The Third Year.
It’s that time!
We now have experienced three years of our diocese taking its new direction via the Uniting in Heart Pastoral Plan. Each year, we’ve checked in with readers to ask how are things progressing. Take a minute to answer our poll.
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What is the greatest area of appreciation or joy you have in our local Church? What is the area of greatest concern to you?
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92 Replies to “The Third Year.”
Sad news…. It was announced last night at St Joseph’s Pulaski that Father Andrew DeKeyser has asked to be relieved as Pastor of the Fulton Pulaski Pastorate which has been accepted by the bishop. I am sure I am wording this improperly, but he has also asked that he no longer be a Priest as he is questioning his vocation. Heartbreaking news.
Tragic news since this is second priest in our diocese that asked for his dismissal of his vocation. Wonder why our diocese is having a problem like this.
Whatever the reason, it has absolutely nothing to do with our warm and cuddly bishop or his expert and compassionate administration of his priests and the diocese.
Tragic yes but don’t lay at least the first of these two at the bishop’s feet. The first one you count left his ministry because he fathered a baby with an employee. Time will tell on this second one. Trying to gloss over or cover up the many abuses of ministers of all faiths in one of the leading reasons that fewer and fewer people attend services at any American denominations.
Was this statement about a priest’s fathering a child, a fact or a rumor?
Again, it is hard to be a priest in this diocese! This is a difficult time for a priest.
Though we owe obedience to just laws and rightful authority, we must also give God what belongs to God. And what belongs to God? our very lives. If that is not being allowed to flourish then discernment is prudent! Praying for all our priests!
The question is now is who going to replace this priest in the near future? Diocese added priest from outside the US and we gain Fr Arbuckle back but this is a big pastorate to take over with how many parishes it has. Hopefully the Holy Sprit guide this thru but with Advent about a month away the Diocese found itself in a pickle on this one.
Father Ted is the temporary administrator until further notice.
This is good news that we get Fr Arbuckle back. Where will he be serving?
He’s at Sacred Heart, Cicero for now
Wonder how much of the donations in the pews is going to defend him or pay off his victim(s)? Now maybe more…………..
Defend whom? Did we miss something?
In charity, please do not slander priests on this forum. They’re under attack on all fronts by our enemy. They need our prayers, not our gossip.
Slander? Come on. The bishop is also a priest and this site is dedicated to gossip and slander of him. As for Arbuckle, if you don’t know, keep your ear to the ground and you’ll know soon. Don’t continue the decades long coverup and making light of abuses by clergy that has cost the church billions in dollars and millions in membership.
I wonder if this priest convocation a few weeks back made this priest leave. I heard the topic and wondered if he thought we as a church is heading to the wrong direction. This Syond is providing to be costly for our church in so many ways.
Father DeKeyser was an incredible priest; humble to the core and will be deeply missed by his parish. Please pray for us! We are grieving, angry with the leadership, and our one priest left is spread so thin with 6 parishes to care for.
Many, far too many, in his parishes treated Fr. Dekeyser horribly and never gave him a chance. Perhaps this is why or contributed to him leaving. In the end we don’t know why he left and may never know as that would be up to him to tell us. But why assume without any basis of fact that the bishop is to blame? People leave jobs and vocations for many many reasons and Civil HR and Church law would not allow it to be revealed.
It’s easy to assume that the Bishop and the VG had much to do with this – they do not support our priests. Much the opposite. They rarely communicate and certainly do not listen. Horrible legacy that will be left
So you don’t like the priest meetings which have a purpose of two-way communication then you complain that there is no communication or support. Just admit it – all you want to do is complain and blame without any basis of truth or access to data. Stop trying to invent problems and create discord and try being part of the path forward.
Prayers for Father Andrew DeKeyser. Add in prayers for ALL priests!
Sad for sure.
Change in leadership for the Diocese is needed !
They’re more that needs to be changed than our Diocese. Needs to start with our Pope all the way down.
Looks like Francis and his close associates have jumped the shark with his response to the recent dubia. Getting more difficult to honestly believe we have a valid pope in the chair of St. Peter at the moment.
