By Gretchen Keiser

An unprecedented archdiocesan convocation, that brought together most of the priests of the North Georgia church and people who head up archdiocesan offices and ministries, is still being processed and shifted through several weeks after its close.

A report, based upon the evaluation of the 178 priests who attended, was to be presented to the Council of Priests November 27. Priests and department and office directors also had separate meetings at the close of the October 29 to 31 convocation to talk about the issues raised by the meeting, the first of its kind in the archdiocese.

The goal at the planning stage was to create a forum in which the presbyterate could be informed about and discuss with Catholic Center department heads the major programs and policies of the archdiocese, their focus, their funding, and any problems perceived by the priests.

Following the sessions at the Lanier Plaza conference center in Atlanta, a more perceptible result was an appreciation by the priests of the opportunity to be with their brother priests and draw community support from the informal contact.

“Priests seemed really excited just to get together as priests,” Father Henry Gracz, one of those asked to plan the convocation, said November 22. While there were few answers to questions raised, communication began and some of the topics that priests were privately concerned about were aired with department heads.

Priests began the convocation meeting privately with Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM the evening of October 29 and also celebrated his 25th anniversary year of ordination. The closing session on October 31 was also private.

In between for a day and a half department and office heads spoke for designated time periods about their areas of responsibilities and took questions from the floor. Morning and evening prayer was said together and a Mass celebrated by the archbishop and concelebrated by all the priests was said the evening of October 30.

Issues that surfaced as a result of recent deanery meetings were: concern that there has been a decline in subsidiarity, that issues are being decided in too centralized a way and at a higher level rather than a grassroots level; concern there is a centralization of authority; concern that deanery boundary lines be redrawn to be more practical and useful as subgroups of a large and diverse archdiocese; concerns about the growing cost of Catholic schools; concern about whether enough consultation with priests is taking place; belief that communication with parishes is weak; questions about how the effectiveness of archdiocesan offices is measured and to whom they are accountable; concern that the unique problems of small parishes and rural parishes are not seen and appreciated in the Catholic Center.

Other topics mentioned were a need for continued healing, for improvement in priests’ moral, for better care for retired and disabled priests and for greater emphasis on evangelization and religious education as priorities.

The archbishop encouraged the discussion to be frank, but asked that it also be friendly.

The presentations that followed were often supplemented by extensive written material distributed by the offices to answer questions submitted in advance by priests.

In reporting this material in The Georgia Bulletin, topics are emphasized that either were brought up frequently or that seemed most meaningful to the general readership. Where possible, any action that has come about as a result of questions raised at the convocation is also included.

Several departments and offices will be covered in future issues of The Georgia Bulletin.

In response to a question about having access to Archbishop Lyke, Father Edward Dillon, vicar general, said the policy is for any priest or Religious to see the archbishop as needed in an urgent situation. If the situation is not urgent, clergy and Religious are scheduled in on his daily calendar as time is available.

Laity, both individuals and groups, are asked to put an agenda in writing when they request a meeting with the archbishop, Father Dillon said, and because of demands on the archbishop’s time sometimes these groups are asked to meet with a representative of the archbishop.

In his presentation on the Finance Department, Michael McNamara, chief financial officer of the archdiocese, spoke to the issue raised by some priests of consultation on major financial decisions and policies.

McNamara said, “Believe me, I want to consult. I want the consent of the pastors in what we do downtown.”

For example, he cited a concern for several years of auditors that there are insufficient controls over the way parish collections are handled before they are deposited. Guidelines proposed by the Finance Department were submitted to the Council of Priests for review and consultation and found to be too restrictive, particularly for smaller parishes. They were revised and resubmitted to the Council, McNamara said, and a concern still existed. As a result, parishes have been given the option of using the revised guidelines or developing their own guidelines and submitting them for approval to the Finance Department.

A revised assessment formula for parishes was developed by a committee of architects, builders, real estate representatives and pastors, he said, a “very hard-working committee that has produced a manual that is a starting point for building programs.

Elements of the manual include winning a commitment from the people of the parish for the program; measuring financial feasibility and coming up with one-third of the cost up front; working with the Archdiocesan Building Committee. McNamara said staff from his department are available to go out to parishes and work directly with finance or building committees.

Numerous questions were raised about the computer software recently implemented in a number of parishes for management and accounting based upon archdiocesan selection of the software. After small group discussion the priest-spokesman from one group said only one parish in their discussion had the software up and running. The consensus from that group is much more “one-on-one support” is needed at the parish level when the archdiocese implements a change of the magnitude of a new computer software package. McNamara said finance department staff member, Kristi Buce, is available to work one-on-one in parishes.

Several pastors questioned aspects of the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal, whether a revised format hurt parish collections and whether it is possible for parishioners to not contribute if they so choose. McNamara said that for a parish to not contribute at all to the Appeal would require a policy change that is outside his authority. Father Dillon, responding to the question about impact on parish collections, said he did not think “it was the experience this year” that parish collections had declined as a result of the Appeal.

The predominant issue of consultation with the priests ended with some participants saying that they needed to be better informed as a body of the consultation that is taking place with priest representatives.