What’s the Job Description of a Parochial Vicar?

­Q1: Would you explain what the official duties of a parochial vicar are?

In our parish we have a pastor and a parochial vicar.  The pastor is much older than the parochial vicar, but he’s not what we would describe as “elderly” and is in good health….  We parishioners are concerned because it’s becoming obvious that the pastor is delegating a disproportionate amount of work to the parochial vicar.  The parochial vicar hears 100% of the confessions; he celebrates 100% of the early morning Masses; he teaches two different catechism classes to the children, on two separate evenings; he prepares 100% of engaged couples for marriage; he oversees the restocking of our parish soup kitchen, which feeds hundreds of homeless people each week; [etc.].

Meanwhile, none of us is really sure what the pastor does all day long.  Maybe he’s engaged in lots of necessary activities which we parishioners don’t know anything about … [but] when any of us run into him, he’s never in a hurry.  He never seems stressed or tired.  In contrast, the parochial vicar always looks exhausted, and apologizes a lot because he forgot to do this or that, since he’s got so much going on….

My wife finally asked [the parochial vicar] point-blank if the pastor has dumped too many responsibilities on him.  He just smiled feebly and changed the subject.  It seems very unjust.  Is this a canonical problem that you could help us with? –Adam

Q2:  Is it legal under canon law for a parish priest to prevent his parochial vicar from preaching?  Whenever our parochial vicar celebrates a Sunday Mass, the parish priest insists on preaching himself.  No explanation has been given….  We’ve never heard the vicar preach even once, and are wondering what’s going on… —Lia

A: On numerous occasions (such as “Catechetics and the Authority of the Parish Priest,” “Canon Law and Parish Councils,” and “When Can the Parish Priest Postpone a Wedding?”) we’ve looked at various aspects of the office of pastor (a.k.a. parish priest).  As a rule, every parish is supposed to have a pastor, but not all parishes have a parochial vicar (a.k.a. assistant pastor).  Like the pastor, a parochial vicar must be a priest (c. 546); but otherwise the two roles can differ significantly.  Let’s first sum up briefly once again what the code says about the office of pastor, and then take a look at the job of a parochial vicar.  We should then be able to provide some clarity on these two specific questions.

In the abovementioned columns, we already saw that the pastor of a parish has a lot of authority.  This makes total sense when you consider that he also has a lot of responsibility, first and foremost for the spiritual wellbeing of the faithful living in the parish.  In order to minister effectively to the Catholics under his care, the pastor needs time to get to know them (and vice versa), and build a relationship with them.  Simultaneously, of course, it will naturally take him a while to get used to the routine operations of the parish, to learn about the school and/or catechetical program, the buildings, the finances, and so forth.

Because this takes time, it would make no sense for a diocesan bishop to be able to assign a priest to be pastor of a parish, only to transfer him a few months later to another!  A new pastor needs to know that for better or worse, he’s going to be running his new parish for an extended period of time.  This is why, as we saw in “When Can a Pastor be Removed From Office?” and “When Can a Bishop Lawfully Transfer a Pastor to Another Parish?” the pastor of a parish holds an ecclesiastical office (cf. cc 515 ff and 145), which gives him certain legal rights and protections.  One of these is stability in office.  As was discussed in the abovementioned articles, a pastor is often assigned to his parish for an indeterminate period of time (c. 522), which can and sometimes does amount to “for the rest of his life.”

But what about the assignment of a parochial vicar?  Does he have stability in office too?  And what exactly is his job, anyway?

As most Catholics probably know, many parishes have no parochial vicar at all, while other parishes may have several.  Canon 545 explains that this is a judgment-call on the part of the bishop:

Whenever it is necessary or opportune in order to carry out the pastoral care of a parish fittingly, one or more parochial vicars can be associated with the pastor. As co-workers with the pastor and sharers in his solicitude, they are to offer service in the pastoral ministry by common counsel and effort with the pastor and under his authority (c. 545.1).
A parochial vicar can be assigned either to assist in exercising the entire pastoral ministry for the whole parish, a determined part of the parish, or a certain group of the Christian faithful of the parish… (c. 545.2).

Note that the decision to appoint a parochial vicar is made by the diocesan bishop—not by the pastor (see c. 547).  It often happens that an overworked and overwhelmed pastor might beg the bishop to give him another priest to help, only to see his request refused; while another pastor might prefer to handle his parish entirely by himself … only to learn that the bishop is sending him a parochial vicar against his wishes.

There are a myriad of factors which go into this sort of decision-making, including the availability of priests and their individual strengths and skill-sets.  To cite a common example, a parish with a large immigrant population, which speaks a language unknown to the pastor, may naturally be better served by a parochial vicar who’s fluent in that language.  Or a parish with a large population of children and teenagers, which is run by an aging pastor, might benefit in many ways from the additional presence of a younger priest.  If the bishop wishes to appoint a parochial vicar to a parish for a specific ministry such as these, his letter of appointment should clearly state this; otherwise, the parochial vicar is expected to share in the general ministry of the parish, as per canon 548.  In short, a diocesan bishop has to look at the pool of priests which he has, and then assign them where they can best serve the faithful.