I will say this once more and people can hate all they want but it’s the truth. The only way are Diocese can be effective is to split up with the other Diocese in the state(besides Evansville of course). Any change to our Diocese is already too late. Even a new bishop (which will more likely be a Aux Bishop from the Archdiocese of Chicago), can’t save the damage that has been done. Most likely we are spending Thousands on the Retreat center and on top of that this United in Heart which is going nowhere other than posting a couple of articles from a Mega Church Protestant pastor(two weeks worth). If it wasn’t for Indy doughnut counties our Diocese would sink more faster than the Titanic but it still sinking. At the end of the day our Diocese needs spilt. It’s not the 1950 when our Diocese was created. More Catholic are leaving the church than when our Diocese was created. And we are losing Priests then gaining. Hard fact is our. Diocese is one of the smallest not only in our State but the US as well. Hard truth but it’s time to spilt our Diocese up.
The bishop turns 74 next year. A year and a half can’t come soon enough. I just pray that his replacement is just as good.
I hear most bishops are staying extra years because so many are rejecting appointments as bishops. So we may have bishop Doherty a few more years or worse maybe get Fr. Ted Dudzinski who is hungry for the job and really been doing it for about 8 years anyway.
Most likely as our Francis being our Pope our next bishop will probably be a priest or auxiliary bishop from Archdiocese of Chicago. Our Diocese is Wreaking what plans Chicago place on there parishes and since we are literally right next door and Archbishop Thompson of Indianapolis has been conservative I wouldn’t be surprised our next bishop come from Chicago and continue downtreky of our Diocese.
Ten years ago a friend told me that I would wake up someday, and I would not recognize my country. That has happened.
I never thought that would happen with my church, but it has.
Just wait until you get a load of the “Church” upon the conclusion of the Synod of Sin.
The recent article in the CathMoment about the “Director of Pastoral Planning “
What are her credentials?
How much are WE paying her?
Our pastor says she travels from parish to parish…oops I mean pastorate…to enforce the New Way of Being (that’s what the CathMoment once called Uniting w/o Heart).
She “meets with the directors of the other diocesan offices twice a month to keep communication lines open.” If you really need a person to do that, it sounds like like a dysfunctional, overpaid organizational structure.
This isn’t a real job.
But WE are paying for it.
The Director is being paid by the Missionary Appeal. They’re doing everything but picking our pockets as we leave church to make this goal.
What a waste of time & money. Surely our good priests can be doing real and effective spiritual work instead of meeting with someone who has such a ridiculous job description.
Our diocese is like a small child always begging its parents for candy. As parents we knew it was best most times just to say no. Too much sugar and kids grow flabby and their teeth start to rot.
Truly a waste of money. Has her job because she’s a clause buddy of the VG and agrees with all he says
*close buddy … not clause
THIS. ALL OF THIS. But does it matter? No. I wish I got so much to bully people.
Yes this is yet one more un-needed level in the hierarchy – in the lines of communication between a pastor and the bishop. We have too many bosses – too many people telling and acting as go betweens. The bishop is to be the spiritual head, the boss if you will, yet now we have this unordained, unqualified person, who was just a couple of years ago parish admin, telling us how to run our ministries, run our offices, run our councils and trying to “train” us. What are her management credentials? Project management credentials? People management credentials? Pastoral care credentials? Friendly person, yes. Good person yes. Child of God yes. But ready to tell or help us grow our parishes and ministries? They created a position for her funded by the 10k tax on the pastorates. What is the long term cost? She is very well paid, adding to the chancery bloat, and I’m told never in the chancery office. Unfortunately she is adding chaos and confusion to what has already been and will continue to be a very challenging time in the diocese.
Another human-shield for our Napoleonic VG destined to fail…
I just got an email from the bishop’s office explaining what each department and person does. For Missy Krockover’s rather new department (which has 3 other people in it) it says:
“The office of planning facilitates consultation within and among pastorates, schools, and diocesan staff to sustain and ongoing process of dialogue and decision making regarding the mission of the Church, as defined by the vision and value statements of the diocesan”
It cuts off there so I really don’t know who did the defining. I know for me, Christ already laid out and clearing defined and died for the mission, vision and values and I sure don’t need an intermediary, especially one with no credentials, to facilitate any discussions, decisions or processes we have.
