St. Joseph Catholic Community, Eldersburg
Brothers,
At the beginning of the current Provincial Council mandate, the Council initiated a study of Marianist parishes. We have consulted with all Province membership on their willingness and ability to serve on parish staff and live in parish communities. We also consulted with our current pastors with their disposition to continue in parish ministry. We are truly thankful for those who have served and continue to serve in our parishes. It is a wonderful gift that we make to the Church.
We have found this process to be rather involved since these conversations also involve (Arch)Bishops and (Arch)Dioceses and their approach to life, ministry and Church.
In 2018,
Fr. Cris Janson
, who had assumed the role of Associate Pastor at St. Joseph’s Parish in Eldersburg, suffered a stroke and has not been able to return to his duties. We have not been to find a full-time Associate Pastor since that time.
Fr. Neville O’Donohue
has done an excellent job of staffing the parish and working with generous Marianists who have volunteered to help cover the parish since that time. A special word of thanks to
Fr. Pat Tonry
and
Fr. Dave McGuigan
,
who have regularly substituted at St. Joseph’s Parish.
We have been in conversation with the Archdiocese of Baltimore to address the issue of staffing St. Joseph Parish.
After reviewing our personnel resources, the Provincial Council has made the decision to withdraw from St. Joseph Catholic Community in Eldersburg at the end of June 2020. We have been in regular consultation with Fr. Neville and the Archdiocese to arrange for a smooth transition. The Archdiocese is scheduled to announce the plan for the pastoral care of the parish in the near future.
The withdrawal announcement will be made to the parish at parish Masses this weekend on February 22 and 23. As you can imagine, trying to make all of these arrangements is complicated since it involves the Archdiocese and coordinating activities within the Archdiocesan structure for priest personnel and the Archbishop. The Archbishop has been very appreciative of the Marianists and thankful for our many years of service to the parish. He understands that the Marianists have created a special community at St. Joseph and is working to find the right staff for the parish.
We know that transition can be difficult, so please keep the parish community and Marianists who have served at St. Joseph’s in your prayer. We have promised to keep the parish community in our prayer, and we have asked them to do the same for the Marianists as well.
We have worked with the parish and the Archdiocese to schedule a parish celebration and farewell Masses on the weekend of April 18-19 to honor the many brothers and priests who have served the parish and to thank the St. Joseph's Community for their collaboration and support. A reception will be held for parishioners, with
Archbishop Lori
scheduled to attend, on the evening of April 19th. I will be sending out notices to those that have served at St Joseph’s. I realize that this is shorter notice than we would have preferred, but we were coordinating with the Archbishop’s schedule and the life of a parish community.
The Provincial Council continues to study the question of parishes within our current ministries. We know we must take into account the Province Direction Statement as well as the number of priests and brothers that are able to serve on a parish staff or live in a parish community. The conversation will continue.
To borrow from my Report to the Provincial Chapter, I provide a listing of Province demographics when it comes to priests:
* Under the age of 50: 2
* Age 50 to 59: 6
* Age 60 to 69: 8
* Age 70 to 79: 21
* Age 80 to 89: 31
* Age 90 to 100: 7
Please join me in thanking our current pastor, Fr. Neville O’Donohue and all Marianists who have served at St. Joseph’s parish over the years.
Thank you,
