Into the Abyss

When I was growing up much of our educational, spiritual and even part of our social life revolved around Sacred Hearts Church and School in Sun Prairie. Sacred Hearts was somewhat unique at the time of its founding as German and Irish, many recent immigrants, together started the church. Sun Prairie was a heavily Catholic community at the time, and that institution played a large role in the village and later city. Catholic parishes were often the mainstay in immigrant urban neighborhoods from Boston to St Louis. They were places of comfort for the Eastern European and Irish immigrants and the next generation or two that were harassed, vilified and discriminated by the dominant and privileged WASP culture in the United States. Attached schools allowed for many to advance in society and move to college and many to professional schools. As I read and pondered the clerical assignments coming from Bishop Hying's "Into the Deep" process, my thoughts turned to a different time, when a person could count on their parish, their parish priest and the parish community. Unfortunately, that is quickly becoming a relic of the past, and with his new pastorates, diocesan leadership is leading the diocese into the abyss.

For many years, the Diocese of Madison has been in decline. The current leadership desires to manage the decline through its "Into the Deep" initiative. This process is to also supposed to revitalize the dwindling numbers that remain. To meet many of the stated goals, churches will have to close which will lead to further decline. The only numbers with some stability in the diocese, they say, are the Catholic School enrollment, and the number of priests. Every other metric is in decline. It is another matter to try to explain this decline, which the head of the diocese blames on a secular culture, or what he calls a "society working against the Gospel." Bishop Hying conveniently fails to place any blame on the church and its ills, from sex abuse, to its treatment of woman, and how it has failed society and the larger world. Hying perhaps desires more a disengagement from reality. (When I suggested that Hying ask the Vatican to dissolve the Madison Diocese and place it back to LaCrosse and Milwaukee I never heard back, my thought was if the church is in decline so to should its overwhelming bureaucracy.)

The Preacher of the Papal Household, on March 3, 2023 noted the error of disengagement in a sermon during Lent: "The history of the Church in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has left us a bitter lesson that we should not forget so as not to repeat the mistake that caused it. I speak of the delay (indeed of the refusal) to take note of the changes that had taken place in society, and of the crisis of Modernism that was its consequence." Institutional arrogance and hypocrisy (clericalism) have caused a crisis in the Catholic Church. Failure of the US Hierarchy to respect Cardinal Bernardin's "Common Ground" initiative is not unlike what was said by Cardinal Cantalamessa on March 3. Arrogance only fosters decline. Perhaps for years the Holy Spirit has been trying to tell the Church hierarchy, and its clerics something, but they have failed to listen. Instead for many years the Church, with its arrogance, became more exclusionary, more doctrinaire and more pharisaical. It has failed to engage. Many (particularly young) clerics are more interested in power than service, more interested in doctrine than faith, and more interested is punishment than mercy.

Pastorate 25 Assignments

The Into the Deep process will lead to more decline and disenfranchisement of Catholics. Perhaps a new way of doing Church will be required, but I fear Hying's clerical mindset sees only the importance of clergy. With the pastorates being formed, generally about 3 priests will handle from two to seven churches. They will become circuit riders unable to fully engage and create meaningful relationships with the faithful--the Church of Christ. The pastor at St Albert's is being reassigned to a grouping that includes six churches and two schools. He noted that if he desired to visit every church in one day, he would have to travel 94 miles. We are not talking interstate travel, but the old cow town routes. Hying may well want to foster a continued disengagement from the real world, so he can create an even more isolated bubble. But, the reality he looks to create is far distant from the historic underpinnings of the role a parish, and a parish priest, played for the faithful and the larger community. It should be as no surprise that Hying likely holds to the mantra, just obey, pay, and pray. And, in that order.

Pastorate 25 map

The pastor is the face of the local church (parish), now pastorate, and lack of a meaningful relationship with the laity will detract and diminish parish life. I just do not see how it is possible for the pastor, or parochial administrator, to develop a strong and meaningful relationships at up to several different churches and the respective local community. Not only that, but many of those who had the relationships with their parish community are now being uprooted. 

