In Palm Beach, even the priests are aging

On the front page of today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel is a story, by reporter Lois Solomon, about how the priest shortage is requiring aging clergy in the Palm Beach Diocese to work past their retirement:

"The Rev. Walter Dockerill's post-retirement schedule is almost as full as when he led Wellington's biggest Roman Catholic church. Almost every day, he celebrates Mass, officiates at a wedding, a baptism or a funeral, visits the sick, attends a prayer meeting or feeds the hungry. 'I knew when I retired I would still be busy,' said Dockerill, 78, who pastored at St. Rita Catholic Church in Wellington for 22 years. 'I don't feel like I've slowed down much.'"

Palm Beach, of course, is the former diocese of Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, who served as the bishop there in 2002 and 2003. O'Malley is now the archbishop of Boston, where the archdiocese faces a similar problem -- as do many dioceses -- with the average age of priests rising rapidly, and many working long past the age at which most people retire. O'Malley appointed a task force on pastoral planning to examine the issue. The panel issued a report last year, and figuring out what to do about it is now high on O'Malley's to-do list, but it seems clear that the solutions will include requiring priests to oversee multiple parishes and to work longer into their retirement, as well as relying more on laypeople and deacons.

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