By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
COXSACKIE— A shortage of priests in the local diocese is forcing Catholic church leaders to take a fresh look at how to conduct Masses in the Hudson Valley Vicariate West.
There are 10 churches in the region, including St. Patrick’s Church in Ravena and all of the Catholic churches in Greene County.
The vicariate is holding a series of listening sessions to hear the viewpoints of congregants. The first listening session was held Aug. 18 at St. Mary’s Church in Coxsackie and drew a large contingent of parishioners from St. Patrick’s Church in Ravena.
St. Patrick’s and St. Mary’s have always shared a priest. But in recent years a shortage of priests and the advanced ages of many of them has meant the number of priests dwindled until there were four priests rotating between the 10 churches in the vicariate. That number eventually was reduced to three, and now there are only two priests.
That means that priests are racing between churches every Sunday trying to conduct Mass in all the parishes that they serve. That is not sustainable, said Tom Cronin, director of Evangelization and Strategic Planning for the Albany Diocese. And the problem, he added, is widespread.
“This is beyond a network problem, this is beyond a pastoral vicariate problem. This is a universal Catholic church problem,” Cronin said. “The problem is the challenges that we are having in our church today.”
“We are currently looking at approximately 54 active diocesan priests under the age of 70,” Cronin added. “We are leaning incredibly heavily on our retired priests — they are doing incredible yeoman’s work.”
Those 54 priests are serving churches in 14 counties.
The shortage of priests means the church must look at creative solutions, Father Jay Atherton said. His hope is that the schedule of church services does not need to be reduced or eliminated, he added.
“There is an option that has emerged that will allow us to maintain our current weekend schedules and, in time, perhaps even expand it,” Atherton said. “This option is to rotate Masses but supplement with Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (SCAP) based on the Liturgy of the Hours.”
SCAP — conducting a service using specially trained deacons and lay people in lieu of a priest — would enable churches to continue holding services and reduce the workload on the two priests that are available. While many elements of the Mass would continue to be held, the Eucharist — the consecration of the body of Christ — must be performed by a priest so would not be made available on days when a SCAP is being held.
The diocese is currently considering all of its options and no decision has been made, church officials stressed.
Diane Starr, a parishioner at St. Patrick’s Church in Ravena, was brought to tears over the issue and said SCAP was not the answer.
“The Eucharist is the center of the church’s life. It is the foundation of all that we believe,” she said. “The sanctity of the Eucharist deserves and needs to be celebrated during Mass as much as possible. What message does this send to Catholics?”
Others raised similar concerns and stressed the importance of the Eucharist to Catholic life.
“The Eucharist is far more important than anything else that we do,” another St. Patrick’s parishioner said. “We need our priests to be sacramentally available for us and do the sacraments even if it means taking other duties away from them.”
But Ellen Bradt, also from St. Patrick’s Church, asked if other churches are trying something similar. Faced with the choice of a SCAP with a deacon or lay person or traveling to another church, she would prefer staying in her home church.
“I think if my options were to go to St. Patrick’s for either Mass or this plan with a deacon or lay person, as opposed to going to Windham for a Mass, I know I would go to St. Patrick’s,” Bradt said. “Geographically, it would be really far for me to go to Windham or Athens, and I would prefer to be with my community people.”
Cronin spoke of the stress that is being placed on a limited number of priests who have to race between churches to conduct services.
“As our spiritual fathers, they want to get to know us and love us,” Cronin said. “That is so hard to do when they are looking at their watch and they’ve got to race off to the next parish, the next church. It’s a challenge for us, but it’s a challenge for them, too.”
Another irksome issue for some Ravena parishioners is why St. Patrick’s is included with the vicariate that serves Greene County.
“Why is Ravena, in Albany County, associated with Greene County?” Barbara Tanner asked. “Why can’t we be associated with Albany County?”
The question drew huge applause from many in the church.
Atherton responded that the decision had been made at least 20 years ago “because of the demographics and the culture,” and that he was told that Ravena was seen by church leadership as having more in common with Greene County.
“If you’re looking to have networks reshuffled, is that an utter impossibility? About five years ago, when the Diocese started talking about networking, I asked if we were looking at keeping the borders what they are currently or will the borders shift, and the answer was the borders are going to stay what they are currently.”
Eilleen Vosburgh, from St. Patrick’s, said another issue facing the church is its faith formation program, in which children receive religious instruction.
“There are only five children receiving their first Holy Communion at St. Pat’s this year. Zero in Coxsackie,” Vosburgh said. “We can’t have that happen anymore.”
St. Patrick’s congregant Gina Andrews said reducing or changing services at the once-vibrant Ravena church could force some people to switch to St. Thomas in Delmar.
“This parish was vibrant until we became a part of this vicariate,” Andrews said. “And I really feel like we have become a stepchild that nobody really wants. It’s not a good feeling — I hate the merry-go-round of priests that we have had.”
St. Patrick’s congregant Beth Hazelton said that since the pandemic the church has lost many of its regular attendees, and losing the regular service of the Eucharist would be a major blow.
“This just feels like death by a thousand cuts,” Hazelton said. “My family and I need the Eucharist in our life. We will do what needs to be done but it breaks my heart to see my parish family erode away. It will become a decision of whether it will be here or at St. Thomas, where there is a vibrant parish family, and that would break my heart, too.”
Cronin said the priest shortage and a reduced parish population have forced the church to look at other options. The listening sessions are a way of gauging community reaction to steps the church is considering.
“It’s not easy, it’s going to be incredibly tough, but we are a family, our parishes and communities, and Father Jay is doing his darndest to come up with creative solutions to not close churches,” Cronin said. “We have too many buildings — we cannot afford them anymore and our church Masses are only approximately 30% filled. You need to hear the reality of our church — it’s sad but it’s true.”
No decision has yet been made. Subsequent listening sessions have also been held at St. Theresa’s in Windham and Sacred Heart in Cairo.