My wife and I did an analysis of the priest reassignments with the new pastorates. There are a total of 83 priests, with 54 moving, and 29 staying. A 65% move rate. This shows a distinct effort to upend relationships of a faith community and its priest. Take a look at what I call the Sun Prairie pastorate. All current priests are moving, including the pastor at Sacred Hearts, in which he had a tenure of a few years. He is experienced and was ordained in 1988, being replaced by a priest who was ordained just ten years ago. Hying has taken away any relationship with the faithful in favor of a new priest, with less experience. The Sacred Hearts pastorate includes four churches and two schools. However, lucky for me and my wife, the pastor at Sacred Hearts is being assigned to the pastorate that includes St Ann's in Stoughton, which we have been attending with more frequency. The "Stoughton" pastorate stretches from part of Fitchburg all the way south to Footville, which is west of Janesville.  Footville may see a resurgence when some disaffected Janesville Catholics move out due to the trad clergy being assigned. Fr. Kelley, currently at  Sacred Hearts, said, when he would sell his car he would say it was never driven to church on Sunday--he had always lived right by where he said Sunday mass so he would walk. That will no longer be the case. There will be three priests serving five churches, and one school. Fr. Budnar, who is currently pastor at St Ann's, and a classmate of Tom Kelley's will become a parochial vicar.

Let me cite another example. The priest who led us to leave the church in McFarland has been ordained less than four years, but in the wisdom of the Bishop of Madison, he has been assigned as the parochial administrator, so pastor, in Southwest WI, a grouping of seven churches and four schools. At the same time, a Monsignor who was ordained in 1977, a priest ordained in 1988, another in 1989, as just three examples, are parochial vicars, and no longer pastors. I feel for southwest WI and the school children. They will not see any female altar servers, as he makes the claim that people would think it is a female centric church.  (I am not making this up.) 

Pastorate 14, where Msg Heiar of St Alberts is assigned

St Dennis parish on the east side of Madison is the largest parish in the diocese. It has been very well led by its pastor for ten years. They paid off remodeling debt early, started an equipment replacement fund for parish facilities, and more importantly have an engaged and diverse parish community. This priest is getting shifted to the hinterlands of the diocese with six churches in Buffalo, Westfield, Briggsville, Pardeville, Portage and Montello. In his new assignment he will have two parochial vicars. One would think his skill set could be better appreciated in the urban area. He is being replaced by a priest who currently serves some of those hinterland parishes. 

Parishes vary in makeup and culture, and more and more we see parish cultures, and parishes, being destroyed by the orthodox priests. These priests are often referred to by some as Morlino priests. David Gibson of Fordham University wrote a few months ago: "These absurdly self-styled "orthodox" clergy are driving away the faithful and so only their fanatical fans stay, and then they say "see only my side is growing." Propaganda at its best. The sad thing is that it is believed. If this is true why has downsizing occurred at St Maria Goretti, and Christ the King? With the reassignments, it will occur in the pastorates that include Waunakee, Middleton and Janesville. It is an issue of priestly formation. I believe evidence shows that Morlino priests are a contributing factor to diocesan decline. Before the arrival of its Morlino priest, St Maria Goretti school had over 400 students, it is now less than 100, perhaps 70. The decline first started years ago in Platteville when Bishop Morlino destroyed that parish with a group of conservative priests from Spain. I recall recently reading that order was formed to make money by sending its conservative priests to the US, and of course, Morlino had to bite.  There are several of that order in the diocese. 

Pastorate 24 assignments

So far, Bishop Hying has been smart enough to preserve his golden eggs--Queen of Peace and St Thomas Aquinas--from the negative impact of Morlino priests. Blessed Sacrament, is another golden egg, but is staffed by Dominicans. One could say Hying went out of his way to assure that did not happen. At some time in the next 15 or 20 years the diocese will be left with only Morlino priests, and then the destruction will be near complete. For these young priests and the Bishop, only people of their like mind need apply. 

Pastorate 24 map

The diocese is stable in school enrollment and number of priests, but for all other metrics it is in decline. Even though the civil population in the communities that make up the diocese has significantly increased, the numbers of Catholics is in sharp decline. Given the stability in priest numbers, and the decline in Catholics, I had the thought that the conservatives were inclined to desire decline in order to maintain the old boys club. Yet, with the priest assignments and how priests will become game managers rather than pastors, or circuit riders, and lack an ability to engage their new communities, I offer two suggestions. 

