Parishioners of St. Catherine Catholic Church met with Father John Crutchfield Monday, June 27 to discuss how best to serve the community in the wake of a June 4 decision by the Diocese of Helena to discontinue Masses in the community.
“It’s still up in the air,” said parishioner Paul “Brud” Smith. “Right now we are trying to figure out how much to rent out the rectory for (where outgoing pastor Father Gregory Lively lived), and we’re also trying to determine the best uses for our Pastoral Center.”
St. Catherine is one of several Catholic churches in the state currently suspending services, largely due to staffing shortages. According to Dan Bartleson, director of communications for the Diocese of Helena, the decision to suspend Mass at a church comes down to the amount of people who attend the parish and the amount of travel and other demands on a priest who is serving several parishes in a group.
It’s a difficult balancing act for priests such as Father Crutchfield, who is currently overseeing Catholic churches in Madison and Jefferson counties, Bartleson said.
“Priests are always trying to meet other needs outside of Mass,” Bartleson said. “There are so many sacraments. There are baptisms, confirmations, confessions, weddings, funerals, and then there’s visiting families of parishioners, visiting a parishioner’s family member in the hospital when they’re sick…the list of responsibilities is pretty comprehensive.”
According to parishioner Anita McCauley, St. Catherine was still averaging around 30 congregants each week when Father Lively was reassigned to St. Rose of Lima Parish in Dillon. There were no priests available to replace him in Boulder.
No timetable for resuming Masses was discussed at the June 27 meeting. Most of the conversation focused on how much rent to charge a group for using the Pastoral Center.
“It’s a beautiful center,” said Parishioner Gail Lattin. “It’s all set up. We can use it for funerals, memorial services, reunions, weddings and are willing to rent it to whoever.”
Lattin said one transition they’re looking to make soon is moving the church office for St. Catherine and St. John (the mission church) to the Pastoral Center. Without Masses, she said, the only uses for the church buildings will be for weddings and funerals.
“We’re going to try and keep things operating, and that’s about it,” she said. “We want to keep the yard watered and maintained. We want to keep the heat on.”
“It really all depends on how soon we can get it rented and see if people will pay what it takes to maintain it,” Smith said. “I imagine we’ll continue to see contributions from parishioners, as well, even though there won’t be weekly services.”
Lattin said she believes Father Crutchfield is doing all he can at this time, despite being unable to resume Mass for the congregations in limbo. He will celebrate Mass in Whitehall on Saturday evenings at 6 p.m., but it’s undetermined how long it will take before a new priest can take to the pulpit in Boulder.
“Money has a lot to do with it, but there are just not enough priests to be spread around,” said Lattin. “We hope in a year or two things can change. It takes 7-8 years for people to even become a priest. It’s not going to be one or two years. I think it’s going to take a lot longer.”
Father Crutchfield will return to Boulder Monday, Aug. 1 to discuss the matters further with the congregation. The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. at the Pastoral Center.
