Last year, several hundred thousand Catholic families in the United States lost fathers. In fact, my own children lost their father last June.

No, I did not write this article from beyond the grave, I am talking about the transfer of our parish priest.

Every year, with some trepidation, I read the “Clergy Assignments” notice to see if my spiritual father will leave, once again, to another parish to care for new spiritual children.

We moved to our parish in 2010. We had three priests.

And why? Because, in the United States, pastors are appointed by their bishops for a term of six years, although this term can be renewed for an additional six years. For many of us, this may not be surprising or shocking. This is the norm, after all, and many of us simply take for granted that the Church has proclaimed that pastors are supposed serve in the short term.

But maybe by digging a little deeper, we can discover the rationale for these ecclesiastical term limits. After all, the Church rarely, if ever, proclaims a law – even those strictly relating to its legal and administrative practices – without also explaining to the faithful the purpose and motivations behind the law.

Canon law does address these questions. Canon 522 states: “A pastor must possess stability And SO must be nominated for a indefinite period of time” (emphasis mine). If you don’t normally take the Code of Canon Law as light reading, this sentence might surprise you. An indefinite duration is completely opposite to our experience.

What is going on here?

The answer comes from the second sentence of canon 522: “The diocesan bishop can only appoint him for a fixed period if the conference of bishops has authorized it by decree. » And that’s the problem.

The current Code of Canon Law was promulgated in January 1983 and came into force in November of the same year. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted its “complementary legislation” two weeks before the new code even took effect. Clearly, the bishops’ conference felt it was of the utmost importance to be able to set boundaries for pastors.

To be clear, in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which was replaced by the 1983 code, the idea of ​​appointing pastors for a defined period of time is not present at all. Indeed, the idea that a pastor should remain in a parish – unless there was a serious reason to the contrary – was simply the accepted norm throughout the history of the Church. In fact, the current The Code of Canon Law still considers this the normative approach of the Church. Canon 1748 states: “If the good of souls or the necessity or advantage of the Church requires that a parish priest be transferred from a parish that he governs usefully to another parish or to another office, the The bishop will propose this transfer in writing. and persuade him to consent out of love of God and souls.

Then canon 1749 states: “If the priest does not intend to submit to the advice and convictions of the bishop, he must explain the reasons in writing. »

The preceding canons explain that after this, the bishop can accept the parish priest’s reasons or Again “repeat fatherly exhortations to the pastor.”

We might wonder why there is so much ceremony around what seems extremely mundane in our experience. In a word, the answer is: souls. We read it in Canon 1748. These protocols are in place for “the good of souls” and “the love of God and souls”.

To drive this point home, the final canon on the transfer of pastors states: “In cases of transfer…the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, must be kept before the eyes. » This maxim according to which “the salvation of souls is the supreme law in the Church” is almost certainly the best known and most often cited canon. If we ignore the fact that this is explicitly stated in a canon on the transfer of pastors, we do so at our peril.

This story is normal in our country: The priest who baptized you is not the one who gave you your first communion, who is not the priest who prepared you for confirmation, who is not the priest at your wedding.

Imagine how different the pre-Cana sessions would be with a priest who has known Mike his whole life – a real father. Instead, the sad truth is that a couple may ultimately have more interaction with their caterer than with their pastor. Sadder still, we may treat our pastor in the same transactional manner. In other words, we may treat our pastor simply as a sacrament dispenser rather than as our spiritual father. “After all,” we say, “in a few years he will be gone and someone new will move in.” »

This is, however, a somewhat predictable response to the constant turnover of our pastors. We are told that we are a “parish family”. However, being a father is not just a position to be filled. The specific reasons why American bishops have set term limits are, frankly, somewhat opaque. A common suggestion is that this protects against a so-called “cult of personality”.

I have no doubt about this effect. After all, it is difficult to become attached to a “father” who we know will soon leave us. Therefore, we do not consider them to be true spiritual fathers.

So there will be a farewell cake for your father after mass on a Sunday. If everything goes as planned, the logic goes, neither we nor the pastor will feel any great loss, because we have created a firewall to protect ourselves from a possible “cult of personality.” Some may see it as a feature; I see this as a bug. The truth is this: if the loss of someone we call “father” does not bring us sadness, then it seems that he is not really a father in the true sense of that term.

The Curé of Ars tells us that “A good shepherd, a pastor after God’s heart, is the greatest treasure that the good Lord can bestow on a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy. » This is an incredible statement. However, this makes sense when we recall that “the salvation of souls is the supreme law of the Church”. Because, as Pope Paul VI reminds us in Christus Dominus,pastors in their own name…are entrusted with the care of souls. One of the most precious gifts of divine mercy is therefore a pastor who loves the souls entrusted to him.

Love, as we know, requires that the loved one be known. This is why Paul VI notes: “In exercising their function as shepherd, pastors must strive to know their own flock. » This is perhaps the most fundamental reason why the Church teaches that the stability of the pastor is so necessary: ​​so that he can better know, and therefore love, the souls entrusted to him, and thus ultimately contribute to fulfill the supreme law of the Church: the salvation of souls. .

If we have not yet understood the repeated instructions of the Church on the matter, Paul VI tells us very clearly. “But the parish only exists,” he told us, “for the good of souls. …Pastors should enjoy in their respective parishes this stability of function which is the good of souls requests» (emphasis mine).

Much has changed in the 40 years since bishops adopted the six-year term for pastors. There is no doubt that the Bishops’ Conference believed at the time that there were good reasons to adopt this measure. There may well have been some. However, it seems that after 40 years, the time has come for the USCCB to thoroughly re-examine these reasons and ask whether it truly serves the supreme law of the Church.

I urge them to turn to Saint Jean-Marie Vianney as their boss in this matter. He is in fact the patron saint of priests. Pope Benedict XVI called him “a true example of a pastor serving the flock of Christ.” Vianney is better known under the name “Curé d’Ars”. It is perhaps appropriate that the patron saint of parish priests is known by the name of his parish.

He will remain in Ars for 41 years. He prayed: “My God, grant me the conversion of my parish. I am ready to suffer all my life. …I am ready to endure the most severe pain, even for a hundred years. Only let my people be converted.”

Patron and model of the Church par excellence of pastors was the priest of Ars — and only Ars.

He was never transferred. Instead, Ars converted.

His prayer was answered.

Saint Jean-Marie Vianney, pray for us.