by Bishop Raymond A. Lucker
Diocese of New Ulm

Nothing causes me greater anxiety than the annual round of clergy assignments. Each year some priests and pastoral administrators move because of the diocesan tenure policy, ordinations, retirements, deaths, and the need for further clustering of parishes in the diocese.

I depend on the wonderfully devoted work of Father Dennis Labat, Director of Priest Personnel and Supervisor of Pastoral Administrators. The Priest Personnel Board meets every month to deal with these issues and to make recommendations to me about the appointment of pastoral leaders. I have found over the years that membership on the Priest Personnel Board brings out the best in the priest members. They are always faith-filled men concerned about the welfare of priests and constantly devoted to the service of the people of the diocese.

The constant question is "How can we best provide pastoral leadership for the people of the Diocese of New Ulm given the personnel resources we have?" The members of the Priest Personnel Board have given me support for the relatively new movement started in this diocese of appointing non-ordained pastoral administrators to be in charge of the day to day pastoral leadership of a number of our parishes. Sacramental ministry is provided by a priest in a neighboring parish. Unfortunately during these past twenty-five years I have constantly struggled with the problem that we do not have enough ordained priests and I have brought this concern to the people of the diocese on many occasions.

I have been committed to diocesan pastoral planning. We have completed four major diocesan planning cycles. The pastoral plan of 1978 was based on broad consultation involving Speak-Ups in regions and parishes and led to the formulation of our mission statement and the long range goals of the diocese.

The pastoral planning cycle of 1983 involved the refinement of the diocesan goals and the formulation of yearly objectives which are connected to the budget.

In 1988 we went through a lengthy planning process involving discussion on what makes a viable parish. It led to the first diocesan Plan for Parishes and created a number of parish clusters.

In 1993 we began developing the current Plan for Parishes which was to take us to the year 2000.

Although there is a great deal of data gathering and many factors involved, the principle issue that drives our pastoral planning is the shortage of ordained ministers. This year with death and retirement we will be five priests short. After using some of the options still available from the present Plan for Parishes, we will still need to have at least three fewer priest positions. I struggle with that and I feel so helpless knowing that every parish community needs daily access to the sacraments.

Our Vocations Office is doing a wonderful job. We have an excellent group of seminarians, which next fall will number eleven. This is more than we have had for many years.

Sometimes we try to solve a problem by denying it is there. People will say, "Why donıt we get priests from other parts of the world, or elsewhere in the country?" As a matter of fact, we have tried that over the years, and we are looking for a priest to come from Sri Lanka this year and have been blessed with a seminarian from Guatemala.

I have called for the ordination of married men and that we as a church should be open to all who are called to the holy priesthood. But, this will not solve our immediate problem since we as a church are not even openly discussing this approach.

I have asked all of the pastoral leaders of the diocese, all the priests and pastoral administrators, to have a special discussion on Presbytery Day, May 9, to help the Priest Personnel Board and the Committee on Parishes come to some decision on what parishes we need to cluster right now in order to provide sacramental ministry to all of our parishes as we make assignments this June.

This will be a difficult process and it will affect many people in the diocese. This especially is very hard for me. It would have been better if we had the time to have our parish and regional consultations first. I hope that all of the people of the diocese will see this as an emergency situation. More information about the process ahead will be found elsewhere in this issue of

The Prairie Catholic.

I ask for your support and prayers, and ask you to realize with me that this after all is Godıs church, that we are only human. We come with what we have and with the help of God that will be sufficient.

May, 2000