It has been somewhat of a CF tradition to share news on the assignments and reassignments of priests in the DoR. You are invited to join in the commentary with whatever you know at this point. Please don’t speculate. We’ll keep the comments open until the list appears in the Courier.
5/3/21:
The full list of appointments can now be found here: Bishop Salvatore Matano announces 2021 pastoral appointments | Catholic Courier
This post is now closed to further comment.
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There was an erroneous entry earlier today, which I’ve deleted b/c it wasn’t correct. What I understand is that Fr. Daniel L. White (the younger, not the assistant to the Bishop) has been assigned to the two parish combination of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Katharine Drexel, as parochial vicar. That current parochial vicar is Father Anthony Amato, who will become Parochial Administrator of the adjoining St. Peter’s Parish, which includes St. Dominic’s in Shortsville, St. Felix in Clifton Springs, and St. Francis in Phelps. The current pastor of St. Peter’s Parish is Father Peter Van Lieshout, who has been named Rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
I was privileged to be able to attend the Divine Mercy celebration at St. Dominic’s in Shortsville, mutually led by true ‘brother priests’ for their love of the Lord and of the parishioners. Both heard confessions, led Divine Mercy Prayers and Adoration. Fr. Van Lieshout preached the Mass, and Fr. Amato preached the Divine Mercy Homily and offered Benediction. Beautiful!
Father Peter Van Lieshout, Rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral
Father Peter Bishop Mottola, Pastor of Peace of Christ Parish
Father Kevin McKenna, Pastor of Saint Theodore’s Parish
Father Steve Lape, Pastor of Holy Family Parish
Father Justin Miller, Parochial Administrator Saint John the Evangelist Parish Spencerport
Father Rob Bourcy, Pastor of Transfiguration Parish concurrent with Pastor of Saint Catherine Mendon
Father Anthony Amato, Parochial Administrator Saint Peter’s Parish
Pending: who is going to Watkins Glen? Where will Father Fred Assuming go?
Two newly ordained probably going to take the place of Fr. Justin Miller in Auburn and Fr. Daniel White in Owego.
Father Robert Schrader and Father Mike Bausch retiring.
On what date(s) are these changes to be in effect?
Aren’t the announcements usually in June?
It is my understanding that all the changes (unless otherwise noted) are effective on Tuesday, June 29th; ironically it is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. As long as I can remember, it is always the last Tuesday of June when they play “Musical Rectories”, with all the priests moving out and then moving in on the same day. But of course there is coordination behind the scenes as boxes leave, and boxes arrive. Actually for the complexity involved, and sometimes the distances, to the flock it generally appears quite seamless.
Over the years, the process of naming priests to their assignments has changed. We used to begin to hear of the first changes as early as February. The senior priests were seen to have first choice so there was at that time a certain prestige to being announced early. Obviously the ones not announced until late May had much less tenure, and one might assume lots of negotiations behind the scenes as the number of opportunities shrink with each announcement. I’ve only seen one assignment get changed during the process, after it was announced, and it was believed to be at the petition of the receiving pastor of a new ordinand. Very messy.
M-K’s thought about June announcements is a once-in-a-while exception, sometimes waiting for an ordination to actually take place before announcing. Also, sometimes there are restrictions on what changes a bishop may make if he is soon offering his resignation, as Bishop Matano will be this year, when he turns 75 on September 15, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Fr. Assuming is returning to Ghana at the request of his bishop.
Per the St. Mary et al bulletin here:
https://www.parishesonline.com/find/st-marys-church-13021/bulletin/file/06-0329-20210418B.pdf
Deacon Joseph Maurici will be appointed parochial vicar of that cluster, serving under Fr. Lioi (who will apparently not be retiring, despite the fact that he will be 80 in December, if I recall correctly.) The “pastoral planning process” will lead to some closures announced in Auburn and the surrounding area in the coming months.
Fr. Stephen Karani will be heading to Auburn to head the other cluster, while Father John Gathenya will replace Fr. Karani in Wayland etc.
Obviously, we can expect a new pastor at Assumption/Resurrection following the untimely death of Fr. Heyman.
Since Transfiguration will be clustering with St. Catherine of Siena, Fr. Bourcy will be the pastor of the cluster.
It is noteworthy that Father Lape will be taking over at Holy Family in GATES (not Auburn or Wayland), which has been administrated by Fr. Cool following Fr. Schramel’s death.