Thursday, May 24, 2007
MAPA Convening Board January 24, 2007
Here are the minutes of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Priests Alliance's Convening Board meeting of January 24, 2007 [2 pp. pdf].
They read and reflected on the next Sunday's Gospel reading, Luke 4:21-30.
In the previous month's board election,
That's 42% of the membership. No explanation of how many invalid ballots, if any, or why they were invalid.
On to meeting planning.
Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within, by Robert E. Quinn, "who believes that people can effect great change in large organizations by changing themselves"?
Presumably MAPA's March general meeting, not the May Assembly of Priests.
No interest? Wouldn't you think they'd want to know why not? Let's see how MAPA's introspection-proofing is holding up.
And yet the newer priests don't want to participate in this conversation.
Notice they don't even consider exchanging homilies.
They read and reflected on the next Sunday's Gospel reading, Luke 4:21-30.
In the previous month's board election,
58 valid ballots were cast.
That's 42% of the membership. No explanation of how many invalid ballots, if any, or why they were invalid.
Those elected are Dick Aiken [Father Richard Aiken, St. Sebastian Church], [Father] Michael Barrett [Blessed Trinity Church], [Father] Paul Daniels [retired], and Phil Reifenberg [Father Philip Reifenberg, Nativity of the Lord Church].
On to meeting planning.
We talked about the Spring Assembly of Priests and Fr. Bob Silva and the book Deep Change.
Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within, by Robert E. Quinn, "who believes that people can effect great change in large organizations by changing themselves"?
We all agreed that there should definitely be an Open Space session at the meeting.
Presumably MAPA's March general meeting, not the May Assembly of Priests.
We considered inviting the younger clergy to report on their experiences of priesthood. Dave had asked Fr. Jason [Lavann] to be an ambassador for this issue. And Fr. Jason reported back that there is no interest on the part of his classmates or other younger priests that he knows.
No interest? Wouldn't you think they'd want to know why not? Let's see how MAPA's introspection-proofing is holding up.
We spent more time discussing the current situation in priesthood: anger, frustration, burn-out, over-work, exhaustion and a bleak future, and no relief in sight. Far too many priests are experiencing health problems or simply dropping dead.
And yet the newer priests don't want to participate in this conversation.
Then we focused on who as a speaker might be able to help us.
Notice they don't even consider exchanging homilies.
We agreed that Bishop Sklba would be an excellent choice because he understands the many serious problems facing us. Dick Aiken was going to see him that afternoon and agreed to ask him on our behalf. Should his schedule not allow; or if he chose to decline the invitation we needed a second choice. That second choice is Fr. Curt Frederick.¶ 5/24/2007 06:59:00 AM
Comments:
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The reaction of the younger priests is very significant! This really is the trend, the younger guys (and many not so young) have not even the slightest interest in this group. Maybe they are doing what they should be doing, being the best priests they can be and not wasting more time sitting in church basements with these meetings. Wow! And now, looking at the minutes for a few years, I can't figure out what this group has actually done. Can the judgment of these men be trusted that can't see their group as (very!) irrelevant?
# posted by 
: 9:26 AM
: 9:26 AM
Good for the younger priests! The reason they probably don't want to ask them why they are not interested, is because they labor under the delusion that they are 'modern' and 'cutting edge' - talking to the younger priests would just show them that they aren't 'cutting edge' anymore, but are now, 'behind the times.' Speaking of times, whatever happened to these older priests watching for the 'signs of the times'? I would think younger priests having no interest would be an interesting sign for them to consider.
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# posted by : 7:42 PM
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