Who’s getting excited for the Synod on Synodality?
Anyone……….?
Anyone……….?
Bueller………?
Bueller………?
Bueller………?
I am more curious about the effects of these multiple meetings and retreats that the priests have. Is there a real benefit to have two weeks a year and monthly times when the laity read in their bulletins: “No Masses this week, no Confessions”? Some of our priests are working hard to get an appreciation of the sacraments but the diocesan administration seems unconcerned about the laity. Corporation practices are great if you want to sell coffee. If it’s God’s Grace that is your job, figure out another way to do this. We need St John Vianney, not Bill Gates.
What is to be gained from depriving the laity of the Mass and Confession for a week? This speaks of a lack of sacramental awareness on the part of those in charge of this diocese.
The stupid plan says priests need to be continually “formed” or something. Plus the giant sucking sound known as the St. Joseph Retreat & Dumpster Fire Center is hungry. Forcing the priests to attend (and pay for) events at this empty place props it up and makes the VG look slightly less ridiculous (temporarily at least).
If you are a layperson and are feeling neglected by all this, then you are awake.
I’m ok and think it is good to get the priests together as a group at times to strategize, make plans, discuss problems, review successes, and build a spirit of teamwork and comradery. But next week the priests and all the parish staff have been required to attend a “Gender Conference.” Oh boy what good can come from that? Sounds like a ploy to cozy up to society and its perversions again. Even the Pope says “Gender ideology is ‘one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations’ today.” I can’t wait to hear what is spoon fed to us.
Not sure what diocese you think you’re in, but what actually happens at mandatory priest gatherings is normally the opposite of the lovely things you listed:
1. Strategize? (Unless it’s strategizing a way to avoid the next meeting)
2. Make Plans? (Unless it’s making plans for early retirement)
3. Discuss Problems? (Being ignored and lectured-at is not “discussion”)
4. Review Successes? (If only…)
5. Build a spirit of teamwork and comradery? (see #4)
As for pandering to the latest perversion of the godless, dead-souls that are nearly done tearing down the republic, the “gender conference” should simply entail handing out note cards with one phrase written on it: “Genesis 1:27”.
Come, Lord Jesus.
I agree with Facepalm Catholic. I am very worried that these diocesan meetings and “retreats” are mirroring what is going on at the disasterous Vatican synod mess. I know there are many of our priests who stand with the Truth, Jesus Christ. But does the administration? The bishop? Does he speak clearly? Do our priests have to listen to the double-talk of Pope Francis and his Jesuit buddies? There is no doctrine of the Pope nor of the bishop. What do our priests have to listen to and endure? It’s probably a meeting about how to not get sued.
This forced meeting for all priests and parish staff was mentioned in our bulletin today in a letter by the bishop explaining why once again we would not have Mass this Thursday. However the bishop failed to mention in that letter that the subject of the required meeting would be “gender issues.” Seems like a purposeful omission.
Seattle is starting its year 1 of its Uniting in Heart. They call it “Partners in the Gospel” and their pastorates are called “Parish Families.” HAHAHAHAHAHA – here we go….
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/seattle-archdiocese-asks-pastors
Imagine if American bishops across the country showed the same group-think over faithfulness and orthodoxy as they do over decline-management programs. My goodness the whole country would be Catholic in under 10 years. But, alas, there is no easy money in being faithful and orthodox.
“For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” – 1 Timothy 6:10
Our Titanic is sinking so Cupich and Doherty rearrange the deck chairs by taking the St Michael the Archangel prayer out of Mass. This is a good op ed to counter that:
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/alarms-about-the-st-michael-prayer
What really sets of the hypocrisy alarm is when the St. Michael prayer can’t be recited at mass because – you know – it’s not in the general instructions, but the stupid Uniting in Heart fundraising prayer is required to be recited at mass because – you know – it’s not in the general instructions.