First, hell will freeze over first, but Bishop Hying should suggest to the Vatican that they allow female deacons, so they may have a role at local churches, and the strengthening of relationships of the parish to the community. Female deacons can augment and add to the male diaconate.  Alas, he will not wish to upset the privileges he finds in his all-boys club. As parishioners see a lack of connection with the leadership they become less engaged, and less engaged means less support, and less support leads to failure. Strengthening relationships between clergy and the laity is important, but that does not appear to play a role in Hying's thought process. The Church holds to an outdated model of a single all-male clergy such that I now believe the preeminent desire of the church is not for salvation, the Eucharist, or even the message of the Gospel, but the old boys club. All else in the Church is below and follows this discipline. Female deacons (if not priests) can provide more personnel to build the relationships and be permanent fixtures, rather than game managers and circuit riders. I will not hold my breath because clericalism is inherent in a Church that would rather ignore pleas of the faithful for the sacraments, like in the Amazon, than provide them to the faithful. They invite people to the table and then pull away the food. (See note 1)

Relationships and an ability to relate to the people in the pews are keys to a successful priest. Several years ago one writer (Bill Garvey) at America Magazine wrote the following: 

People feel it’s a nice bonus to have simply a reasonably healthy and balanced priest with some pastoral gifts. It’s a sad state of affairs that I’ve heard echoed over and over even among young clergy. “It continues to surprise me,” a recently ordained Carmelite told me. “If you are real, relatable and make an effort to be relevant to parishioners’ lives, you are a rock star.” Another priest who has filled in at numerous parishes for 10 years told me, “People seem to be so hungry for something more. If you can offer them anything that connects their personal lives to the Gospel, they are incredibly appreciative.”

What struck me is that it is a nice bonus to have reasonably healthy and balanced priest. In other words, the bar for a priest is very low, very low indeed. If such a combination is the exception than the rule, it is a disgrace to the Church and the people they attract. The problem with the self-anointed orthodox clergy is a lack of balance, and pastoral gifts. They focus so much on doctrine they miss the pastoral. Later the writer also makes this valid point: when desiring to invite lapsed Catholics back to mass, it would be good to ask, exactly what are we inviting them back to? "Are we simply welcoming them back to a church that reminds them why they left in the first place?" In many cases, with the young trad priests, the situation presented is probably worse than when they left. 

Fr Randy Timmerman Pastor of St Dennis
making his announcement of his new assignment

Second, to get a healthy and balanced priest the formation process has to change. Dramatically. Even Pope Francis is aware of the problem perpetuated by Morlino and Hying. Pope Francis once said that priestly formation "must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mold the people of God. This really gives me goose bumps.” Perhaps the saving grace is the little monsters form only a few since most get disgusted with their antics and leave. In December the "Wall Street Journal" had an article about how the young trad priests don't believe in the teachings of Francis and are beholden to prior popes. Apparently, the teachings of the Magisterium only matter when they are of like mind to the young trad. Hying is catering to a group of priests who have a dislike for the Magisterium. It was just 11 years ago that it was heresy in their mind to criticize the Pope, now it is a regular occurrence, led by clergy, laity, bishops and Cardinals.

It is ironic how those who proclaim Roman Catholicism as the one true faith, and demand Eucharist coherence are the ones keeping people from experiencing what the Church has (had?) to offer, by creating a preeminent "doctrine" of an single all-male priesthood over all else. For over 50 years the solution has been to pray for more vocations. Instead, the souls are leaving. And, it is not just in the West. Think of the Amazon where the faithful have to wait a year or more for communion. If you are in the Amazon and want a mass of Christian burial you better time your death for when the priest arrives. If he can find the time to say your funeral mass with all his other duties for the day or so he shows up. The Amazon lacks the financial strength to buy priests from overseas as the Madison Diocese has done for many years. Catholics, in South America (and even in the US) are moving to Evangelical churches where the minister lives just down the road, and can provide the spiritual guidance you may need. To hell with the laity--it is all about a single all-male clergy, the old boys club whose decisions are destroying the faithful and their Church. 

As Morlino priests cause more to parishioners to leave, and as the upper age cohort die off, there will be fewer and fewer people and contributions. Just over 17% of parishioners account for 82% of contributions to the Church. They are not Gen Z'ers that will be around awhile. You can read more about the statistics here. Further, the next step will be closures of buildings to get to Hying's self-anointed criteria of 50% of masses at 50% attendance. As this occurs more people will be lost. As one canon lawyer wrote: 

I believe from my experience and from other canon lawyers with experience in these cases, that when a merger or suppression is started, forty percent of the parishioners it affects will not go along to get along in the Catholic Church. They will not go to the newly named or appointed parish. They just will not. We lose them and we lose them for good. I absolutely believe this and I am gutted by it. I just wish the Church were as concerned as me. (Dugan, Patricia M. Canon Law 101, "Parish Closures are killing the Catholic Church," Aug 18, 2020.)

