The Pittsburgh Diocese might start using laymen to administer parishes.
The story isn't clear on details. I'm assuming it'd work this way: The administrator would handle all the non-spiritual stuff, and a priest will ride a circuit of parishes, administering the sacraments.
My quick reaction: good idea, as long as we can (i) find competent laymen to handle the job, (ii) pay the salary to attract competent help. I've never seen why a priest must deal with things like whether to re-pave the parking lot and scheduling a spring cleaning. The spirit and material are intertwined, so it makes sense that one person would handle both, but let's face it: during a priest shortage, it's more important that the priest administer the sacraments. If he's so busy dealing with mundane affairs, he may not have time to deal with the sacraments (which might be one reason so many priests don't bother to show up for regularly-scheduled confession times). It's also been my experience that many priests--and some bishops--aren't the greatest administrators, almost as if they're not equipped to deal with such things. (Note: If my priest is reading this, he shouldn't include himself in that list.)
I look forward to see how this experiment works.