From this it should be evident that there is no uniform, one-size-fits-all job description for a parochial vicar.  While the code makes numerous statements as to the specific responsibilities of a pastor (see cc. 527 ff), it does not, because it cannot, make comparably specific assertions regarding the role of a parochial vicar.  As we can see from canon 545 above, the law simply declares that the parochial vicar is to engage in parish ministry together with the pastor, yet “under his authority.”  Because the needs of parishes can vary so dramatically around the world, these broad statements are left deliberately vague, thus allowing for differing situations and circumstances in different parishes.

But while the parameters may be vague, they do exist!  If the parochial vicar has not been appointed for a specific reason as discussed above, canon 548.2 tells us that he is required to assist the pastor “in the entire parochial ministry,” except for the application of the Mass for the people (see “Canon Law and the Mass Pro Populo” for more on this).  The same paragraph also declares that the parochial vicar substitutes for the pastor if the situation arises.  Let’s say the pastor is hospitalized for a while, or goes on retreat or vacation for a week (which is his right, as discussed in “Clergy and Summer Vacation”), and is naturally unable to take care of the day-to-day needs of the parish while he’s away.  The parochial vicar is to step in and take temporary charge of things, until the pastor returns: he celebrates the baptisms, marriages, funeral Masses, etc., in the place of the pastor until the pastor returns.

And if the pastor dies (as discussed in “Who’s in Charge of the Parish When There’s No Parish Priest?”), or is unexpectedly transferred to another parish (see “When Can a Bishop Lawfully Transfer a Pastor to Another Parish?” for more on this), or removed from office (“When Can a Pastor be Removed From Office?”), the parochial vicar assumes the responsibilities of the pastor until either a new pastor is appointed by the bishop, or a parish administrator is named as the temporary place-holder until a new pastor arrives (see c. 549, and “What’s the Difference Between a Pastor, and a Parish Administrator?”).

While these are exceptional circumstances which don’t happen every day, the parochial vicar has other, far more ordinary rights and obligations which are specified in canon law.  These include the same right as the pastor to an annual vacation (c. 550.3); and the requirement that he actually live in within the boundaries of the parish (c. 550.1, and see “Parish Registration” for more on the territoriality of a parish).

That said, there’s one very significant difference which bears mentioning, and that is the grounds for removal/transfer of a parochial vicar by his bishop.  As was discussed at length in the abovementioned “When Can a Pastor be Removed From Office?” and “When Can a Bishop Lawfully Transfer a Pastor to Another Parish?” there is a canonical process that must be followed if a diocesan bishop wants to remove a pastor from his office before his term is completed (cc. 1732-1752).  Because a pastor holds an ecclesiastical office, and thus enjoys the stability in office addressed above, a bishop cannot randomly decide to move him to another parish, or to remove him from office altogether, simply because it strikes him as a good idea.  The pastor of a parish has rights which even the bishop—his superior—is obliged to respect.

But look at what the code has to say about removing/transferring a parochial vicar: canon 552 declares that the diocesan bishop can remove him for a “just cause.”  We’ve looked at this phrase (which is defined nowhere in the code) before, in “How Can a Priest Transfer to Another Diocese?” and “Is My Confession Valid, If the Priest Changes the Words of Absolution?” among others; but in short, a “just cause” is a lower standard than a “grave cause,” but a higher one than no cause at all.  Generally, a cause that is “just” is one that is reasonable.  Since a concrete example may make the concept clearer, let’s invent a realistic scenario.

St. Anthony of Padua parish has two parochial vicars, while the equally large parish of Sacred Heart has only one.  Now imagine that the elderly pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish suddenly dies.  The diocesan bishop decides to name the parochial vicar of Sacred Heart parish as the new pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe—but that leaves the pastor of Sacred Heart all alone at that sizeable parish, and he can’t handle everything!  The bishop might, under such circumstances, choose to move one of the two parochial vicars at St. Anthony of Padua over to Sacred Heart, because his assistance is sorely needed there.  This undeniably constitutes a “just cause” to transfer a parochial vicar from one parish to another.  It should be evident that compared to a pastor, a parochial vicar doesn’t have much stability in office.

Armed with this general information, let’s now look at the details of our two questions, and see what conclusions we can draw.  It will quickly become clear that in both cases, there may be a lot going on behind the scenes which we know nothing about.

The scenario that Adam describes certainly sounds wrong, as there doesn’t seem to be a lot of cooperation and common effort going on between the pastor and the parochial vicar, as per canon 545 (cited above).  If the pastor has indeed “dumped too many responsibilities on him,” as Adam suggests, the parochial vicar is completely within his rights to approach the bishop, apprise him of the situation, and request his intervention if necessary.

