Pastors Praying for Pastors
I was blessed this week to attend a “Pastors Praying for Pastors” event hosted by the Firs, which one of the pastors at Hillcrest Church had invited me to. It was wonderful! Some praise and worship together, some praying for each other in small groups, and finally lunch.
This was very much an event for and by Evangelical pastors. But I did a lot of hanging out with those folks in college (at one point, I was the Catholic president of the mostly Protestant Christian Club on campus), and the Catholic Charismatic Movement that I spent time with used a lot of Evangelical prayer elements, so I was very comfortable. And boy do Evangelicals know how to pray!
It was really wonderful to have a morning to pray with fellow Christians and to be prayed over by fellow pastors.
I would also recommend looking for experiences like this yourselves – attend another Christian church (key: go to Catholic Mass on Saturday night), pray with other Christians, and see where the Spirit leads. It is important for us to pray together so that, someday, we might finally heal our divisions.
Listening Session Kudos
In related news, about a month ago I attended a gathering in Federal Way with the Archbishop and all of the Pastors of the Archdiocese. We spent the first day checking in and the second session receiving training on the next phase of Partners in the Gospel.
I have my own internal and staff take aways from that event, but the one I want to hand on to you is a serious compliment. During the Partners segment, many Pastors reported their disappointment and frustration with how few parishioners had attending their listening sessions. I had to raise my hand and say that our experience in Whatcom County was not like that at all! Something like 1-in-6 parishioners attending our last round of listening sessions. That might not sound like a lot, but the Global Synodal Process only saw a 1 – 2 % participation rate, so 17% participation is HUGE. Well done, Whatcom County!
Assumption Confession “Crisis”
We are having something of a confession crisis at Assumption on Saturdays. The priests show up at 3:00 pm, and hear confessions until 4:45, but about half the time we are not able to get through everybody in line. In addition, many people are waiting upwards of an hour to have their confession heard. We will likely need to move to a 2:30 pm start time soon.
This is a good problem to have! But we are reaching the point where it is not possible for one priest to have the stamina necessary to get through all of the confessions at Assumption before his 5:00 pm Mass. In fact, I once had one fill-in priest ask if he could be spared that experience and say Mass at a different church.
I am not yet sure what to do about this. We may do some training on how to make a “good” (in this context, “efficient”) confession – focusing on number and kind and excluding contextual stories. I am always open to adding confession times, but we are finding that the Friday confessions on first Fridays and throughout Lent do not have the same capacity problem. Ideally, I would have two priests at Assumption on Saturdays, but the logistics make that challenging.
At this point, I just want you to know that I am aware. If the Lord gives you a solution, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll prepare a survey, a whitepaper, and some town halls at some point.
Fr. Moore 
Hi Fr. Moore, First of all thank you for the official permission to visit another Christian Church (in addition to attending Mass). I had asked a priest about this a few months ago, and he was very uncomfortable with the thought and discouraged me from doing it. On the Assumption Confession crisis–I feel sure you have thought of this–but adding confession times prior to daily Masses at Assumption is what I would suggest. A time prior to the Tuesday evening Mass and prior to the Thursday morning Mass might really help alleviate the lines on Saturday. I think the daily Mass parishioners would appreciate celebrating reconciliation just prior to a Mass, at a time when they have already made a trip down to Church. If that Thursday Mass was moved to late morning or noon, it would also give some of our county parishioners another opportunity for Reconciliation. I was able to celebrate Reconciliation with you a couple of weeks ago, but that only happened because I spent about 50 minutes in line for Reconciliation in Lynden on the Saturday afternoon the week before and was not able to get in. Fr. Moore, I need to comment on this statement: We may do some training on how to make a “good” (in this context, “efficient”) confession – focusing on number and kind and excluding contextual stories. If your goal is personal holiness and helping souls come to Jesus Christ, your message, especially in Reconciliation, cannot boil down to: Get to the point. Our parishioners–who have so little opportunity to speak one-on-one with a priest and/or access spiritual direction–deserve better. I pray for you every day. Judy
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