2002 Archives
Written by Catholic SUN   
Hope for the Holidays
Nov. 28 - Dec. 4, 02
Hope for the Holidays
By Karen Kukla/ SUN contributing writer

Local organization helps those touched by loss of a loved one during a hectic holiday season.

Therese Schoeneck knows that sometimes the saddest holiday story can have a happy ending. She remembers the six months after her daughter died. Schoeneck, founder and executive director of Hope for Bereaved, drove to the cemetery where she found the entrance blocked by snow and was overcome by emotion.

“I just pounded my fist on the steering wheel and in frustration, shouted ‘I want something good to come out of this. Otherwise my daughter will have died in vain,’” she said. Ten months later, on Dec. 4, 1978, Schoeneck hosted an informal meeting to help other bereaved parents cope with the pending holiday. This December marks the 25th year since that first meeting, heralding the start of a quarter century of the organization’s work with the bereaved.
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Written by Catholic SUN   
Times are Changing DPC to help improve pastor assignment process
By Kelly Homan Rodoski/ SUN contributing writer
EAST SYRACUSE — The Diocesan Pastoral Council was privy to some groundbreaking discussion during its Nov. 16 plenary session, held at Bishop Grimes Jr./Sr. High School. Bishop Thomas Costello, director of Priest Personnel, began an exchange of ideas with council members about the process of assigning pastors to parishes. Once shrouded in secrecy, the process is simply not working, Bishop Costello admitted, in light of the increased sacramental demands on a decreasing priestly population. Over the next session or two, DPC members will be asked to contribute ideas for improving the assignment process.

Bishop Costello explained that not until after Vatican II were pastors able to express any concerns about where they would or would not go. At that time, the diocese established a Vicar for Priests to serve as an advocate for priests in diocesan administrative matters.

While the Code of Canon Law indicates a desire for stability in parish life, particularly in the role of pastor, American bishops sought, and in 1978 were granted permission to set a six-year term limit. Tenure at a parish can be renewed for one additional six-year period.
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