I live, work and worship in the City of Greater Sudbury. We are part of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, a 196, 603 square kilometre Diocese, which is home to over 200,000 Catholics who are shepherded by 67 active priests in 105 parishes.
This means that most priests administer to the needs of more than more parish. Imagine running two households. Paying the bills for two properties? Attempting to balance the needs of two families?
There is one priest for every 3000 Catholics in this Diocese. Imagine number of Masses, Weddings, and Funerals each priest presides over in a year. How many sacraments does each of these men perform? How do they find the time to minister to the personal needs of their flocks?
These numbers are staggering. How can 67 men tend to the spiritual needs of so many? The spiritual answer is that God gives them the strength to carry on and to do His good work.
But these are also men in human bodies. As people they are carrying the load of this huge undertaking with little support at times. If we want to have priests in the future for our Masses, weddings, funerals, sacraments and to tend to our personal needs, we need to offer our support to them and to help distribute the weight of this burden.
Take some time to thank your priest for this enormous responsibility that he carries. To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your priest can do for you, but ask what you can do for your priest."
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