A little more than two and a half weeks before Phase I of
the Archdiocese of Boston reorganization takes effect, and the first Pastoral
Collaboratives come into existence, with their new pastors. The Archdiocesan newspaper, the Pilot, has an
article of the pastors receiving specialized training to prepare them for this
new role. Luke Hill, who is a community
organizer in Massachusetts, has a good, short history of the events for Commonweal magazine, and
circumstances that have lead up to this moment.
As I mentioned before, the Beverly parish I am assigned to as Deacon, is
in one of those Phase I Collaboratives.
While the new pastors are being trained, those of us on the ground
really do not know how the transition process will go. It is not like a new pastor coming into a single
parish, is a pastor coming in to take charge of an entire city’s faith
community, with three unique parishes. The
process of becoming one united faith community, yet maintaining our
diversities, this will be the real challenge.
The symbol the Archdiocese has chosen for this year of
faith, of new evangelization, is a square rigged sailing ship. I think this symbol is more appropriate than
what they originally thought; because for many Catholic parishioners these
year, we are definitely entering uncharted waters.
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