Catholics share concerns as archdiocese’s Journey in Faith process continues

Dan Goedken attended a meeting this month at the church where he is a member, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Petersburg, Iowa.

When he got home, his wife, Mary Goedken, was struck by Dan’s dejected demeanor as he described the meeting, an informational and feedback session about the Archdiocese of Dubuque’s ongoing Journey in Faith process.

“I could hear the defeat in his voice,” Mary recalled.

The archdiocese this fall released proposed models for future parish collaboration as part of the ongoing planning initiative.

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Under the proposals, archdiocesan parishes would merge to form pastorates, with one or more churches in each pastorate designated as “recommended Sunday Mass locations,” though the remaining churches still could be used for sacraments.

The proposed mergers, about which officials have sought feedback over the past few months, are intended to help the archdiocese address issues such as fewer priests and falling participation in Mass and the sacraments, while promoting collaboration among parishes.

“We need to pull parishes and people together and collaborate more so that we can accomplish the mission that Jesus gave us: to go out to all the world and share the good news,” Archbishop Thomas Zinkula said.

However, parishioners such as the Goedkens are concerned about the message parish mergers could send and the impacts for small communities such as theirs.

“I realize that there’s a shortage of priests, and something has to change on the horizon, but I really don’t think that closing our churches is a good way to start,” Dan said.

‘Troubling’

Dan Goedken’s family has a long and storied history within the Catholic churches of rural Dubuque County.

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“The farm we live on goes back to 1846, and many of our ancestors helped start the first New Vienna church,” Dan said. “As settlers moved further west, they then helped start the first parish in Petersburg.”

Goedken called the potential elimination of Sunday Masses at the churches his family helped found “troubling” and hurtful. Sts. Peter and Paul would have one Mass per weekend under two of the proposed models from the archdiocese, but not the third.

Ryan Wolf, a senior animal science major at Iowa State University, has long attended services with his family at St. Clement Catholic Church in Bankston, Iowa, which would not have a weekend Mass in any of the proposed pastorate models.

Wolf said his opposition to that plan stems partially from a sense of “hometown pride,” but also his fear for what the future holds.

“If we stop having the weekend Mass, does it make it easier for the archdiocese to decide to close the church altogether later on?” he asked. “It seems as though some of the decisions may have already been made, as though the Journey in Faith process is more of a formality to try to inform people of the decision and make them feel as though they were a part of it.”

He described St. Clement as a “vibrant community,” with robust financial support and an annual auction and picnic that garners around $100,000 each year.

“It’s not as though our church is struggling,” he said, later adding, “We’re the ones that are still showing up, the people that want to see the church continue to grow, (but) it’s hard to say that you’re trying to strengthen the church when the end result leads us to churches closing.”

Zinkula emphasized that no churches are slated to close as part of the Journey in Faith process.

He said parishes that do not host weekend Mass can still host sacraments such as weddings and funerals, and pastors can consult with local leadership to perhaps host a weekday Mass or a Mass on the feast day of the church’s patron saint. Prayer services also can take place at these churches.

The main reason for reducing the number of Sunday Mass locations, he said, comes down to the fact that across the archdiocese as a whole, Mass attendance has dropped by nearly 50 percent since 2006. The average church occupancy at weekend Mass across the archdiocese is 37 percent.

“That’s not as life-giving or celebratory as when (the church) is mostly full,” Zinkula said. “To make it more vibrant and alive, we won’t have Sunday Mass at every single church, to bring our people together more. … We need to share resources so that we can do a better job of formation, have better liturgies and better outreach. Rather than being turned inward to ‘my parish, my church,’ we need to reach out. That’s going to be healthier in the long run.”

Options proposed

At regional and parish-level meetings this fall, as well as online, the archdiocese has received copious feedback on its proposed pastorate models, Zinkula said.

The window to submit feedback at dbqjourneyinfaith.org closed Nov. 21. Now, archdiocesan officials will review all submissions and begin adjusting the proposed models accordingly.

Wolf said he is not opposed to the formation of more pastorates, but instead of the proposed models, which would see certain parishes in each pastorate always have a Sunday Mass and others never have one, he suggested a model in which each parish has at least one Sunday Mass per month or every few weeks.

“We want the Catholic faith to grow, and so the archdiocese has to be willing to meet people where they’re at,” he said. “It might be a little more difficult for the archdiocese … but if it keeps them coming to church and it keeps them giving to the faith, any options should be considered.”

Goedken said he would understand if the number of Masses per weekend needed to be reduced. For example, the Spires of Faith Cluster of five parishes to which Sts. Peter and Paul belongs currently has nine Masses per weekend: one each at Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Boniface in New Vienna and St. Joseph in Earlville, two at St. Paul in Worthington and four at the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier in Dyersville.

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“I realize attendance is down now, so maybe we could cut back on some of those Masses when the churches aren’t full, but I don’t think that we should cut out (Sunday Mass at) some of the churches entirely,” he said.

Zinkula said those ideas represent minor tweaks to the current operating model (or, in the case of rotating Masses, are already occurring at nearly 20 percent of parishes) and would not be enough to provide relief for priests who are already “struggling” to meet the needs of geographically distant parishes.

There are currently 85 priests serving in active ministry, but that number is projected to drop to 55 by 2040. There are currently around 160 parishes in the archdiocese.

Beyond the lack of priests, however, Zinkula said grouping parishes into pastorates will encourage greater collaboration and build long-term, consistent relationships among priests and parishioners — something a rotating model might not do as effectively.

“We don’t have enough priests, but even if we had enough priests, we would need to do this work,” he said. “The demographics have shifted so much, people aren’t practicing as faithfully, and we can’t just ignore that and continue on in maintenance mode and watch things decline. As the shepherd of this archdiocese, I can’t watch that happen and do nothing.”

Regarding the shortage of priests, Goedken said he believes deacons — ordained ministers who assist at Mass and administer sacraments such as baptism — could take a more active role in pastorates.

Although only priests can celebrate Mass, Goedken proposed that deacons could lead what the Catholic Church calls “Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest,” in which deacons and lay ministers read scripture passages and distribute Eucharistic hosts that have previously been consecrated by a priest.

Hosting those kinds of services regularly at churches not proposed to have a Sunday Mass, he said, would “help keep the community together” and encourage continued church attendance from longtime parishioners.

According to the frequently asked questions on the archdiocese’s Journey in Faith website, Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest are permitted only in “true emergencies” and are not a regular substitute for weekend Mass.

“My concern is the (merging) of all these churches is going to accelerate the further demise of the Catholic faith in this area … and it’s going to lead to further decreased (Mass) attendance,” Mary Goedken said.

Zinkula said he hopes, and believes, that the opposite will be true.

He said he “feels for” people who fear the lack of a Sunday Mass in their church would negatively impact their community but said his charge as a bishop is “to save our Catholic faith.”

“It’s a hard thing we’re doing together, and everybody’s going to be affected in one way or another, … but what I’m hoping for is that yes, there’s pruning of the vine, but then on the other end of it, there’ll be new life and good fruit that comes from this,” he said.