On Mission for The Church Alive!
Recent events suggest that a few have missed important announcements from the Church of Pittsburgh these past three years. I trust, however, that some of you are not entirely oblivious. So I beg your patience as I remind you that we are On Mission for The Church Alive!. That means all Catholic parishes, schools, and other institutions across the Church of Pittsburgh, including even the diocesan administration, are undergoing a dramatic reorganization. Our goal is to turn our increasingly limited resources in priests, volunteers, worshipers, and funds away from the maintenance of a multiplicity of institutions and toward a renewed focus on our mission to proclaim the gospel, administer the sacraments, and care for the people.
First to be affected last year were the clergy, many of whom were reassigned, and almost all of whom received expanded mandates to care for several communities. At RocKenRo, Fr. Bob Zajdel and Dcn. Tim Killmeyer stayed in their current assignments but received new responsibilities for all the parishes of RocKenRo. Meanwhile, Frs. Alan Morris, Michael Ruffalo, and I left our previous pastorates to serve at RocKenRo.
Next at RocKenRo came the schools. I would have preferred to address these later in the process, but deficits at St. Malachy School would have greatly burdened RocKenRo, so I merged the schools for the coming 2019-20 academic year. This represents a special hardship for the teachers, some of whom will lose their jobs, so please at least remember them in your prayers.
I expect that later this year we’ll also undertake to study whether it would be advantageous to consolidate RocKenRo into one parish. The study will be public, involving questions about population, finances, ministries, and other features of our community. It may emerge that we can best fulfill our mission as one parish with several churches and a school.
That won’t be the end. Whether or not we consolidate parishes, but especially if we do, we’ll be consolidating staff positions—either to eliminate redundancy, or to refocus our staff more on mission and less on maintaining, for example, three separate offices, sets of accounts, maintenance programs, and religious education programs. We’ll also have to look at how we use our buildings and properties, and what the best use might be.
But again, all of this is in the service of mission. Emerging from On Mission!, I expect that we’ll be able to devote a lot more time and energy to worship, evangelization, and discipleship. My hope is that we’ll be offering our best in worship and that everyone who comes to our churches will be more aware of themselves as followers of Jesus and better able to share that discipleship with others.
Father of Mercy, as we journey On Mission for The Church Alive! endow us with your gifts of courage, collaboration, and compassion. Help us to fulfill the mission of Jesus and his Church through vibrant parishes and effective ministries. Raise up selfless, energetic leaders to serve the Church in fidelity and with care. May we the Church of Pittsburgh in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington Counties be sustained and strengthened by your grace. Help us to learn Jesus, to love Jesus and to live Jesus. Hear this prayer and grant it through Jesus Christ our Lord, with the help of our dear Blessed Mother, under the mantle of her love. Amen.
—Fr. Dave
