Pastoral Care Area Update

Jul

The Syracuse Diocese is divided into 12 Pastoral Care Areas.(PCA’s) that are primarily defined by proximity of Parishes in an area and current linkages of parishes. As you may know our parish is a member of the Cortland PCA which includes: Cortland, DeRuyter, Truxton, and Cincinnatus. Representatives from each parish get together to share information and ideas about Church life. At a recent meeting, Sr. Laura, from the Diocese provided the following information:

At the present time we have 94 “active: Diocesan priests, 86 of which are in full time ministry in the Diocese.
Of those 94 priests, 61 are over the age of 60
33 of the 94 priests are under the age of 30
There are 45 priests from religious orders or from other Dioceses serving within the Diocese
There are 77 retired priests in the Diocese of which about 50% continue in some type of pastoral ministry.
There are 75 active Deacons, 5 on leave and 20 retired .
It is predicted that by 2020 there might be more deacons than priests in our Diocese

There are several areas being served by priests age 74 and over and these areas are considered ‘hot spots’ and are discussing how to meet the spiritual and financial needs of the people in the immediate or very near future.

The Cortland Pastoral Area is currently being well served with the priests taking care of the Sacramental needs and the laity taking up more and more responsibility for the nonsacramental needs. This does mean that we might at times need to travel to other parishes in our area for some of the sacraments ….but they are available to us within a reasonable distance.

Changes in other PCAs could impact us at some time in the future, but there are no changes or decisions at the present time that impact us.

The Diocese is actively seeking to identify those individuals in the Diocese who might be interested in leadership positions in the parish settings. Courses and guidance are available for potential leaders. More information will follow.

The parish representatives will continue to meet to discuss and share new information and ideas.

Respectfully submitted, Peg Orzel