And they wonder why the laity are getting so uppity these days….
Another crazy thing about Uniting in Heart is that some pastors seem to be taking it easy because they know they can get by with a lot during this chaos.
My husband and I tried to connect with our pastor this summer and he’s always gone – vacation, chaplain of this group, chaperoning youth trip, chaplain of another group.
Thank heavens the assistant priests are here. They seem to be the only ones working!
PS The sound system was terrible most of the summer. When I complained a staff told me only the pastor knows how to run it. Go figure.
I think you are passing a harsh judgement on a very good priest. I think I figure out who you are talking about and your parish is blessed to have him.
Priests aren’t taking it easy in this “chaos”. Some are working harder than ever and if you took time to not pass judgment, you’d realize that they are praying for your soul to get to heaven.
Are you sure about your statements Grass Isn’t Always Greener? In my 60 plus years as a practicing Catholic, I have never felt so abandoned and disillusioned with my local pastor. He frequently preaches how “priests need days off, priests need time away.” It gives off a vibe like he doesn’t want to be disturbed, even on the days he’s not away. It seems to me this priest in particular is more concerned about his needs than those of his parish. Heaven help us!
@whatever
Yes, I am. I know MANY of our priests are doing the best they can and are working harder than ever. Just because your needs aren’t being served doesn’t mean that your priest isn’t working hard. I read through these comments on this page and posts, and I do wonder what it is exactly you’re looking for in your parishes/pastorates.
Maybe a good priest but horrible leader/manager. The staff is in chaos with multiple resignations and internal bickering all the time. The finances are in shambles and the pews are more empty each week.
Which parish?
I would say like the church as a whole around the world, we are struggling. This struggle includes, fewer priests, fewer parishioners, more sinful acts in the church, more parishioners and clergy conforming to the ways of the world, less funds available, fewer volunteers, etc. I don’t see that this struggle is the result of UiH and I don’t really see UiH helping with the struggle. Even in our own diocese we see vast differences in communities that are well off and growing and thus have growing parishes (e.g. Hamilton County) and communities that are poor and shrinking (north part of diocese). So with or without UiH we are on the same troubling path as most of the rest of the church around the world. And this bad path is not just a Catholic phenomenon either. Almost all faiths and denominations are on this same regrettable path.
That may be true, but our VG and head-in-the-sand bishop put a lot of work in leaving our diocese in spiritual and financial trouble
The Archbishop of Indpls has 32 seminarians….32 young men discerning a priestly vocation with Archbishop Thompson as their father and shepherd. Maybe not in such dire straits as us. Pope St John Paul II said a bishop’s legacy is in his seminaries and priests. Indeed.
In 2014 the Archdiocese of Indianapolis closed 3 parishes in Indianapolis and in 2013 closed 12 parishes in small rural areas. So all has not been healthy in that diocese as well.
@ Anonymous those closing were during the Cardinal Tobin years. Something telling me with 32 seminarians something going right right now with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
The third year of the diocesan prison sentence known as “Uniting in Heart” was much like the second and the first as evidenced by all the comments on this site. With at least two years to go in our collective sentence, my hope is that the bishop attempts an early retirement and it is granted. Short of that and for the sake of his own soul, I hope the VG fails even harder in enforcing our collective sentence as the next two years hurtle toward their inevitable conclusion.
These temporary stewards of our local Church’s affairs are rapidly running out of time. Like anyone who has received a terminal diagnosis from their doctor, pray that they finally begin to put their affairs in order and heal the damage they’ve caused before their time has run out and they reap the whirlwind they have sown.
Come, Lord Jesus.
AMEN!
Word’s out that all the priests will be meeting at the retreat center in Tipton all day Monday. What’s next?!?!
Let’s pray for all of our clergy on this the eve of the Assumption!
Blessed Mother please protect them all and keep them in your loving care !
If you pay attention, it is a formation meeting, this happens many times throughout the year.
