NEW YORK – At a time when many long-term diocesan initiatives center on traditional concerns such as evangelization and renewal efforts, or sustainability through parish closures and mergers, the Diocese of Fall River has taken a different tact, prioritizing the well-being of its priests.
Early this month, Bishop Edgar da Cunha announced the “Stronger Priests, Stronger Parishes, Stronger Church Initiative.” The campaign, which will run from 2025-2027, is a diocese-wide effort to “meaningfully address organizational and individual obstacles impacting the successful and healthy ministry of our priests,” as described by da Cunha in a Dec. 11 letter to the faithful.
In a recent conversation with Crux, da Cunha didn’t downplay other priorities, but said that from his perspective, nothing is possible if priests are not healthy and holy.
“I have taken priests out of ministry in the last few years who are facing different problems, different issues … a lot of low morale, stress, and the priests are struggling in so many ways. We realize that if the priests are not healthy and holy and well, then the parish is going to suffer, the people are going to suffer, the Church is going to suffer,” da Cunha said.
“Without having the priests in a good place spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, physically, all of those things, the parishes are not going to thrive,” he said. “It starts with the priest, because there is really no way to revitalize any parish without the priest.”
Though da Cunha didn’t cite any specific instances of priests’ struggles, local media has reported that twice this year, priests in Fall River have been removed from ministry over allegations of misconduct, though neither case involved the abuse of minors.
Matt Robinson, the diocese’s director of clergy support, told Crux that one of the big things he hears from priests is a sense of being overworked with multiple assignments. The diocese currently has about 60 active diocesan priests and 15 religious order priests, with about 90 assignments to fill.
Robinson said diocesan priests, both locally and nationwide, continue to struggle with the fallout of the clergy abuse crisis, which has created an environment where priests are “trying to minister in a climate of suspicion.” Just like the secular population, priests also have had an increase in struggles with mental health and physical well-being, he said.
Like da Cunha, Robinson highlighted a belief that helping priests, and addressing the challenges they face, can be a catalyst for things such as revitalization and evangelization.
“We think that this is one of the great evangelization efforts that you can do, because while it’s ordered towards helping our priests to be as holy and vibrant and successful as humanly possible, we firmly hope and believe that the repercussions are really evangelical, in the sense that if our presbyterate is as strong and holy as it can possibly be, the effects are going to be strengthening our parishes, strengthening our entire diocese,” Robinson said.
In his letter, da Cunha said the six focuses of the plan are pastoral planning, parish ministry, presbyteral culture, priestly well-being and holiness, personal and ministerial training and standards, and vocations and seminarian formation.
In conversation with Crux, da Cunha said a key part of the initiative will be looking at priests’ workload, and being “very assertive in the number of churches that we’re going to keep,” while determining “the number of parishes, the number of churches that one priest can manage because they feel it’s getting too much for them.”
“As part of this whole process, it’s not just addressing the issues that the priests have faced, but also addressing the issues of the number of assignments a priest can handle. We can’t continue the same way, because it’s just going to get more challenging,” he said. … “We’re aiming to strike that balance.”
At this stage, da Cunha said the diocese has created four task forces to create specific recommendations. The task forces will focus on parish life and ministry, rectory life, parish staff training, and seminary formation, respectively, which reflect the initiative’s stated priorities.
Both da Cunha and Robinson said a catalyst for the initiative was the Catholic University of America Catholic Project National Study of Catholic Priests. Published in 2022, the survey found that while the morale of priests nationwide is generally high, their trust in the bishops isn’t great, and younger priests especially experience some type of burnout.
Da Cunha said he’s also noticed an increase in challenges in his own diocese.
“There wasn’t necessarily one single moment,” he said, “but an accumulation of events – a priest who gets in trouble, a priest facing difficulty – and as we take one, and take another one, and take another one, it keeps adding up, and it gets to a point where it’s not sustainable.”
“We have to do something about it, and that’s how it came about,” da Cunha said.
To formulate the initiative, da Cunha and Robinson said they consulted with priests and lay leaders in the diocese, as well as experts from around the country, including some of those from CUA who worked on the study. At the same time, da Cunha said he will continue to emphasize lay leadership within the parishes, and he has also partnered the diocese with an organization that specializes in promoting vocations.
The initiative was presented to the whole presbyterate a few weeks ago, da Cunha said. Most Fall River priests Crux reached out to did not respond to a request for comment.
Father George Bellenoit, a retired priest in the diocese who serves as a Mass assistant at Holy Trinity Church in West Harwich, Massachusetts, echoed the challenges outlined by da Cunha and Robinson. He said the initiative is important, but he noted the challenge of sustainability over the next three years.
“I believe the initiative is a well-thought-out plan for the diocese as we move forward,” Bellenoit told Crux in an email, calling the priorities it outlines “realistic.” “Moving forward with this initiative and sustaining its implementation over the three years will be challenging, requiring ongoing commitment.”
Bellenoit said that in a small diocese everyone needs support and encouragement, and that “lay and diaconal administrative leadership is greatly needed to free priests for the ministries that are theirs by virtue of their ordination.”