As Hying leads the diocese into the abyss, I am estimating, based on the 2021 numbers, that from 45% to 60% of the churches in the diocese will have to close. They could leave the smallest in each pastorate open, in order better meet the metrics. In the CTK pastorate, using diocesan attendance numbers, the seating capacity (at one time) is 1,744 for all three churches, yet total attendance (at the total number of masses held) was only 50%. Proving this, CTK, had its attendance for one weekend in August 2022 posted in their bulletin. The attendance at those three masses did not even approach the 50% seating capacity of the church. Thus, if all who were at three masses, attended one mass the church would be at less than 50% capacity. As a thought experiment, let us say that 33% of the diocese population of 138,068 are affected by parish closures, that means 45,562 persons are affected, and by Dugan's analysis, that means 18,225 more souls will be lost from the diocese. Then, think of normal attrition by death, or by those upset with the antics of the orthodox priests. 

Dugan says the Vatican does not care about loss of parishes. In this, is the Vatican holding to the desire for a smaller more doctrinaire church, a claim often attributed to Benedict XVI. The problem with Benedict and other trads is they confuse doctrine with faith. How de-evangelizing meets with the Gospel's go and make fishers of men, I do not know. Bishop Hying is creating a slippery slope for a decline that will not only continue, but accelerate. At some point, those young trad-oriented priests will be preaching to a near empty church, only for their fanatical fans. I can't say choir, because even at McFarland, choir members have left. The problem is that Morlino and Hying have played to one main crowd of their like-minded folk. 

My spouse and I lost our spiritual home for over thirty years when that young self-styled orthodox priest was assigned to lead the parish a few years past. Significant decline has occurred with many friends leaving the faith, some not attending, and others joining a different parish, mostly St Dennis. At this point, I am not sure where a new spiritual home to guide us as we age will be. By the priest assignments, I know it will not be Christ the King in McFarland. Something is deeply wrong when one man can (well, two one you consider who assigned him) come in and change the whole culture of a parish in a few months time. 

WI State Journal Editorial Cartoon, 6-23-22

In the 1990's when Churches were expanding, the buzzword at the diocese was increase capacity, today, it is consolidation. The "Into the Deep" process is not simply managing decline, but I predict it will accelerate decline. Hying is creating a situation not tenable to developing and creating relationships with the faithful. If a relationship between priest and laity fails to develop, the parish will fail. And, when historic family ancestral churches are closed, more relationships will be destroyed. Hying is famous for excluding, and I am sure he expects collateral damage to some parishes. If CTK is an example, instead of going to another Catholic parish, many will just leave. Dugan says the same thing.

Bishop Hying has chosen self-styled orthodox priests and clericalism over the larger faith community. By blaming the wider culture he can shove off any responsibility for his own role. The real losers will be the faithful of the diocese who have stuck with the Church from one crisis to the next. Hying is playing poker with the faithful. He apparently believes strong connections for a former parish community and its larger community in which it was embedded no longer matter. You do not have a parish priest, but a pastorate priest, a game manager, a circuit rider. Perhaps that gets to what he really desires, a smaller more doctrinaire church he can rule as a medieval lord. He is leading the diocese into the abyss.

“Let anyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev 2:7).

Sources:

https://intothedeepmadison.org/

Papal preacher sermon of March 3, 2023: https://www.cantalamessa.org/?p=4059&lang=en

Dugan: https://www.canonlaw101.com/blog/m4ih7ox4m4nwz9qg8yl73p7rlsydel

https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/pope-warns-poorly-trained-priests-can-become-little-monsters)

https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/post-clerical-catholics 

Note 1: After the Amazon Synod in Oct 2019, the US Bishops had their ad limina visits with Pope Francis. Several news reports indicated that they were concerned with two suggestions made by the synod: female deacons and allowing older married males to be priests. The US Bishops kept pressing the Pope to assure neither of these happened. Clearly, this shows a Church more concerned about the single all-male clergy over all else. They did not inquire about how the faithful in the Amazon could get the sacraments, only how not it should be addressed. I would say such opinions border on classism if not racism. It is easy for the US to make up the priest shortage by buying priests from overseas.