Sounds like a good idea to me. They need to get together, talk, plan, and build community and culture. In the past when they isolated more, there were more problems of many kind including substance abuse, depression & counseling, and child abuse. Getting together is the sign of a healthier climate.
Going to a lecture on occasion as a group is not community and will in no way address isolation, substance abuse, depression, etc…
Until diocesan priests are at least given the choice to live in oratories with other like-minded priests, the garbage that befalls isolated priests will continue. It will take a bishop of great courage to implement such a humane policy. Sadly, no such courage exists in the current bishop.
Everything going wrong in the church today is preventable.
As a diocese, we need to double our prayers for our bishop so he relearns to focus more on shepherding the local churches throughout this diocese and less on the finances and corporate operations.
Many of our priests are being put out to pasture to fend for themselves and it saddens me to see how they’re treated.
Parishioners are moving to parishes across state lines.
Pray, pray, pray!
What is the status of the Vicar General? Those people who suffer from his support of his friend/employee in Kokomo need to be heard!
Yes! Our Vicar General was approached by multiple people over a span of years with concerns to him hiring Chuck Jansen, and he did nothing. Now, as of Feb. this year… was given information through the correct process on how to report someone for misconduct.. the SUPERVISOR of the victim assistance program himself.. DID NOTHING. They pray it goes away, and I pray it never does. The Bishop had his chance to do something, and….. the abuse, wrong-doing continues.
I’d try to contact the Vatican directly. Shame on our leadership which is more like a mafia who is more interested in power and control than being servant leaders!
Here’s what a real leader does: the Bishop in Ft. Wayne helped pay for over 30 priests to go to World Youth Day in Portugal! How many did our sad diocese help finance to go?!?! Instead we are all paying to save a helpless retreat center that will never make a buck.
Seminarians should know all this.
Actually Bishop Doherty helped pay for 14 from around our Diocese to go to Portugal for World Youth Day. I saw an article from on of the Marian Students in The Catholic Moment about it.
Actually 40 were assisted by our Bishop. See page 10 in print (6 online):
https://indd.adobe.com/view/0cef00d5-d623-4c01-9178-82bc312914d5
How many priests from our diocese were funded? Over 30 from Ft. Wayne…
Priests? Why the Priests? It is World Youth Day, NOT World Priests Day. I prefer my CMA fund to send youth to World Youth Day.
Q: Is your goal to not have access to the sacraments? Is your goal to not have priests in our diocese?
The leadership of our diocese works in the shadows, completely LACKS TRANSPARENCY, and makes one terrible decision after another.
The leadership of our diocese has no relationship with the priests or the people. They should be VERY CONCERNED about getting enough $$$ to keep going. Just from my family they’re down by $23,000 annually…
Every answer diocese leaders give to every question seems a little shady or seems not completely true. That makes people not trust them in anything. Diocese leaders has problems! They never listen.
They never listen and they never learn.
They don’t listen because they are not concerned with the flock they should be shepherding. (Generally speaking – there are some exceptions.)
They justify lying to achieve their “measurable goals.” They have lost 95% of the clergy and 99% of the people. And Deacons are mistreated too.
Seminarians beware!
Time for another 2 page propaganda photo spread in the Catholic Moment to try to glorify Fr. Ted I guess.
Sad how true that is!
We have a large parish, and I have seen an effort to fill the Church population with the Holy Spirit and create a community. However, I am elderly, and I feel of less and less value to the Church. An effort is made to “draw” us in, but we are left to our own devices to make that happen. I was asked a year ago to help in the formation of a ministry to shut-ins, but that was set aside for RCIA. Now it is time for another RCIA group, and the shut-ins are no better served. Did I mention that I am elderly? Was I supposed to create the program alone? Running a parish like a business doesn’t work, and, honestly, I don’t have the answer. It seems that, perhaps, we need to have smaller parishes that work together, instead of megaChurches that can’t reach all the parishioners effectively. The only group running efficiently is the Hispanic population, which, for some reason, continues to grow in leaps and bounds and appears to do its own thing.
Wow! You are spot on! This creation of the mega churches and saying the heck with the smaller (very healthy I might add) parishes completely boggles my mind.
