Dear Friends,
This week we sadly say farewell to a dear friend of Saints Peter and Paul Faith Community.
Father James King’ori of the Consolata Missionaries who has been offering our daily 12:05 Mass for 15 years is leaving Western New York. Father James has been for us the dependable and reliable servant, always willing to assist us and to pray with us. A faithful priest for over 25 years, we have known his gentle and generous ways. We shall not forget him and our prayers go with him in his new assignment.
Father King’ori’s departure represents the end of an era for our diocese. He is the last of a long line of devoted Consolata Fathers who have served in our area. Most recently we fondly remember Father John Reuther and Father Robert Rezac who so kindly served us here in Williamsville.
Decades ago the Consolata Fathers located their house of formation for future missionaries on Brompton Road. Over the years, with the decline of vocations, that facility was closed and the Consolata Fathers moved on to other areas to continue their missionary work. Now Father King’ori closes the door on a chapter here in Western New York and moves on to continue the missionary work of evangelizing the world.
The decline in vocations is something we don’t think about until we lose someone or something. However, it is real, it is happening now, and it affects the life of the Church, especially in parishes.
At the recent Convocation of Priests, Bishop Malone shared the recent statistics on the priesthood in our diocese [of Buffalo, NY]. Currently there are 297 diocesan priests in Buffalo: 126 of them are retired and 164 of them are in a current assignment. Of the 164 active priests, about 60 of them will be eligible for retirement in the next 5 years. In the same time period we anticipate ordaining 23 new priests at most. Of course these figures do not include the average of 10 priests dying per year. Currently the median age of our presbyterate is 70 years: that means half of our priests are over 70 years old, half are under 70. The average age of our priests is 68.12.
What all these numbers mean is that the future of our parish and our diocese will depend heavily on the active participation and leadership of lay persons. In just 5 years, retired priests will most likely outnumber active priests. Our retired priests are very generous in helping when they can, but their availability is understandably limited. In a way it will be the parishioners’ active participation and support which will be the strength of our faith community. We need lay persons to step up and participate in the Church’s activity of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need also more dedicated priests and missionaries like Father King’ori. Finally, we all need to ask ourselves what we will be willing to do for the gospel now and in five years.
Know that I am with you, always,
In prayer and Spirit,
Reverend Jerome E. Kopec
Pastor
Saints Peter and Paul Parish
Williamsville, NY
Article published in the Parish Bulletin, June 26, 2016, page three.