Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: September 22, 2019
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
Let me urge you to do the most important thing first: mark your calendar for Sunday, October 20! It’s our annual GRAND Day, and so everybody who IS somebody’s grandchild is invited to come! We’ll begin with a bit more special 10:30 am Mass, and then continue with a family party inside and outside of the Parish Hall! So invite everybody: your extended family and friends will enjoy it! Whether you like hamburgers or hot dogs, soft drinks or ice cream, facepainting or balloons, caricatures or the petting zoo, conversations with friends or watching children run around, or all of the above, it will be a wonderful day, I promise!
In the days leading up to my 40th anniversary of priestly ordination last month, someone suggested that I use one or two of my weekly columns to muse a bit on the past four decades. That got me to thinking a bit over how my life – and indeed the whole Church’s life, especially in this little corner of the Lord’s vineyard, our own Diocese of Baton Rouge – has changed over the years.
The most notable difference between when I was ordained in 1979 and nowadays is numerical. The Official Catholic Directory 40 years ago noted that we had 96 diocesan priests, only 7 of whom were retired; this year’s edition reports we have 72 total diocesan priests, but 21 are retired. What’s really striking is that “back in the day” there were also 68 priests from religious orders or other dioceses working here; now there are just 34, and only 9 in parishes. While the total population of the diocese has increased by more than 53,000 Catholics, we’ve gone from 153 active parish priests to just 60.
So when I was ordained 34 of our parishes had 1 or more parochial vicars, known back then as assistant pastors. Except in very small country parishes, priests generally shared their Mass schedules and parish programs. Even in large urban and some suburban areas, nowadays most pastors “go it alone” in their ministry. Whereas “once upon a time” most parochial ministries could be coordinated by a priest, parishes now largely depend on the talents of lay ecclesial ministers. Thank goodness for them!
I mention this “institutional” change because I think it’s also had a profound change on the personal level. At least it has for me. I’ve seen a lot of fellow priests “burn out” because they didn’t know how to take care of their own overall health, including psychological health. We’ve all heard about priests becoming so “out of touch” with reality that they became immoral and even criminal. I wonder how much of that might have been due to the stress of increasing demands and lack of good support systems? All I know is that now I’m much more cautious before I say “yes” to additional work, especially outside of the parish. I’m much more devoted to personal prayer, maintaining good friendships, and fighting my “workaholic” urges. I try to concentrate on what enhances my priestly life and advances the essential truth of religion; this ultimately is more valuable than being trendy and trying to be a “people pleaser” to everyone.
I also try to laugh at myself: much of my personal “journey” has probably always been true of priests as they get older! When I was first ordained, I pretty much thought that all of the “senior priests” were hopeless old geezers – now, I guess, I myself sometimes wear the “oldtimer” badge proudly!
Hopefully aging gracefully in the Lord,
Fr. Paul
