Friday, April 25, 2008

Fr. Tyman Leaving OLM, Will Not Be Replaced

Fr. Gary Tyman has announced to his parishioners at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Greece that he will be leaving the parish at the end of June. His new assignment will be Sacramental Minister at the clustered parishes of St. Anne and Our Lady of Lourdes in the SE Rochester-Brighton area.

Sr. Joan Sobala, SSJ is the Pastoral Administrator of the cluster. Fr. Tyman, with his penchant for vertical inclusive language, ought to get along famously with Sr. Joan. I can just see the scene now: Sr. Joan, wearing her alb and standing near Fr. Tyman "during the Eucharistic prayer, extending her hands [and] giving the appearance of con-celebrating." Charming.

According to two OLM parishioners who heard last Sunday's announcement, there will be no new pastor assigned to the parish. Instead, Fr. John Gagnier, currently Pastor at Holy Name of Jesus will also become Pastoral Administrator at OLM. Weekend Masses will be covered by Fr. Gagnier, as well as priests from Holy Cross and Our Mother of Sorrows. There were conflicting reports concerning weekday Mass coverage, but with Fr. Gagnier currently out of the country many such details are still up in the air.

If my sources are correct this would mark a departure from the Eastern Greece/Charlotte Pastoral Plan that I and a couple dozen others helped draft 3 years ago. That plan calls for at least one priest to be assigned to each of the 6 parishes through 2014, with that priest acting as either Pastor or Sacramental Minister. Of course, with both OLM and HNOJ each averaging just over 400 weekend Mass attendees, it's possible the diocese decided to jettison the plan and allocate its resources elsewhere.

I guess we'll just have to await further developments.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Just one more of many nails in the coffin of Catholic worship in DOR. Bishop Clark will leave a smoking crater, where a vibrant parish once was as a cluster testament to his legacy of "brilliant" administration.

May St. Michael defend us and save us from this bishop.

"Rabbi, Rabbi,is there a proper blessing for the Czar? (Rabbi)Yes: May God bless the Czar, and keep the Czar--far away from us!" --Fiddler on the Roof

John Gagnier said...

From: Father John Gagnier, Holy Name of Jesus Church & Our Lady of Mercy Greece, New York

"Dr. Knowledge" hides behind a pseudonym and displays his lack of knowledge and truthfulness.
I am not a "questionable priest."
Ask the people whom I serve.
I have never "handed off the duty (of a priest) to a sister."
Since June of last year, Holy Name of Jesus returned to kneeling for the Eucharistic Prayer, the use of sanctuary bells and now has a large crucifix in the sanctuary after 40 years.
In the last year, we retired half our debt and reached our CMA goal for the first time since 1997.
"Dr. Knowledge" has no contact information in in his profile.
What IS he afraid of, the truth?
www.holyname-greece.org

Anonymous said...

I offer full apologies to Fr. Gagnier. I must have confused your church with another local one in my travels (and forgotten to take drink my coffee), or maybe it was a different priest presiding. I'm not sure, it's been a couple years since I attended. After checking your website and seeing the pictures of yourself, I can say with fair certainty that in fact I have never attended a Mass where you were celebrating. Again, I must have made a mistake, and I offer my full apology. I have removed the post made back in April. Again to all readers, that post is retracted.

I am encouraged to hear of the changes you have been making to Holy Name of Jesus church. These are truly commendable. So many churches would be better off to follow the example you are setting for Holy Name church.

~Dr. K