Update on Priestly Ministry at St. Thomas More

Update on Priestly Ministry at St. Thomas More

On May 8, 2020, it was announced that Fr. Chris Koehn has been appointed Administrator of St. Mary Magdalene in Apex. I am extremely happy for Fr. Chris in his appointment to St. Mary Magdalene. I can think of no finer choice in a priest for this position. He follows a founding pastor in Fr. Staib, who has been there for 22 years. Fr. Chris will bring the same joyful spirit and genuine love for God’s holy people that he brought to us two years ago. It has been my honor to serve as a priest with him, and I am eternally grateful for what he has done for our parish, for his priestly friendship and for how he has helped to renew us as a community of faith. We will look for a time in the fall for Fr. Chris to come home and celebrate with us.

With Fr. Chris’ departure comes a challenge for us. For the next year, we will not have a Parochial Vicar. One of my roles in the diocese is to serve as the Coordinator for Priest Personnel. As such, I have a good overview of the landscape when it comes to priestly resources in the diocese. The bottom line is that we simply did not have enough priests this year to fill all of the needs. We were faced with two unforeseen circumstances as we progressed through the personnel planning process: the departure of the Franciscans from St. Francis and the departure of the Oblate Pastor of St. Ann in Fayetteville. Both of these parishes will now be staffed by diocesan priests.

As we planned, it became clear to me that one major parish in the diocese that would normally have a Parochial Vicar would be without one. There simply would not be anyone to go there for a year. As I discussed the matter with Bishop Luis, I offered for St. Thomas More to be without a Parochial Vicar for one year, with the expectation that we would have someone assigned to us in June of 2021. The Bishop was thankful for this offer. I felt that, with the great staff resources we have, we would be able to operate for a year with only one full-time priest. 

This will, of course, impact our parish life as priestly resources will be more limited. Planning has already been in the works for how we will handle this. There will be practical impacts such as a reduction to the weekday Mass schedule. We will not be able to accommodate funerals on Mondays. Priests from other parishes will be assisting with the hospital. Fr. Ed Burch, a retired priest of the diocese who provided us help a couple of years ago, will return to assist two weekends a month. I will seek help from other priests as well for weekends as needed. Fr. Chris will help with the Mass in Spanish once a month. I am thankful for his willingness to do so. 

We will have a challenge this year, but I am thankful to have a great staff to support me and a wonderful parish community to serve. 

Very Rev. Scott E. McCue. V.F.
Pastor