Diocese of Fairbanks
Pastoral Support for Native Missions
In Quarter 2, the diocese completed cultural acclimation with several of its new mission priests and was able to permanently assign them to parishes in rural Alaska. Thirteen additional village parishes now have a permanently assigned priest. This is a significant improvement over past years, when many churches lost their deacons and only saw a visiting priest a few times per year. For example, St. Theresa Church in the village of Aniak has not had a priest or deacon assigned to it for three years, making it challenging to provide regular pastoral care to the faithful. Other parishes, such as those located along the Yukon River in the villages of McGrath, Kalskag, and Russian Mission, are gaining a permanently assigned priest for the first time in more than five years.
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Ministries Coordinator
Our regional coordinator, Sister Kathy Radich, has begun incorporating cultural education into regional staff meetings that take place three times per year. These meetings, which are attended by all clergy in western Alaska, now include a Yup’ik Catholic deacon or lay minister who talk to the priests about how to best relate to Native people. This pastoral training has been well received, and has encouraged several of priests to go outside of their comfort zone when ministering to the people, according to Sister Kathy. “They’re walking around the village more, visiting people, asking them to teach them to fish or hunt,” she says. “They’re starting to build better relationships now that the people see they really do want to engage and are interested in their culture.”
Office of Faith and Family Formation
In April, the diocese finally hired a new director for its Office of Faith and Family Formation, which has been without leadership for nearly a year. Michael Olsta – Michael has been hired as the Director of Faith and Family Formation. Michael has a graduate degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas - Angelicum and will be moving to Fairbanks from the lower 48 states to begin working at the OFFF in June.
