By Rita McInerney

The role of pastors in the changing church was the topic of an in-service program for priests of the Province of Atlanta Nov. 21-22.

Father Robert A. Pearson of the diocese of Spokane, Wash., led the continuing education sessions at the Lanier Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, Atlanta.

President of the National Organization of Continuing Education for the clergy and director of the group’s pastoral project, Father Pearson based his four presentations on the document, “A Shepard’s Care, Reflections on the Changing Role of Pastor,” issued in 1987 by the Bishops’ Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In a brief interview after the Nov. 21 morning presentation, Father Pearson said the biggest problem a pastor can face “is the diversity of opinion. You’ve got the right wing and the left wing. A pastor has to go back and forth with them. That can be one of the things that creates the greatest stress.”

Father Jim Schillinger, in charge of continuing education for archdiocesan clergy, estimated attendance at 110 priests, about half from the archdiocese and the rest from the other dioceses in the province, Savannah, Charleston, Charlotte and Raleigh.

Priests, both clerically and casually garbed, sat at round tables in the Lanier Plaza ballroom as Father Pearson spoke, Bishop David Thompson, coadjutor bishop of Charleston, sat at a table in the rear, while Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, who welcomed the attendees, sat near the speaker’s stand.

During his talks and the table discussions which followed, Father Pearson and the participants looked at the pastor as proclaimer of God’s word, the leader of worship, and the builder of community. He touched on the pastor’s relationships with his bishop, the parishioners, other priests, and how the parish is changing with the integration of new ethnic groups.

It often becomes difficult for the pastor, Father Pearson said, to live up to his own expectations, the expectations of his congregation, and the Church in living out his ministry.

Among resources he suggests for supporting pastors are sabbaticals as a normal part of the pastor’s life, and support from the bishop and the parish community. His own sabbatical, in 1983, was a period of study and renewal at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

About the future for pastors and priests, he expressed the hope “that we could put together the whole question of the theology of the priesthood and the living out of it. The difference between practice and theology creates tension.”

He reminded his audience that “not everybody needs to be a pastor. He may not have the skills; he may not have the desire. There is no need to feel ostracized” if the position doesn’t come along.

Father Pearson is vicar for priests and pastor at St. Augustine’s parish in Spokane. He frequently travels to other dioceses to give his presentation and is gratified to see the enjoyment priests find in coming together for such programs as he presents.

“In every group there are tensions, also a lot of fraternity. There are a lot of problems. You don’t see them, but they exist.”

That’s what makes it so important to offer continuing education. “Priests have to realize that education is not a one-time thing. It’s ongoing,” he points out.