By Gretchen Keiser

An emotional meeting with several hundred people divided in their opinions about priests from the Claretian order assuming pastoral care of Corpus Christi parish, Stone Mountain, led to no change in that decision.

Following an opening talk, Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, took questions from the audience filling the church sanctuary March 9, which began with a woman asking him to reconsider his decision.

Describing herself and her family as members of the parish for 18 years, through good times and bad, she said at one point their ties were “almost severed” during the handling of a pedophilia case against Father Anton Mowat, but that the three priests now staffing the parish had “given us a feeling of strength and unity” after a series of changes. Her appeal to reconsider the assignment of the parish to the Claretians prompted many people to stand up and applaud.

The decision, the archbishop responded, was the most difficult he has had to make since becoming archbishop, along with the decision to assign Our Lady of Lourdes parish to the Capuchin Franciscan religious order. Citing the rapid growth in the Catholic population in the archdiocese as one reason for welcoming the help of religious orders to staff parishes, he said he expects to make in the future.

“Precisely because of our uncontrollable growth, this is the type of problem I will have to face for a decade to come,” he said. “In almost every parish I can assure you the parish will not want to lose their priests, their associates and their pastor. I see things from the larger and the wider view and, therefore, I have the difficulty of making the tough decisions. I am not saying I am making the best decision or the perfect decision. I am saying I am making the best decision I can make” in light of all the circumstances.

Another longtime parishioner said, “You are going to be able to extract from us 44 percent of our budget,” referring to archdiocesan assessments of the parish offertory income. “It seems you could have consulted with our pastor, our associate pastors, our parish council and members of the parish” on such an important decision.

In part of his response, Archbishop Lyke said. “I think you know that if I were to consult with the parish, no parish wants to let go of good priests. In 95 percent of parishes, consulting with the people would yield the same results: ‘I understand bishop, but not this parish.’” His comment brought a ripple of acknowledgement from people.

“There are going to be growth pains that accompany this kind of growth,” he said. “Your comments are understandable.”

In his talk the archbishop said the Claretian order has a “family-oriented spirituality” and that he had invited them to come into the archdiocese “with the utmost respect” for what the Chicago-based province would bring to Corpus Christi and the North Georgia Church. Among the emphases of the order in ministry are youth, communications, and a team approach to parish leadership with priests, Religious and laity working together.

Several questions asked for an expanded explanation of the relationship between religious order priests and the archdiocese where they serve, or for more information about the Claretians.

A woman who said she and her family were at the gathering when Corpus Christi was first planned and its name proposed many years ago offered her belief that “we’ll meet this challenge too-we’re that kind of people.” But, she said, “we don’t know too much” about the Claretians and more education is needed.

While one speaker said the parish hasn’t “felt the support of the archdiocese,” adding “you’ve left us to live with your tough decisions,” another commented that she believed the archbishop to be “a very prayerful man” who had considered the decision and prayed over it. “Even though I will miss the priests, I support you fully,” she said.

Another man said quietly, “I think we should be gracious enough and Christian enough to share what we have. If we think our money is being given to the diocese, rather than for the greater glory of God we need to examine our Christian principles.”

Asked what the future assignments would be for the three priests currently at Corpus Christi, Father Leo Herbert, pastor, and Father William Hickey and Father Paul Flood, Archbishop Lyke said, “They will either be pastors or associates in places where they are very badly needed.”

Father Flood, who came to the parish newly ordained, said “priests are being educated in a very pastoral way here” and Father Herbert called the parishioners “a good and strong people.” “The coming of the Claretians is not a setback, it’s a change,” he said, “You have accepted change before.”

Among the points made by the archbishop during his talk were the needs in the archdiocese for new parishes to be opened and for large parishes to be split into smaller ones. The number of Catholics in the archdiocese is expected to leap from its current figure of fewer than 200,000 to approximately 500,000 by the year 2000, he pointed out. Currently there is no set retirement age for Atlanta archdiocesan priests and even with an extremely encouraging number of seminarians in study, the long range view shows priests will be needed in even greater numbers as others retire and the population jumps.

Archbishop Lyke told Corpus Christi that he wanted to “face the people myself with the decision I made”: and thanked them for their “openness and frankness.”

“Walk with me in the decision I hope is best for the archdiocese,” he said. “There are difficult times ahead. I wish I could do it painlessly, but I can’t do it painlessly for myself or for the archdiocese.”

Despite the range of comments expressed during the evening, when the archbishop concluded he received a standing ovation.