Diocese of Verona Opens Pastoral Roles to Lay People Amid Priest Shortage

The vocations crisis is also affecting the Diocese of Verona, which, to cope with the shortage of priests, has decided to open up roles to women and men, even lay people, in the figure of pastoral guides, to be assigned to parishes. "Parishes value the presence of women in our communities" was stated at the diocesan assembly, attended by the Scaliger bishop Domenico Pompili. "They make use - it was added - of the faculty extended to women to exercise the ministry of lector. They ensure that women are also present in the participatory bodies. In parishes without the presence of a priest, the life of the community is entrusted to a pastoral guide. This task - it was specified - can also be entrusted to lay men and women." On the subject, Monsignor Ezio Falavegna, professor of pastoral theology at the Studio Teologico San Zeno and at the Theological Faculty of Triveneto in Padua, explained that "it is not about an ordained minister" underlining that "the debate on the female priesthood, which concerns the universal Church, certainly not that of Verona, has nothing to do with it. Here we are talking about recognizing significant roles, even for women, in the governance of the Church." Falavegna recalled that Bishop Pompili "has already assigned the role of episcopal delegate to a woman for the area of proximity." The Diocese of Verona has 380 parishes with 600 priests and in the future it is projected that there will be fewer and fewer.