Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • May 10, 2024 9 Very Reverend Vincent O. Ajayi has been appointed Parochial Administrator of Holy Spirit Parish, Vancleave, and Christ the King Mission, Latimer, effective June 27. Official Appointments For the good of the people of God in the Diocese of Biloxi, Bishop Louis F. Kihneman, III, has made the following appointments: Given at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Biloxi on April 24, 2024. ? Most Reverend Louis F. Kihneman, III Bishop of Biloxi Reverend Jacob Matthew Smith, OFM, has been appointed Parochial Vicar for Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Biloxi, effective June 27. Small group reports show synodal hopes, concerns of parish priests BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY ( CNS ) -- As more than 200 priests from around the world met to share how their parishes experience a sense of shared mission and shared decision-making, many of them spoke of the essential bonds of priests with their parishioners and priests with each other. The pastors met at a retreat center outside of Rome April 29-May 2, to pro- vide input to the Synod of Bishops on synodality; most of their work took place in small groups divided by language: Spanish, English, French and Italian. The priests were chosen by their bishops’ conference or Eastern Catholic bishops’ synod to attend the meeting, and the Vatican had asked the bishops to select parish leaders who had had “significant experience in the perspective of a synodal Church.” The questions they were asked focused on ways they have experienced synodality -- processes for praying, listening, discerning and making decisions together for the good of the community and for evangelization. But the working group reports April 29 also often mentioned loneliness and burnout in the life of pastors, a need to recognize the contributions of women to church life and a need to promote a sense of brotherhood and mutual support among a diocese’s or eparchy’s priests. One group mentioned the need for “mutual care among brother priests.” A group report from April 30 spoke of “a deficit of fraternity and commu- nion among us priests” and a lack of care from the bishop. “One person com- mented that in 30 years of ministry, a bishop never asked him how he was doing, but only told him what to do,” the report said. Another said that many priests are just trying to survive “and rarely feel valued in what they do.” The same group said that “the ministry of women is not a problem of the laity but of the priests.” Many of the groups reported that while their parishioners were eager to share and to listen to one another, the word “synodality” and many of its asso- ciated themes, like “discernment,” were unclear or confusing to people. And one of the French groups submitted a basic question: “If synodality helps us to discern, the fact remains that a decision has to be taken in our parish communities. But ultimately who decides? This remains a strong question in our group, and we look forward to further exploration of this open-ended issue.” SEE SYNOD PASTORS GROUPS, PAGE 19 For updates on news around the diocese, and from the Vatican, Catholic News Service, and Our Sunday Visitor as well previous issues of the Gulf Pine Catholic in full color, visit www.gulfpinecatholic. com.