October 5, 2022 – West Bend, WI – An unexpected announcement today from Rev. Nathan Reesman and St. Frances Cabrini Parish in West Bend, WI.
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Dear Friends at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish and Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish:
Praised be Jesus Christ! I have some unexpected news to share with everyone about my assignment here in West Bend, which likely comes as a surprise for you much as it did for me:
Archbishop Listecki has asked me to begin a new assignment in the Archdiocese, serving as the Vicar for Ordained and Lay Ecclesial Ministry Services, more commonly known as the Vicar for Clergy. This is a full-time assignment, and I am to begin January 1, 2023.
The Vicar for Clergy acts as the Archbishop’s direct representative to the priests, deacons, and lay parish directors of the Archdiocese to assist them with their ministerial needs and overall well-being. This includes among other things the facilitation of parish assignments, implementation of policies and canonical processes impacting clergy and lay parish staff leaders and offering support and resources when challenges involving clergy or parish directors arise. Due to the nature of his responsibilities, the Vicar for Clergy serves as a key administrative advisor to the Archbishop in the management of the Archdiocese as a whole.
The need to quickly fill this critical position of Vicar for Clergy has arisen due to unexpected circumstances at the Archdiocesan level, and it puts in motion a change of pastors occurring out of the rhythm of the customary June assignment transition cycle. This is made more challenging in our situation here by all of the major construction and renovation projects that we are presently working our way through at both Saint Frances Cabrini and Saint Mary’s.
Knowing that this will be a major and unexpected change under the circumstances, we have worked out a transition plan that I am confident will allow for the continuation of all of our operations and ministries at the parishes, including the necessary oversight of our major construction projects to ensure their completion as planned. The Archdiocese will be appointing a Temporary Administrator, along with an added, consistent sacramental help-out priest, to be responsible for the care of the parishes between January 1st and mid-June of 2023. In mid-June, the new Shared Pastor of both parishes will begin his assignment. We will be announcing the names of these priests, including that of the new Shared Pastor, later this year and before I leave.
After the New Year my regular involvement here in West Bend will come to an end. My final weekend at the parishes will be January 7 and 8, the Solemnity of the Epiphany.
I accept all of this with a mix of emotions, especially since I was not expecting this new assignment. I am honored by the Archbishop’s request and his trust in me, but I am of course sad to leave what has become a beloved community for me here in West Bend where I have now been blessed to serve for 13 years. I will have more information to share about what all of this means over the next few months. In the meantime, and as always, let’s continue to keep each other in prayer.
Blessings,
Rev. Nathan
