July 7 & 14, 2024

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~

This pastor’s column will run for two weeks in row to reach as many people as possible. You will want to read it a couple of times, maybe even saving it to come back to it later as a reference.

As almost all readers of this pastor’s column know, the Archdiocese of Seattle, to which all of the Catholic Church in Western Washington belongs, is undergoing the greatest restructuring in its history. A letter from Archbishop Etienne [see the button below] reminds us once again of the reasons for this.

As a result of this restructuring, called Partners in the Gospel, on July 1st I became the pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Vancouver, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Camas, and Our Lady Star of the Sea Mission in Stevenson. Over time, these three communities are expected to become one. I have not seen a plan for how this is supposed to happen or a timeline, so I have nothing more to add on that subject. If and when a plan comes out, the Archdiocese will let us know. For the present though, because we still have enough priests, our three communities will continue to maintain the current Mass and Confession schedule. Over time, we will do our best to integrate staff into one regional staff, collaborate ministries, and in some cases, consolidate ministries.

Here is a list of many things to know:

1. To get to know me better, you can listen to my vocation story on Holy Redeemer’s website. Click on the “contact” button, then click on the “meet your parish staff” button. Or here https://holyredeemervan.org/parish-staff.

2. For pastoral reasons, I, Father Thomas Nathe, prefer to be called Father Nathe. The letters “a” and “e” in Nathe are long, so the name is pronounced nay-thee. I find that it is easier for everyone if there is uniformity in the name I am called. While there are pros and cons to using my first name or last name, I have found over 17 years of pastoring five parishes and two missions, that the pros of using my last name outweigh those of using my first name.

3. We will have two priests assigned to our parish family, a pastor, and a vicar, sometimes called a parochial vicar. A pastor is a priest who governs a parish (with a lot of help). A vicar is a priest who assists the pastor—an associate pastor if you will. The pastor has responsibility for decision making, while the vicar only makes decisions if the pastor delegates any to him. With so many responsibilities, I delegate a lot of decision making (especially to our staff).

4. The interim vicar for our parish family will be Fr. Dominic Chikankheni. The present expectation is for Fr. Dominic to be here for July and August, then return home to Malawi Africa at the beginning of September. Hopefully, by then Fr. Balasamy Nagineni from Nellor India, will have arrived. Fr. Bala (ball-uh) will be our “permanent” assigned vicar from then on.

5. I will continue to reside at the rectory at Holy Redeemer in Vancouver, while the vicars will reside at the rectory at St. Thomas in Camas.

6. I will continue to be responsible for the Masses at Holy Redeemer, while the vicars will be responsible for the Masses at St. Thomas and Star of the Sea, except for #7 below.

7. The vicar and I will swap parishes one weekend month. Meaning, I will be at St. Thomas saying the weekend Masses one weekend a month, while the vicar will be at Holy Redeemer on that weekend.

8. Holy Cross priests from the University of Portland have been saying Masses for Star of the Sea Mission in Stevenson for 60 years. Because they still have enough priests and are willing, they will continue to cover the 11am Sunday Mass in Stevenson. They will swap with the vicar in Camas one weekend a month.

9. I will say Mass at Star of the Sea in Stevenson twice a year on my winter and summer vacations. That is the best I can do with the current Mass schedule and priest availability. For this fiscal year, I will only have three weekends truly off.

10. We currently have one Deacon, Scott Aikin. Dcn. Scott has a full-time job for the federal government, and until he retires (hopefully in a few years), his availability is very limited. With that said, he will continue to give homilies on an infrequent basis and potentially fill-in when no priest can be found.

11. For perspective, due to the number of Masses versus the number of available priests, finding priests to cover Masses when a priest is gone (vacation, retreat, seminar, illness, etc.) is challenging. Sometimes it’s insurmountable.

12. How long will I be pastor here? All pastors in the Archdiocese of Seattle were given a new six-year term on July 1st. Church law stipulates that pastors have six-year terms, bishops can move a pastor at the end of those six years, or renew him in place for another six years. Bishops can do this for the whole of a pastor’s ministry. A pastor can potentially remain in a parish for life. That was the common practice from the 1st Century until the 20th Century, when in 1983 Church law changed in that regard. Fr. Ronald Belisle was pastor of Camas and Stevenson for at least 20 years. The current pastor of the cathedral in Seattle has been in that role for over 30 years. Moving pastors every six years, or in some cases even more frequently, has been very unhealthy for parishes. Stability is essential for life and mission. I hope I will remain pastor of this parish family until I cannot pastor anymore. I’m 54 now, so hopefully for another 16-26 years or so.

13. How long will Fr. Bala be with us when he arrives in September? Vicars, such as Fr. Bala, are generally assigned for three years. They don’t have the canonical stability that a pastor has, so a bishop can move them at any time. Since Fr. Bala will be on a five-year visa, I assume (hope) he will be our vicar for the whole five years he’s in America, but time will tell.

In Christ, I Love You,