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Originally Posted by moonshoes  That's so wonderful. Unfortunately, my parish is in quite a poor area and we just don't have a lot of money. We barely have heat in the CCD center during the winter and have to meet in the basement of the church with our coats and hats on! There is going to be a lot of restructuring in our Diocese over the next year or two, praying that we will be kept open!
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Take heart, mama! My parish is a tiny little mission chapel, literally next to the railroad tracks in a less-than-well-to-do hamlet. About 18 years ago, with a severely dwindling congregation, we were on the verge of closing; and at that time our deacon took over as Pastoral Administrator, and made some dramatic changes. Now we are bursting at the seams, with lots of young families, a thriving faith formation program, and more liturgical ministers (including many RE students) than many larger churches. Although we are technically a mission church, we are totally self-sustaining; and we just recently survived a big round of parish closings and consolidations in our diocese.
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Originally Posted by DiannaK I'm a little confused ... I thought the only folks that could preside over a baptism, or give a homily would be a Deacon or Priest ......
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I'm in a diocese that is trying to deal with a severe shortage of priests. PLDs & Pastoral Admins have dispensation to perform most liturgical duties, with the exception of consecration.
In our church, the DRE has given the homily at special youth services, and even the youth group kids are (rightly, IMO) being encouraged to do so!
Who isn't getting along?
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