 |
| June 2004 |
| Deanery survey provides positive information |
Gene Young
Managing Editor |
Father Robert Krantz knows about the
Mitchell Deanery.
As pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, Parkston and Holy Rosary Parish,
Tripp, Father Krantz, who will soon complete his second three
year term as dean, sees the main component of life in the diocese
each day. That rural component, he says, is one of the deanery
and the diocese’s real strengths.
Father Krantz was recently asked by Bishop Robert Carlson to
put together the state of the Mitchell deanery for the spring
meeting of the Catholic Foundation for Eastern South Dakota
Board of Directors.
When presented with the task, Father Krantz put together a survey
for the 10 pastors of the 18 parishes that make up the Mitchell
deanery.
“The state of the deanery, to me, all centers around worship
and education,” he said.
Some of what he found when pastors responded did not surprise
Father Krantz. He expected the survey responses to reflect well
on worship in the deanery, particularly in the rural parishes.
And it did.
“We are missionary in a sense,” Father Krantz said.
“That’s what I presented it as.”
The Mitchell Deanery is primarily rural, covers a great many
miles and has one of the largest elderly populations in the
entire diocese and the state.
The deanery is home to two monastic communities of sisters (The
Sisters of St. Francis of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Discalced
Carmelite Nuns of the Monastery of Our Mother of Mercy) as well
as home to sisters living in the deanery from other religious
communities. There are three Catholic medical care facilities
and a mixture of diocesan, religious order and retired priests
and two permanent deacons in the deanery, too.
One thing that Father Krantz enjoyed seeing from his research
was how much of a Eucharistic people members of the Mitchell
Deanery are. Attendance and reception of the Holy Eucharist
are high in his deanery. “I think smaller community just
calls us to more of an accountability and support to one another,”
he said. There is still a strong need for one another in the
rural setting, he added.
Father Krantz highlighted how positive he thought Catholic education
through CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) was across
the Mitchell Deanery. He said that provides a great deal of
promise for the future. “If there is a life, a vibrancy
of faith, it has to start with prayer and learning,” he
said.
He sees a particular beautiful thing in the participation of
the young people in liturgies across the deanery. “Quite
a few parishes experience that generosity of sharing of their
gifts in that way” he said.
Father Krantz pointed out that the deanery has many volunteers
CCD teachers and some certified educators. He said some respondents
suggested that they would like to see religious teacher certification
made a bit easier for working parents.
Father Krantz said there is a vital concern for the spiritual
health of the people and a solid concern for each other, both
things he links back to the predominant rural setting for the
deanery.
He says that is particularly clear these days with so many families
separated by the military mission in Iraq. “There are
so many to be sensitive to in the parishes now,” Father
Krantz said.
He plans to bring the information back to the other pastors
of the deanery and share it with them so they can build on the
strengths of their communities and work on areas that need improvement. |
|
|
|
