What's The Scoop On Pastoral Associates?

[Brother Adam]

Lisa, you always retain the right to go straight to the Vatican if you so wish, however since you are not a member of the parish I am not sure how prudent it would be to get too involved. Perhaps a short letter to the bishop outlining your concerns, and call it good at that. Hopefully the bishop will quietly nix the more serious abuses.

[Lisa]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1313069926' post='2285877']
Lisa, you always retain the right to go straight to the Vatican if you so wish, however since you are not a member of the parish I am not sure how prudent it would be to get too involved. Perhaps a short letter to the bishop outlining your concerns, and call it good at that. Hopefully the bishop will quietly nix the more serious abuses.
[/quote]

I sent you a PM. Thanks

[BG45]

[quote name='Lisa' timestamp='1313067956' post='2285868']
It was extremely painful. There was more, too and when I talked to my brother about it later, he literally asked "are you sure you were in a real Catholic church?" [/quote]

That sounds like what Missy said to me after I attended my first Mass. I went in to a daily Mass and there was a woman greeting everyone. And it's like "hmm...okay..." and then she began the Mass "um...I wonder when the priest gets up there" then she was reading the Gospel and saying the words of Consecration and it was like "Uh...not Catholic, but I'm pretty sure this is totally wrong..."

But yeah, I'd write the Bishop a gentle and concerned letter about it. If he's good, he'll address it quietly. I know Fr. W. here was called into the chancery over a nastygram because we use Eucharistic bread bakers for our Body and someone had written the Bishop demanding he be excommunicated for "desecrating the body of Christ by adding yeast" and "indoctrinating people with heretical beliefs about the Body of Christ being acceptable in such a form" and "even my CCD students know what grave heresy this man is committing".

There was no yeast of course, but the Bishop made sure to ask anyhow. So if the Bishop in that diocese is as diligent as the one here, your letter probably wouldn't fall on deaf ears.

[dells_of_bittersweet]

I'm no expert on this, but

I'm pretty sure there's a strict provision that prohibits anyone other than a priest or deacon from giving the main portion of a homily.

Just sayin.

[Lisa]

[quote name='dells_of_bittersweet' timestamp='1313114529' post='2286296']
I'm no expert on this, but

I'm pretty sure there's a strict provision that prohibits anyone other than a priest or deacon from giving the main portion of a homily.

Just sayin.
[/quote]

Yup. This is not up for question I was just curious what the term "Pastoral Associate" meant in other places.

[loveofchrist1]

[quote name='Lisa' timestamp='1312902492' post='2284751']
Other than liturgical abuses that made me shudder, there was a woman as the homilist. Clearly, this was not ok...

[/quote]
Oh my! thats a NO NO.
I have never heard of a [b] Pastoral Associate[/b]-its sounds like something you will hear in a penecostal church not in a catholic church.

[cmaD2006]

It may not have been a homily ... if it was a communion service it would be a reflection, which the person is allowed to do. Again when there's a shortage of priests this does happen. I was in another country where 3 weeks out of 4 a communion service was held in the town on Sundays precisely because of the priest shortage.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='loveofchrist1' timestamp='1313247478' post='2286985']
Oh my! thats a NO NO.
I have never heard of a [b] Pastoral Associate[/b]-its sounds like something you will hear in a penecostal church not in a catholic church.
[/quote]
Seems to be a pretty common position in my neck of the woods...

[Lisa]

[quote name='cmariadiaz' timestamp='1313696681' post='2290690']
It may not have been a homily ... if it was a communion service it would be a reflection, which the person is allowed to do. Again when there's a shortage of priests this does happen. I was in another country where 3 weeks out of 4 a communion service was held in the town on Sundays precisely because of the priest shortage.
[/quote]

Well, this was definitely a Mass- the Priest was there, he consecrated the Eucharist. Sadly, 'twas a homily.

[journeyman]

At my former parish (which had no assigned priest) we had a pastoral associate. As noted above, she was specifically in charge of all the "business" aspects of the parish - spearheaded a building campaign which more than doubled the size of the worship space - and supervised all the ministry programs. She was specifically authorized by the Bishop (admittedly, he was not the strictest adherent to the letter of the law - but this vehicle met the needs of almost 300 families for whom he had no available priest) to provide a "reflection." She was a prayerful and caring lady, very involved with the parish community (knew people's names, families, interests, talents), and very smart with at least one MA in theology (partly earned after her initial appointment). Once it was published, she was also authorized to preside at Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest I've since moved, and the parish now has a fraction of two priests shared with other rural parishes. The last I heard, she was working in a hospital chaplain's program.

Such roles for women, while rare, are not without precedent. Of the three "founders" of the Marianists, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade (was a priest), in collaboration with Venerable Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon (became a religious after the Church was permitted back in France following the French Revolution) and Venerable Marie Thérèse Charlotte de Lamourous, (remained laity). The latter two worked with and under Chaminade's direction . . . during the French Revolution, the only way he could be physically present was through clandestine visits . . . and from the history I read several years ago, Marie Therese may have filled much the same role as a pastoral associate might today in an "ordained-challenged" diocese.