On the All Saints home page is a message from Father Carl Diederichs, the pastor.

In order to tell you how I see my call to service I would like to go, of all places, to the Code of Canon Law. Canon 529, paragraph 1, has become a very important part of my daily prayer. I want to share this Canon with you.

In order to fulfill his office diligently, a pastor is to strive to know the faithful entrusted to his care. Therefore he is to visit families, sharing especially in the cares, anxieties, and griefs of the faithful, strengthening them in the Lord, and prudently correcting them if they are failing in certain areas. With generous love he is to help the sick, particularly those close to death, by refreshing them solicitously with the sacraments and commending their souls to God; with particular diligence he is to seek out the poor, the afflicted, the lonely, those exiled from their country, and similarly those weighed down by special difficulties. He is to work so that spouses and parents are supported in fulfilling their proper duties and is to foster growth of Christian life in the family.

On my part, I promise you that I will do my very best to live according to the Canons of the church and the beatitudes of Jesus Christ.

A pastor is to recognize and promote the proper part which the lay members of the Christian faithful have in the mission of the Church, by fostering their associations for the purposes of religion. He is to cooperate with his own bishop and the presbyterium of the diocese, also working so that the faithful have concern for parochial communion, consider themselves members of the diocese and of the universal Church, and participate in and sustain efforts to promote this same communion.

This October 3, 2002 Catholic Herald article might clarify. When Fr. Diedrichs was ordained, he was assigned as an associate pastor at the Cathedral at the insistence of Fr. Carl Last, its pastor and rector. It was, of course, Fr. Last who allowed the CTA event at the Cathedral until overruled by Archbishop Dolan (see this earlier post)

Fr. Diedrichs gives this description of his call from consulting for parishes to ordination.

"As I was working with church after church after church, and realizing the power of the pastor, what you could do for good or how often it was misused, I thought, 'Hey, look, this is what I've wanted all my life.'"

He said he feels a bit mixed about newly installed Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. "We knew what we had but we don't know what we're getting. I'm anxious to sit down with (Dolan). I'm anxious to know how he and I may agree on Catholic social teaching ..."

The last series of parish reorganization meetings produced these Directives for District 13 [pdf 16 pp.]. Regarding the cluster of parishes including All Saints, it says on p. 9,

Finally, we heard each parish in District 13 express concern that although the diocese and other churches outside the district remain aware of and connected to the plight of the poor and disenfranchised who come to your parishes for assistance and human warmth, you face overwhelming needs with limited resources.

¶ 4/02/2006 07:42:00 AM