How far can and should the Church go in implementing new models? Bishops are using canons not needed in the past, installing one pastor in multiple parishes, sometimes stretching the condition that these be neighboring parishes, or installing leadership under Canon 517.2. Lay ecclesial ministers and deacons are taking on pastoral work in unprecedented numbers. Pastoral roles are evolving with new ministries and leaders emerging. There is, perhaps, a sense that not only are these models different now, but they can – and probably do – have unanticipated possibilities for changing the parish structure as we know them. Are the decisions being made just? Are leaders, lay and ordained, being properly formed for this future.
Today these models are not new, here. The unintended consequences are upon us. We need to be creative and imaginative in developing our parishes. The post-Covid church will require it.
Will we be able to take the next steps, no longer caught in familiar but out-dated ways of doing things? Will we see the role of the laity in the life of the parish? Will we see the absolute necessity of bringing women to the table? Or will we wait too long? The decision is ours to make.
