CATHOLIC CHURCH Pittsburgh Diocese will permit laity to run parishes

A shortage of priests means greater use of deacons or lay directors.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Priests in Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic Diocese have traditionally tended to both the spiritual and material needs of their parishes, not only administering confession and Communion but also visiting the sick and balancing parish budgets.
But with about 15 of the diocese's 214 parishes sharing priests -- a number expected to grow as more priests retire or die -- the diocese is planning to lift some of the more earthly burdens from overtaxed clergy.
The Pittsburgh Diocese has become the first in the state to commit to hiring bishop-appointed deacons or members of the laity to direct parishes and supervise many day-to-day activities.
In other parts of the country, particularly the Midwest, this division of duties is not new. In the Northeast it's a more recent trend.
"We've been blessed in Pittsburgh," said Sister Patricia Rogan, director of the diocese's Institute for Ministries, which trains lay men and women for leadership positions in the church. "We haven't had a shortage of priests until now."
What they do
Known as parish life collaborators, directors or coordinators, these bishop-appointed leaders do everything from planning Sunday services and visiting the homebound to organizing fundraisers and preparing annual reports requested by the diocese.
Sacramental duties like confession and Communion are still reserved for priests.
In the Pittsburgh Diocese, home to more than 700,000 Catholics, Bishop Donald Wuerl plans to appoint three parish life leaders who will begin serving by year's end, Sister Patricia said. It has not yet been determined where they will work.
Dioceses across the state have long shared priests among smaller parishes and relied on deacons or laity for specific tasks like business management, directing the choir and teaching Sunday school.
The bishop-appointed collaborators or directors, on the other hand, are officially placed in charge of a whole set of duties, said the Rev. Eugene Lauer, director of the New York-based National Pastoral Life Center, a think tank devoted to helping parishes.
"They really run the show," the Rev. Mr. Lauer said.
Northeast less affected
Last year, the number of parish directors in the U.S. stood at more than 560, or more than double the number of just over a decade ago, according to Mary Gautier, a senior researcher at Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Others have put the number as high as 700.
The center found that about 40 percent are serving in the Midwest, where both the number of priests and the population have been declining and where parishes that have been consolidated are sometimes many miles apart.
The South and West, where the number of parishioners is growing faster than the number of priests, account for 50 percent of the remaining bishop-appointed parish leaders, the center said. Only about 10 percent are serving in the Northeast.
"It's not a solution to the problem. A parish life coordinator is not a priest, they cannot say Mass," Gautier said. "But it does help relieve the pressure. It does keep parishes from closing."
The Northeast has been less affected by the shortage of priests because it has traditionally been the center of the Catholic Church and is where much of the church's infrastructure -- churches, schools and seminaries -- is located, Gautier said.
The Georgetown center's research indicates that the average age of parish life leaders is also increasing, with most now in their 50s and early 60s.
"That's not a young crowd," Gautier said. "The jury is still out on whether this is a new model ... or whether, as some bishops say, this is just a stopgap."