From the Desk of Fr. Gerard Hiland
On July 1st we officially become the Clermont County Four Parish Pastoral Region. The Archbishop has appointed Father Marty Bachman as Associate Pastor of our region effective that day. He will work closely with me to serve our four parishes. With an associate pastor we will keep our current weekend Mass schedule.
Pastoral Regions are being formed and will be implemented throughout the Archdiocese. This is a better approach than closing or merging parishes as the number of priests decline. But it is also different from the older parochial structure where each parish was pretty much on its own. And it is different from two or more parishes simply sharing a pastor. Over these past six months we have shown that four parish communities can work together for the benefit of all. This has happened because of the cooperation and good will of all our people. I am personally very grateful to our parish councils and to every parishioner.
I will serve as your Pastor for the next six years. But I am delighted to have a young priest joining us. Fr. Marty was ordained three years ago and has been serving as Associate Pastor at St. James Parish in the White Oak area of Cincinnati, a large parish of three thousand families. He will bring a wealth of pastoral experience to our parishes and region. But we will also be teaching him about small town and rural parish life, and how a multi-parish pastoral region works. With this added experience, Fr. Marty will eventually move on to be a Pastor of another pastoral region. My hope is that our four parish region will then receive another young priest. This would be good for us, for the young priests, and for the Archdiocese.
Many young priest asked to be assigned here, but we can only handle one at a time. The diocese and other parishes are all watching to see what is happening with the Clermont County Four Parish Pastoral Region. This is a new beginning.
Easter Blessings,
Fr. Jerry