Monday, October 6, 2008

Priestless Sundays

One of the new Vocation Directors met last week was Fr. Leo of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska.  During conversations, he mentioned a new endeavor by the Diocese to raise awareness of the need for vocations to the priesthood for the diocese: Priestless Sunday.

One of the difficulties with the Diocese there, one of the few (if not the only?) mission dioceses in the States, is that they have quite a number of mission parishes that are in the far reaches of the diocese who only see their priests every three to six weeks, while the parishes in the city have a regular priest who is there every week.  So, one weekend, all of these 'city priests' are heading to the outskirts to provide for the spiritual needs of the people out in the hinterlands.

Interesting concept, and I hope it helps to encourage native vocations, as Fr. Leo mentioned that the majority of the priests in the diocese are imports from the lower 48.

Also, Fr. Leo mentioned that they also important priests to cover all of their parishes for Christmas and Easter.  Hmm... I wonder if Mom would mind if I whisked away to Alaska for Easter this year.....  (She'll probably want to go with me!)

1 comment:

Lillian Marie said...

One of the difficulties with the Diocese there, one of the few (if not the only?) mission dioceses in the States, is that they have quite a number of mission parishes that are in the far reaches of the diocese who only see their priests every three to six weeks,

I have a feeling this is where we are headed - not because of a shortage of Priests, but because our Church will be 'underground'.

It really makes me appreciate the fact that I can go to Confession & Mass, weekly & daily, or when needed.

I wonder if these outskirt parishes just have a Communion Service during the weeks that a Priest is not available.

So many questions.... so many prayers are needed. Going to the Rosary Congress tonight in Little Italy - will pray for all our Priests and Parishes.