Priest’s transfer reflects difficult era for parishes MARK GUYDISH OPINION

Goodbye Father Andy, ye hardly knew us.

The Rev. Andy Sinnott gave his final sermon at St. Boniface Church last Sunday, and made only small note of it at the end of Mass. After five years heading the parish, he’s been reassigned to an administrative role as one of Bishop Joseph Martino’s regional vicars, or representatives. He’d rather stay in parish work, he conceded with a tinge of wistfulness, “but duty calls.”

Aside from having the perfect name for a priest, Sinnott epitomized two profound changes in the priesthood. The average age of those entering the seminary has risen steadily for years, and while priesthood was once favored mostly by young men fresh out of school, it has increasingly become a second or third career. Sinnott spent most of his life in banking.

Sinnott’s early days at the St. Boniface pulpit were underwhelming, but one reason I’m sorry to see him go is that he kept working on improving. He slowly got away from a habit of hammering the same basic themes too often, and increasingly added useful historic and contextual information to the Bible readings and the themes he opted to emphasize.

I also feel he had warmed to the job and the people he served. The smile became quicker and more natural; the decisions to stray from the prepared sermon and interject personal quips seemed to come more readily.

And he impressed me each year during his report on parish finances, routinely noting that rectory costs had declined even as everything else seemed to escalate. He saved money by cutting his own expenses to the bone.

Sinnott was not the most inspirational priest I’ve ever heard, nor the most at ease with his flock. But it seemed clear he was learning – and eager to keep learning – how best to fill the post of parish pastor.

Good luck to Father Andy

That’s why it’s a shame to pull him from the job. Once upon a time, a priest spent years assigned to a parish under a veteran pastor. He could learn the nuances and master the complexities before assuming control of a church. Assistant pastors were abundant; a third priest sharing a rectory was not at all uncommon.

In my youth, St. Francis of Assisi in West Hazleton always had at least two priests. In fact, the parish built and ran St. Michael’s Church a mile or so away to serve residents in the Cranberry section of Hazle Township. Transfiguration Church, which was connected to the elementary school I attended, had at least three priests.

Now, St. Michael’s is closed and St. Francis has one priest shared with a nearby parish. Transfiguration school is closed, and the church similarly shares its lone priest with a second parish.

The incredibly shrinking pool of priests has destroyed the old system in which a newly ordained man could be exposed to a variety of ministries and mentored by a veteran pastor. Now, new priests get put in charge with relatively scant preparation and must, like Sinnott, learn as they do. And unlike their predecessors, they can’t turn to other priests in their rectory for advice or support.

There is some evidence that a parish is more likely to thrive when it keeps the same dedicated pastor a long time. But pastor longevity in Luzerne County has become an increasing rarity.

Running a Catholic parish is a tough job in good times, doubly so in these uncertain days of dwindling finances, shuttering institutions, and discontent parishioners. I admire Father Andy for taking on the challenge, and for his willingness to grow into the role.

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Opinion

Good luck to Father Andy

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