Full Text:

St Rose Pastor To Be Installed By Bishop At July 31 Mass

(with photo)

BY JAN HOWARD

The newest clergyman in town may still be living out of boxes and his office

in the rectory may not be as organized as he wants it, but he is already

initiating some changes and will be developing, with lay leadership and staff,

a mission statement to address current and long-range parish needs.

The Rev Robert E. Weiss began his duties at St Rose of Lima Church in Newtown

on July 1. He will be officially installed as pastor by the Most Reverend

Edward M. Egan, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, on Saturday, during the

5:30 pm mass.

Despite his short time here, Father Weiss, 52, already has met with members of

the Parish Council to discuss parish needs.

"We're trying to be more people-focused here and (ask) what their needs are,"

Father Weiss said.

"My priorities will be parish priorities," he said. "My job is to facilitate

and serve this community."

Father Weiss's first priority is to make changes in worship and music.

"We are looking into enhancing liturgies and creating more lay involvement,"

he said. "We are also enhancing the music program to bring more diversity."

Father Weiss said his second priority is to bring the religious education

program into diocesan conformity. "We need to encourage teacher volunteers to

feel more secure in teaching. They need to be involved in formation of the

program," he said.

There are about 1,200 public school students in grades kindergarten through

eighth grade enrolled in the religious education program.

Outreach is his third priority. "There is a big call for people to get

involved in outreach, especially by the youth," he said. Some teenage members

of St Rose participated in a week-long workcamp with youth of other town

churches this summer.

"We need to get out of ourselves and into the greater community," Father Weiss

said.

"We also need to address what's happening in our parish already and work

cooperatively," he said. "There is no center of coordination. I would like the

staff and organizations and committees to work more collaboratively."

Father Weiss said St Rose parish also needs to consider several options for

physical expansion.

New Hall Is Needed

The first option, and the one he feels is most needed, is construction of a

large parish hall that would house a gymnasium, classrooms, and meeting rooms.

"We need to build a parish center for people to gather," he said. The parish

hall would also offer an alternative space to hold additional services, such

as a liturgy for children, he added.

The parish hall would be multi-purpose, he said. "I'm looking for a lot of

flexibility.

"Right now that's the most viable option and the most immediate need," Father

Weiss said. "The current building is not a great gathering spot. I feel the

parish hall will be a quick priority."

However, it cannot be done too quickly, he added. "We have to work with the

people to develop a committee, work with the diocese, and then get an

architect before we proceed."

Father Weiss said he plans to meet with the lay leadership and staff in the

fall to develop a mission statement. "We need to look at our financial

situation," he noted. "This parish has been discussing a parish hall for some

time."

Another option the parish needs to discuss is whether to build a satellite

church. "We would need to get another priest here," he noted.

"I don't want to make the parish divided. The Church Hill Road church would be

the main place of worship," he said.

However, building a satellite church could present a problem. A second

Catholic church has not been built in Newtown, despite the size of St Rose

parish, because of the lack of priests.

"We're ordaining strong groups of young men, but it's still not enough,"

Father Weiss said.

Things will not get better in the future because the parish will continue to

grow, he said, because "this part of Connecticut is booming."

St Rose currently serves between 2,800 and 3,000 families, he said. It has six

masses, four on Sunday and two on Saturday.

"Long range, we'd like to have another parish here, but the Bishop is being

cautious," Father Weiss said.

The third option is to expand the existing church. "That never works that

well," He said. "It makes the church so big that you can't see the people in

the back row."

Development of technology and upgrading of computer programs are top

priorities for St Rose School, he said.

Father Weiss said there are space limitations in the school. "There is a

demand for education. We could build on but that has to be carefully

evaluated."

The school will enroll 252 students in September, he said. Its capacity is

270.

Some other much-needed work is taking place now. Overgrown plantings around

the church are in the process of being removed and replaced with new ones, and

next week the parking lot will be paved. The parking lot has been dug up three

different times because of sewer line installation and drainage.

A Life Of Outreach

Father Weiss said he has been impressed by the Newtown community and the

people he has met during his short residency.

"Newtown is a beautiful community. The people I've encountered are fine

people," he said. "The parish is filled with vibrant people who want

activities. There are lots of volunteers. Whatever I've asked of the people,

they have been willing to help."

Father Weiss has been involved in many community endeavors in his past

assignments. He started a drug rehabilitation program and served on a hospital

board. He is also involved with the state Department of Mental Retardation

(DMR).

"I always worked hard to make people with disabilities welcome," he said. It

was because of this that he feels he was invited by the DMR to serve as a

patient advocate.

He said he hopes to get involved in Newtown and to continue some of his prior

commitments, such as serving on the Diocesan College of Consultors.

Father Weiss was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1946. His parents live in Florida,

and he has three brothers, two in Florida and one in Georgia. His sister is

deceased.

Father Weiss said he did not always want to be a priest. In fact, in his

senior year in high school he had been accepted at a teacher's college.

But his family had always been close to the church, and at the end of his

senior year he felt he had a calling. After talking to a priest at his school,

"off I went to seminary."

After attending St Bernard Seminary in Rochester, N.Y., he was ordained in

1973 in St Christopher parish in North Chili, N.Y.

He obtained his doctor of ministry degree from the Jesuit School of Theology

at Berkeley, Calif. in 1979.

Father Weiss was formerly pastor of St Joseph Parish in Shelton for nine

years. He also served at Corpus Christi Parish in Rochester, N.Y., St Mary Our

Mother Parish in Horseheads, N.Y., and was parochial vicar of St Andrew Parish

in Bridgeport in 1976. While serving as spiritual director at Stamford

Catholic, now Trinity Catholic, High School, he served as a resident priest at

St Leo in Stamford, becoming parochial vicar there in 1981.

Father Weiss was incardinated into the Diocese of Bridgeport in 1982 and

served as parochial vicar of St Jude parish in Monroe from 1985-1990.

"What I find most satisfying as a member of the clergy is that you're a

constant presence and bearer of hope to people, a conduit of God's love. You

can celebrate and suffer with people," he said. "Nobody is invited into

people's lives like members of the clergy."

Father Weiss said he was very happy and settled in St Joseph Parish. However,

the bishop matches a priest's abilities to parish needs, and the bishop

decided to send him to St Rose. "He felt I would be able to do what had to get

done here, to build on what was already here, and meet the needs of the

parish."

Father Weiss talked modestly of the massive letter writing campaign from St

Joseph parishioners asking the bishop to reconsider his appointment to

Newtown.

Approximately 1,500 people wrote to the bishop.

In his nine years at St Joseph, he said he and the parishioners rebuilt the

physical plant and the spirit of the church as well as made it fiscally

solvent. He said the letter-writing campaign "was a tribute to good work and

ministry."

Father Weiss stood for eight and a half hours shaking hands at his going-away

reception.

"It was a very emotional, difficult time," Father Weiss said, adding the

outpouring of letters "made this much more difficult for me.

"Our vocation is that we go where we're asked to serve, where we're needed."

He said Saturday's installation ceremony "will be a joyous celebration."