A Troubled Pastor

The pastor of the church attended by mother mother, brother, and nephew was recently replaced. The whole story is a troubling one. The priest apparently really did mismanage money. I don't know this for a fact but this is what I understand. He was fat, dyslexic, a poor homilest, and was also absolutely lacking in administrative ability. He was also generous-spirited, unfailingly polite, hospitable, and possessed the gift of compassion to a high degree.

My understanding of the story is as follows. If any priests or future priests are reading this, you may want to make note of what went wrong in order to avoid having similar problems yourself.

He spent large sums of money refurbishing the rectory. He bought an expensive stove, even though he didn't cook, and a widescreen TV. The stove seems legitimate. The rectory is church property and needs to be maintained.

If you are a pastor, appoint a parish finance council. If a committee approves expenditures, the parishioners are less likely to get upset and it removes the suspicion of personal enrichment.

If at all possible, make sure the church secretary and church steward get annual raises. At this church, employees were quite upset, and legitimately so, to see the pastor get a new widescreen TV when the steward hadn't had a raise in 3 years.

Keep the church employees on your side. They are there every day and know most of the people--especially the people attending daily mass who are the backbone of the parish. If they are unhappy, they will talk to the parishioners and undermine the morale of the entire church. In this case, the church steward discouraged my brother so much that he has stopped attending church. My brother struggles with health problems and could benefit from an active spirituality.

Give the best homilies possible. It is unfair but people judge you by your homilies. I was amazed to talk to parishioners after daily mass and learn how each and every detail of the homily was scrutinized and subjected to criticism. Poor homilies make parishioners think you don't care

Always visit the sick or at least make a phone call and ask if they would like a visit. Elderly people, many of whom are very much alone, are angry if their priests don't visit them in the hospital

After reading this, are you sure you want to be a priest?