I found out very recently that the pastor of the local Maronite parish will be reassigned in June. I'm sorry for us that he'll be going, but it is just time. God has need of him elsewhere, and we have been abundantly blessed by his presence here. I'll miss him a lot, too, because he's been my confessor for more than two years now.
Sadly, many people at the parish wanted to petition their bishop not to move him. It won't do any good. I am not a part of the parish, but I did have the pleasure of attending Mass there when the Maronite bishop was offering Mass, and I thought he was just a really wonderful priest. I trust that his appointment to the parish here will be an excellent one (and I have heard as much from friends who attend that parish and have met the soon-to-be pastor).
Father said something interesting, too. He said that the adjustment for us, the parishioners, was not nearly as difficult as it will be for him or for any priest. We have so much in our lives aside from the church. We have jobs, families, homes, friends, activities... His entire life is the parish. When he leaves, he will leave behind everything his life has been about for the last seven years or so. (And this is to say nothing of the fact that he came to America from Lebanon, where his family still lives.)
This statement on adjusting to a change like this transfer really struck me, and it made me want to really pray more often for our priests, especially those whose assignments are changing. When a priest leaves our parish for a new one, we have a new pastor to get used to. Nothing else has changed for us. But for the priest who leaves, everything changes. What a sacrifice these men make to follow Christ in every part of their lives!
Obedience to the Lord is not easy, but I hear the retirement benefits really rock!
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