nterim Report of the Task Force 
on 
Ministry in the Future

The Diocesan Task Force on Ministry in the Future has been meeting monthly since August. The following is an interim report on the work that has been done thus far. [Members of the Task Force, appointed by Bishop Delaney, are the following: Dcn. Patrick Burke, Dcn. Ruben Castaneda, Rev. Richard Eldredge, TOR; Rev. John Gremmels; Rev. Dan Kelley; Sr. Theresa Khirallah, SSND; Ms. Margarita Luna; Bro. Paul McMullen, TOR; Rev. Hoa Nguyen; Rev. Michael Olson; Rev. Gil Pansza; Rev. Jeff Poirott; Mr. Phil Record; Ms. Bettie Reyes; Mrs. Karen Roach; Rev. Ken Robinson; Mr. Joe Rodriguez; Rev. Joseph S. Scantlin; Rev. Rodrigo Serrano; Rev. John Robert Skeldon; Rev. Anh Tran; Rev. Tom Wigginton; Mrs. Charmaine Williams; Rev. Robert Wilson]

Some things have become clearer to the Task Force and have been accepted as 'givens,' that is, future realities whose probability is so high as to be all but certain to occur.

1. Our ideal will always be to have a priest present as pastor for every parish in the Diocese. Nevertheless, in order to deal with the inevitability that this will be impossible because there will be fewer priests in coming years, the Task Force's work is to formulate a provisional plan (for the next 10 years).

2. Our expectation is that no parish will be closed, even though there may not be a priest available as pastor. In fact, it will be necessary in the next 10 years to open more parishes.

3. The number of priests will not be sufficient to provide a pastor for every parish, nor to provide the celebration of Mass in every parish every Sunday.

1. By this coming summer there will not be enough priests for the Diocese to provide pastors for every parish community. Therefore, we will look to the appointment of qualified deacons and lay leaders, both men and women, to be the pastoral leaders of some parishes, with the title of 'pastoral administrators.'

2. Every parish in the Diocese--not just the smaller, rural parishes--will at some time in the near future experience periodically some Sundays without Mass. They will instead participate in the approved ritual for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest.

3. Whether Mass is celebrated or not, parishioners will be encouraged to attend the Sunday service, so that the parish community can continue to grow and be nourished by the Word and the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion.

4. Since Canon Law allows a priest to celebrate Mass only twice on weekdays and at the most three times on Sunday, it will be necessary to limit the number of weekend Masses a priest is expected to celebrate.

1. Through various forms of consultations, Bishop Delaney will aim to surface the names of qualified and available deacons and lay leaders to discover their interest in possibly receiving a call to become pastoral leaders of parish communities.

2. The Task Force will be developing a set of mutual expectations to govern the relationships between pastoral administrators and priests who will serve as sacramental ministers.

3. In the effort to maintain reasonable demands upon our priests, the Diocese will develop new policies to govern the expectation of the celebration of weekend Masses.

4. The members of the Priests' Personnel Board will join the Task Force in developing the process by which concrete plans can be negotiated for achieving an equitable distribution of priests to preside at Mass throughout the Diocese.

Above all, the people of our Diocese are asked to pray to the Lord that we will be blessed with vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.