Palmerston North diocese local administrator Fr Craig Butler has assured parishioners in the diocese that priests would always make themselves available to the people they serve.
“We are now in a situation where we don’t have enough priests to service all the Masses we have currently. The parishes are being served – we just can’t celebrate all the Masses we’ve been used to saying,” he told NZ Catholic.
In an earlier pastoral letter, Cardinal John Dew said that there are “staffing challenges” as older priests retire and international priests go back to their home countries. This meant priests are having to look after two or more parishes.
Fr Butler said the situation had been compounded by the pandemic, as other international priests are not allowed to fly into the country yet with border restrictions in place.
“International priests will come and go, but we can’t bring any in at the moment. In our diocese, there are two priests we are looking forward to welcoming in the country once the immigration restrictions are lifted. It will certainly help in some parishes,” he said.
Though priests admittedly have a lot on their plates at the moment, Fr Butler said parishioners should not think they cannot approach their priests if they (parishioners) need help.
“One of the things I have to say to people is, it’s not about being busy. We’re available to people and we’ll do the very best we can to look after people we’re called to serve. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
Fr Butler said he is grateful that a lot of people in the parishes are “generally very active and willing to serve, which is great for the Church”.
He said it wasn’t just a matter of helping out, but being “co-responsible”.
“Our focus as a diocese has been . . . on our parish communities becoming communities of missionary disciples,” Fr Butler said. This was their response to Pope Francis’ call for us to be missionary disciples.
“It’s not new, but I guess it’s a change in emphasis for us . . . away from simply looking after ourselves to reaching out to proclaim the Good News.”
Fr Butler said that the lack of vocations – whether to priesthood or religious life – is something that should be addressed.
He believed that there had been no New Zealand-born priest ordained for Palmerston North diocese for the past 20 years. He also noted the absence of new vocations to religious life.
“The world is an increasingly complex environment,” he said.
He said the Covid situation has made life that bit more challenging.
“I’m not aware of any priests with Covid, but we’ve had a few close contacts, so they had to isolate, just as a precautionary thing,” he said. “So, if a priest is isolating, he can’t celebrate Mass. And in those occasions, then parishes will have a Liturgy of the Word with Holy Communion.”
Fr Butler said not having a bishop is frustrating, but they are lucky to have Cardinal Dew as their administrator.
“He’s a tremendous bishop,” Fr Butler said.
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