On the front page of the most recent edition of The Record, Catholics learned of a change in the system of governance for the 110 parishes of the Archdiocese of Louisville.  For decades, the archdiocese was organized into eleven regions of parishes geographically near each other.  Each region had an elected priest representative from among the priests located within the boundaries of the region.  The region representative convened monthly meetings to foster fraternity and to receive feedback from the priests about issues to be discussed in the Priest Council.  The region representative served on the Priest Council which meets monthly and is an advisory group for the archbishop. 

Effective now, the eleven regions are reorganized into eight deaneries, again according to the geographic proximity of the parishes.  The deanery system requires the archbishop to appoints one priest from each area to serve as dean.  Under the canon law of the Church, the dean is a designated representative of the archbishop and exercises oversight over the parishes in the deanery.  The dean visits each parish once a year and examines sacramental records to see if they are current and properly recorded.  He inspects church buildings and rectories to assess their condition.  Some issues that previously had the archbishop’s attention, first go to the dean for possible resolution.

The dean of our deanery for our two parishes is Father Jonathan Eerdman, who is pastor at St. Francis of Assisi church.  I have known Fr. Jonathan since he joined our archdiocese.  He is well-known and well-liked among our priests and has experience in administration and supervision.  I believe he will be a very good dean for our deanery. 

You may wonder how any of this affects parish life.  I am acutely aware of our shortage of priests which will only worsen over the next ten years.  Some of our younger (in ordination years) priests are becoming pastors sooner than what is ideal.  Our parishes have complicated administrative and management issues and often the archdiocese is made aware only after significant problems are evident.  Having a dean with oversight responsibilities will improve accountability and provide an opportunity for intervention and assistance before problems worsen. 

I am looking forward to finding out how regular deanery meetings that include some discussion of the dean’s oversight will help all of our parishes as we continue to try to grow our parishes, share the faith with others, and help one other do the great work of the church. 

 Father Gary