But as Adam himself observes, the pastor may very well be engaged in work which the parishioners don’t know about.  Here’s an imaginary example: let’s say the bishop has quietly tasked the pastor with investigating the finances of a nearby parish, where there appears to have been serious financial mismanagement.  Let’s say that the pastor of Adam’s parish was trained as an accountant before entering the seminary, and is examining the books at that nearby parish for several hours each day.  The bishop is trying to keep things quiet, to avoid scandal, at least until he can determine what’s been going on there—which means that Adam’s pastor is actually extremely busy even though it doesn’t look that way!  This would easily explain why the parochial vicar is visibly swamped with work, while the pastor doesn’t seem to have a lot to do in his own parish.

There could be plenty of other reasons for the priests’ perceived imbalance in workloads at Adam’s parish.  Imagine that the pastor “is in good health” so far as his parishioners can tell, but in reality he’s battling a very serious illness which he wishes to keep private.  Maybe he never seems tired, because he needs a lot more sleep than he’s letting on; and maybe he isn’t doing more in the parish because he physically can’t.  (If you think a pastor couldn’t possibly hide a serious illness, take a look at Pope St. John XXIII—who concealed his sufferings from stomach cancer from the world for months, while running the universal Church and the Second Vatican Council at the same time.)

Here’s another possible explanation: maybe the bishop has his eye on the parochial vicar at Adam’s parish, and wants him to get as much pastoral experience as he can, in as short a period as possible, so that he can soon be appointed as pastor of another parish.  Again, this intention might be known only to the bishop and the two priests at Adam’s parish; it’s not the sort of information that should be made public!  But it would certainly explain why the parochial vicar has so much work to do.

If we turn now to the situation at Lia’s parish, we find that while the details are quite different, the principle is much the same.  Not permitting the parochial vicar to preach, even at his own Masses, constitutes an unusual scenario to be sure, and doesn’t seem right at all; but we don’t know the reason behind it, and there might be an excellent one.  Before analyzing the specifics of this case, let’s first review what the code tells us about preaching in general.

Canon 767.1 addresses who may preach a homily at Mass, and notes specifically that it is reserved to a priest or deacon (see “Who May Preach?” and “When are the Laity Permitted to Preach?” for more on this issue).  Note that it’s quite possible for one priest to celebrate a Mass, and another priest to preach the homily at that Mass—and if you’ve ever heard a homily by a visiting missionary, or by your diocesan bishop, it may have been preached at a Mass which he himself didn’t celebrate.

Thus there is no blatant illegality in the mere fact that at Lia’s parish, the parochial vicar celebrates Masses at which the pastor preaches.  But as her question notes, the parochial vicar never preaches at his own Mass, which would seem to suggest that for some reason, the pastor doesn’t want the parochial vicar to preach.  Why not?  Well, if the pastor does all the preaching merely because he has an unbounded confidence in his own speaking ability, and/or loves the sound of his own voice, the parochial vicar could certainly protest, on the grounds that this doesn’t constitute the cooperation and common effort which (as we’ve seen above) the code declares the two priests should be striving for.

But is that really the reason here?  Not necessarily!  It could be that when the parochial vicar arrived at this parish, he privately begged the pastor to preach at his Masses—because he himself struggles with panic attacks, and can’t bear to address a large group of people.  Or perhaps the parochial vicar is working to overcome a stutter or some other type of speech impediment, and is understandably loathe to speak publicly at this time.  In this sort of case the pastor may well prefer not to do all the preaching, but valiantly agrees to do it as a charity to the parochial vicar.  Alternately, maybe the parochial vicar got himself into hot theological water at his last parish: he might have been caught preaching heterodox teachings, and for the good of the faithful he has been ordered by the bishop to keep quiet for a while, until his theological confusion has been straightened out.  There are undoubtedly other, entirely legitimate reasons why the parochial vicar isn’t preaching, leaving the pastor to handle all the Sunday homilies.  Without more information, it’s impossible to draw any conclusions about this decidedly unusual situation at Lia’s parish.

By now it should be apparent that in both of these cases, we need a lot more information in order to determine whether there is anything wrong or not—and since there may be factors involved which don’t need to become public knowledge, we can’t claim the right to know more about what’s going on.  Without question, if either (or both) of these parochial vicars is being prevented from doing effective ministry by a pastor making arbitrary decisions about his duties, he should first attempt to sort it out with the pastor directly.  If this doesn’t work, the parochial vicar definitely can bring the situation to the attention of the bishop and ask for his assistance.  But as we’ve seen, the role of a parochial vicar in an individual parish can vary widely, and so it’s entirely possible that these situations—as unusual as they may seem—reflect no abuse or injustice at their respective parishes.

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