(Editor's note: At a recent meeting for parish staffs, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard spoke about the need for a policy on how Sunday services will be celebrated when a priest is not available. An article about the meeting appeared in our June 7 issue. The following is the text of the Bishop's remarks.)
Our gathering is generated by the growing decline in the number of priests available for weekend liturgies in our Diocese. In the past, if a pastor could not celebrate Mass in his parish on a given weekend, there was a supply of priests that could fill in when needed: for example, from among religious orders, retired priests, chaplains and diocesan office priests.
Today, however, all of the priests who are available are serving in parishes to cover existing Mass schedules. This trend will only worsen as more priests enter into retirement, the retired become infirm and the remaining priests are stretched even further.
This matter is complicated by the fact that the laity have come to expect that there will always be a priest available for Sunday Mass in their parish, because, up to now, with very few exceptions, this has been accomplished with the use of available substitutes.
The sad reality, however, is that we can no longer depend upon substitutes because, for all intents and purposes, they are simply not there. And this is the harsh reality in practically every diocese throughout the United States.
Hence, we must be prepared for the reality of "priestless Sundays," and we need to respond to this reality in a well planned, pastorally and liturgically effective manner.
It should be noted and underscored that by a tradition handed down from the Apostles, and having its origins from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church observes Sunday as the Lord's Day. In both the New Testament and in the writings of the Fathers of the early Church, it is evident that Sunday had special significance because it was the day Jesus conquered sin and death, and rose to eternal life.
In our own time, the Second Vatican Council reminded us: "On this day, Christ's faithful were gathered together, so that, by hearing the word of God and taking part in the Eucharist, they may call to mind the passion, resurrection and glorification of the Lord Jesus and may thank God who 'has begotten them again into a living hope to the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead'" (1 Pt 1-3).
This teaching is reinforced by our Holy Father Pope John Paul II in his recent apostolic letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte" ("Starting the New Millennium"): "Every Sunday, the Risen Christ asks us to meet Him, as it were, once more in the upper room, where on the evening of 'the first day of the week (Jn 20:9), He appeared to His disciples in order to breathe on them His life-giving spirit and to launch them on the great adventure of proclaiming the Gospel.'"
At the heart of our Sunday observance, then, is the celebration of the Eucharist, the central event and action for our Catholic Christian faith community. This action of sacrifice and worship is the way we celebrate and keep as our focal point the event of the mystery of Christ's life, death and resurrection.
The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is crucial to our understanding of our Christian identity. It is the centerpiece of the Church's liturgy, which the Second Vatican Council refers to as "the summit toward which the activity of Christ is directed, and, at the same time, it is the font from which all the Church's powers flow."
Yes, it is at Eucharist that the Church comes together as church. It is at Eucharist that we gain fresh insights into who it is we are and what it is we are called to be. And it is at Eucharist that we are energized to change our wants, our wills, our loves and our desires. And if that ongoing conversion which is at the heart of the Christian life does not take place at the Sunday Eucharist, then it will probably not take place at all.
Since the Eucharist is so critically important for us as a Catholic Christian community, it is not surprising that a recent study by Joe Verla and Father John Flaherty, conducted for the National Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development, concluded that the primary concern of the various reorganization efforts throughout our United States is the desire to maintain the nature and identity of the parish as a Eucharistic community.
On a practical level, dioceses approach this matter in a variety of ways. Some seek to preserve vibrant parish communities that are capable of life-giving celebrations of the Eucharist even if they must compromise on the frequency with which that celebration occurs. Others seek to reconfigure parish communities to ensure, as much as possible, the weekly celebration of the Eucharist. Even those who raise questions about the prudence of the long-term effect of Sunday worship in the absence of a priest, as well as those who call for a reexamination of who can preside at Eucharist, are affirming of the essential nature of the Church as a Eucharistic community.
As for our Diocese, I have discerned, at least at this point in time, that we should not develop plans for our parishes or clusters which include or contemplate "priestless Sundays." Hence, I have asked that there be cluster Mass schedules, structured in such a fashion that the priests within the cluster could cover the schedule of Masses if one of the priests is away on vacation, retreat or sabbatical. If that is not possible, in the absence of a priest for a short period of time, I ask that adjustments be made in the cluster either by reducing the number of Masses being celebrated or by encouraging people to attend Mass at a neighboring parish.
I take this posture because of my firm conviction that our people have the right to a full Eucharist each weekend; and where this does not occur, I fear that in the long run we may lose our Catholic Christian identity.
Indeed, in some places throughout the country where weekly Sunday Eucharist is impossible and communion services are conducted on a regular basis, people have begun to miss the distinction between such services and a full Eucharist. They frequently refer to "Father's Mass," or "Sister's Mass" or "the deacon's Mass." Given the pastoral realities in our Diocese, I believe that we can develop schedules which ensure the opportunity for a full Eucharist each Sunday in every parish.
I am not unmindful of the heavy burden that this decision places on our priests, who may have to cover two or three parishes. This burden, however, must not be shouldered by our priests alone, but by all our people, who may have to be content with fewer liturgies on weekends in our parishes and clusters, or with traveling themselves when the Eucharist cannot be available in their parish on a given weekend.
Hence, the intent of this gathering is to prepare people to exercise the Rite for Sunday celebration in the Absence of a Priest in cases of a true emergency. As the Congregation for Divine Worship, which issued the guidelines for such celebration, notes: "The intent of the present document is not to encourage, much less facilitate, unnecessary or contrived Sunday assemblies without the celebration of the Eucharist. The intent, rather, is simply to guide and prescribe what should be done when real circumstances require this decision to have Sunday celebrations in the absence of a priest."
I underscore, then, the very limited and prescribed circumstances in which this rite is to be used. I realize that the introduction of this procedure may mean that weekday "communion services" or the Liturgy of the Word with communion, which practices have developed in many places in our Diocese when the priest has a day off or is away for some other reason, may need to be rethought, so as to distinguish the Sunday celebration in the absence of a priest from these weekday services. Maybe, for example, these weekday services should more appropriately be non-Eucharistic services.
I realize further that this development and utilization of these guidelines does not address the broader question of the shortage of priests, and may even create further problems by training our deacons, religious and laity to perform functions similar to what the priest does.
However, we have to address our present and future realities one step at a time. And this gathering is a meaningful first step to ensure that when an emergency occurs, there are people prepared properly to conduct a Sunday celebration in the absence of a priest, and equally, if not more important, that our people be alerted to this possibility and be catechized both to the reason for it and to the distinction between a full Eucharist and a service without a priest celebrant.