I will sometimes throw the term “pastor” around as a shorthand, but canonically speaking I was appointed to Assumption as a “Priest Administrator” (which you can read about in canons 539-540), something our archdiocese and many others do with priests who seem too young to be pastors, but who are still given pastoral responsibility anyway due to the priest shortage. In our archdiocese, the term of a priest administrator is only for three years, meaning that my time at Assumption theoretically ends on June 30, 2022. Of course, in nearly every case, a new priest who shows himself to be competent will be appointed Pastor (with a full six-year term) at the end of his Priest Administrator term, as Fr. Ross was at Sacred Heart last year, so I have every expectation of being at Assumption until at least June 30, 2028.
Nevertheless, because I am reaching the end of my official term, I was required to submit a self-evaluation to the Priest Placement Board this week as they consider upcoming reassignments. It was certainly an interesting exercise, and I thought a few of my answers might be of interest to you.
To the question about what drains me in my role, I was tempted to answer e-mails and office work (a very common answer among priests), but upon reflection I realized that was not quite it. What drains me is the constant feeling of being behind and never caught up. That manifests in e-mails and office work, because this is what gets put off when I do not have enough hours in my week, but I truly enjoy even the office stuff when I actually have enough time to do it. Give me 48 hours in a day, and there may actually be no downside to priesthood!
Another question asked me about my future goals. These goals have solidified over the last two years, and I am asking for a full six-year term to try to realize them more fully. (It should go without saying that my overall goal in everything is to help every parishioner and, truly, every resident of Bellingham to have a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus; but I needed to be a little more concrete in these questions.)
In the spiritual realm, my goals for parish have been and are (1) to ensure our liturgies are dignified, edifying, and in line with the rubrics of the Church and the theology of Vatican II, and (2) to establish a small-group culture at the parish, where every parishioner is a member of a small faith-sharing group.
In the material realm, my goals for the parish have been and are (1) to establish a long-term rectory on the campus, (2) to “fix” the altar and restore a more functional sanctuary, and (3) to help establish a Catholic high school in the Northern Deanery. With our school, I told the archdiocese that my main goal had been discerning the possibility of switching to a classical curriculum, but that the archbishop’s temporary moratorium on such switches has sent me back to the drawing board.
Fr. Moore 