate young priests’ holy desires to help build, lead and grow. The bishop is asking for the prayerful support of all in the Diocese for this difficult but necessary work ahead.
The second objective is to reinvigorate parish ministry so that priests are able to do what they were ordained to do — preach the Gospel, pray for God’s people, give people the sacraments, and care for those in need — rather than many of the other, increasingly technical, tasks that are involved in parochial administration. This means providing increased training not just to priests but parish staffs.
The third is presbyteral culture, in which the Diocese is dedicating itself to promoting priestly fraternity, care, accountability and stability, through priest support groups, improved channels for candid conversation, clarity on expectations, a task force on rectories, and other means.
The fourth is for priests to commit with greater resolve to their well-being and growth spiritually, physically, psychologically and pastorally. Often priests can use the amount of work they have on their plates as an excuse to defer prioritizing the health of their soul, mind and body. The bishop is asking them to reprioritize not just for their own sakes but for the benefit of all those they’re sent to serve.
The fifth is better training to help priests thrive and minister successfully in a changing and challenging world. There will be a series of videos and online courses to help fill in the gaps of what they didn’t receive in seminary and in ongoing formation sessions, so that they may be better equipped to meet the demands of the moment.
The last is a greater emphasis on the promotion of priestly vocations and the accompaniment and training necessary to help young men persevere in holy vocations, especially since newly ordained priests are becoming pastors now so quickly after ordination. There is an urgent need for many more priests and the bishop is asking everyone to follow Jesus’ words and turn to the Harvest Master beseeching laborers for the harvest, as well as to help encourage and support those who are generously responding to God’s call.
Concluding his pastoral letter, Bishop da Cunha expressed his hope that this initiative to strengthen priests will “result in our priests and our Diocese as a whole unleashing its full evangelical potential, resulting in more thriving parishes, apostolates, and happy and holy priests.” He asks all of us to ask God for the virtue of fortitude to do God’s will boldly, joyfully and confidently despite fears, to increase our prayer and docility to the Holy Spirit’s work, and to take the appropriate actions for a stronger present and future of our Diocese. The time has come for that candor, courage and wisdom!