Here the switch to UIH brought us a couple of dynamic young priests who have been great for our parish. I judge this improvement to be coincident with UIH but not the result of it.
In fact, I would prefer for priests to not get shuffled around all the time. Decades ago a parish priest would serve his parish for practically a lifetime. This, seems to me, helped adequate spiritual leadership of the parish, because parishioners really got to know their pastor and the pastor would know his flock and who to tap for tasks and ministries.
Decades ago, also, bishops would be chosen from among the priests of the dioceses they would lead. We should go back to that, in order to ensure organic leadership based in familiarity with regional culture and the people, including the clergy. I hear repeatedly that our bishop does not really know his priests, to whom he is charged to be a spiritual father.
Given how much money was spent on UIH, I wonder who knew whom. Consulting firms of this nature have to see problems that their solutions can fix. Why did the diocese use this consulting firm to tell them how “exhausted” and spent the priests were? Why are priests prevented due to the rules of UIH to say the number of Masses that might benefit their parish. The young priests are so faithful and willing to be spent for Christ, but are told they are not allowed to. Then we are repeatedly told there is a vocation shortage when , in fact, good men are turned away or recriminated in seminaries for being “too devout.”
It seems we are being corralled into a “priest shortage” and the goal is to manufacture a need to ordain women and let priests be married. UIH seems to be succeeding at demoralizing the priests and faithful flock. I sense worry and concern that at any moment a parish might be deemed too small or too inefficient or just too irritating to be allowed to exist. At any moment it can just be merged or shut down. It seems that priests must walk a tight rope of spreading the Gospel as the Holy Spirit leads them and not offending the powers that be so as to not be cancelled or have allegations trotted out against them. There is no transparency or even sense that the best interest of the Catholic faithful is at work. Some other agenda seems to be at work.
When parishes and vocations were thriving and families keeping their children in the faith, key ingredients were present–best practices applied. Carmels were allowed into every diocese to pray for priests. Big families were encouraged and respected from the pulpit. And as the contributor above states, priests were allowed to stay at a parish for decades if not their lifetime so that a true sense of family was present. Parishes were numerous and small–to fit the needs of their local communities. Boys were encouraged to serve at the altar and girls to help in sodalities to support the priests and the sacristy needs. We have answers to these problems, that the powers that be do not seem to want to implement. They seems to have a different agenda.
A local counselor said a person suffering from narcissism will never get to know those around them.
With two narcissists bullying, shaming and degrading others it’s nothing short of a nightmare.
Uniting in Heart is the rotten fruit of narcissism.
Our pastorate is currently in turmoil. About 1 month before priest reassignments, we were told to go from 2 priests down to 1, thereby cutting number of masses in half, spread over 6 parishes. We were told you guys figure this out and the diocese will just give suggestive hints. Oh, and by the way, whatever the plan is the bishop’s office must approve it. And your 1 priest is someone who’s never been a full pastor before and is new to the pastorate and community. This seems like incredibly poor decision making to me. I feel like our priest has been thrown under the bus and doomed to a horrendously difficult situation even before he began. What kind of leadership is this???
This sounds like our parish, and we just lost our priest. He got driven out by constant complaints from a select small group of parishioners. He was beloved by most of his parishes and it’s been devastating to say the least.
In keeping with observations and discussions of the local Church, specifically, and in general the Catholic Church in America I submit this timely post:
https://asignofhope379.com/2023/06/26/the-fog-of-war/
Thank you for sharing. I think I saw Charlie Johnson online prior to him getting CORAC established. Looks like his network is up and running.
Something to be aware of and look into.
https://corac.co/help/
Yes. Organization is getting established and very active.
Neighbor helping neighbor.
“We are the folks that do stuff”…
Check out the website. CORAC.co
Greatest joy is that our parochial vicars are all good priests. Greatest concern is the lack of leadership qualities and truthfulness in the diocese and on the parish level.
Greatest joy – our pastor
Greatest concern – corruption in the hierarchy and at the Vatican.