ARTICLES

Southwest cluster parishes now one community

By Jean Denton
of The Catholic Virginian

There’s a new parish in the diocese.

It is Holy Family Parish, located in Tazewell. . . and also located in Richlands, Grundy and Pocahontas.

It takes two hours traveling over Appalachian mountain roads to get from one end of the parish to the other.

Yet the desire to maintain — and strengthen — the Catholic presence in each of those small, southwest Virginia communities led the faithful of the four previously separate churches to merge into one.

Felicia deCourcy, who was pastoral council chair of St. Theresa in Tazewell, headed the local committee (composed of one representative from each of the four churches) that two years ago began the planning process to unite the parishes.

“We knew that there was not really enough money or personnel to go around,” she explained, “but as we talked about it, we began to understand how, for instance, having St. Joseph’s out there in Grundy is important to all of us — as a faith family.

“We knew we’d have to pool our resources to keep those doors open” she added.

The parishes’ petition to merge was presented to Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo on January 20, approved by the Diocesan Priests’ Council the next day and immediately accepted. (Canon law requires that anytime a bishop moves to create or close a parish he must first seek counsel of the presbyters.)

The petition stated, “We cherish our local community identities and differences and celebrate our different traditions and gifts,” and further noted that the parishes’ small membership (a total of about 300 people among the four) and aging population “limit our resources and ability to respond to the needs of our Catholic population.”

Father Gaudencio Pugat, pastor, guided the committee, assisted by Ross Weeks, business manager for the four parishes that had been clustered since 2005.

Mr. Weeks noted how quickly the diocese accepted the petition. But Beth Neu, director of the diocesan Office of Pastoral Planning, explained, “The proposal was written into the diocesan strategic pastoral plan approved a year ago.

“Their committee continued the task of moving it forward,” she continued. “They really worked hard on this. The diocesan staff assisted, but they were the ones who set up the meetings and worked out the details.”

Ms. Neu emphasized, “They had great communication. They prepared and kept the diocese and their parishioners informed so that everyone was in agreement throughout the planning process.”

She explained that one effect of the merger will be streamlined parish administration. Four budgets and four annual reports will become one, and Mr. Weeks and the pastor will only need to attend one pastoral council and one finance council meeting each month instead of eight meetings for the four churches that span two counties (Tazewell and Buchanan).

But Ms. Neu pointed out that the merger is more about “sharing things,” such as liturgy planning and faith formation.

“It’s more like one parish with four worship sites,” she said.

Ms. deCourcy said the new parish looks forward to “a better flow of leadership.”

Various ministry participants have expressed a desire to go to each others’ locations when needed to provide relief or assistance with lectoring or teaching, for instance,” she explained, “it allows us to call on each other.”

Ms. deCourcy commended the leadership of Father Gaudy who has pastored the cluster since 2006, as well as Father Dan Brady, the previous pastor who she credited for laying the groundwork for sharing and planning.

“Father Gaudy presented us with different models for sharing resources, and merger was one of the ideas,” Ms. deCourcy said.

“He put it to the committee and let us discern. He guided us to look at the strong points and the risks, but we realized that none of us was strong enough to make it on our own,” she added.

Another member of the committee, Cathy Bolling of St. Mary in Richlands, added, “The Catholic presence in these mountains is very small. I was afraid it would just dwindle away. We felt we needed to find a way to keep these parishes viable.”

The others on the committee were Donna Lambert of St. Elizabeth in Pocahontas and Doug Vance of St. Joseph. Everyone in the group said that from the outset they saw the value of sharing resources, but had concerns about how parishioners would respond to the idea.

Ms. Bolling said, “Father Gaudy guided us to slow down and let the planning process work step by step. I was amazed at the cooperation of the parishioners. Of course, they had questions, but now we’re very excited about it.”

Ms. deCourcy said the group was able to bring the churches to embrace the merger, “because we were a very united and prayerful committee and we felt the Holy Spirit among us.”

“The unknown is always scary, but things can’t stay the same,” Ms. Lambert said. “The Spirit has to be moving — not standing still — and it’s been there pushing and guiding us.”

Mr. Weeks explained, “From our perspective it was the grassroots that drove the movement, through an enthusiasm and conversation that developed over three years.”

Father Gaudy agreed.

“What I’m glad about is that it’s from the faithful — an initiative of the parishioners; it’s not coming from me,” he said.

The pastor has designated the planning committee to be the transitional pastoral council of the new parish. He is in the process of naming a finance council representing each of the Holy Family communities.

Ms. deCourcy said there also will be local committees to discern specific needs of the four worship sites.

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