Pastoral Letter: Christ is Our Sure Foundation

February 2, 2026
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

My dear Family in Christ,

Following up on my recent pastoral letters on Mass schedules and pastoral re-alignments, I am now writing to address all priests, deacons, parishes and parishioners regarding the need for us to address the future of pastoral coverage in Vermont. 

To begin, I would like to share a story. During my junior year in college, I accepted the position of Resident Assistant (RA) at Belmont Abbey College.  Many will know that an RA assists the Resident Life Department to ensure a calm and harmonious environment in college dorms.  It was a challenging position for certain.  As part of the preparation all RAs were required to attend classes concerned with emergency procedures, first aid and conflict resolution.  The RAs also participated in a “Ropes Course” to build camaraderie and teamwork.  We spent a day climbing walls, using zip lines and other obstacles.  While every task presented challenges, it was the last task of the day that has remained with me the most. 

The last obstacle involved no ropes, ladders or zip lines, it was a simple wooden box, slightly larger than a milk crate.  The challenge was to imagine we were surrounded by life threatening lava and to get all 10 RAs onto the box together.  To be successful we had to listen to one another’s suggestions and to trust one another.  It took a while, but eventually we all made it onto the box through a series of bodily contortions, human chains and sheer willpower.  I wish I had a picture of all of us clinging to one another balancing on the box. I share this story because it seems to me that as a diocese, we are facing a similar challenge that will require all of us to work together, listen to each other, and be ready to make sacrifices to be faithful to the Gospel and grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ.   

Some may think I am referring to our diocesan bankruptcy, certainly a very important matter, but it is not.  While it is my prayer that the bankruptcy will be resolved soon, I am writing about the pastoral challenges we are facing now and will face for the coming years because of demographic shifts in Vermont, our decreasing parish populations, and the dearth of priestly vocations.  In this letter I will share some very challenging realities that cannot be ignored, and I am asking what we can do to overcome the obstacles that lie before us.

Demographic Shifts

I have previously highlighted the demographic challenges we are experiencing in Vermont, but I believe it is important to share them again to make it very clear that without planning now for the not-too-distant future, we will face even more difficult decisions.  We can no longer afford not to address the severity of this issue directly and head on. 

It has been regularly reported that Vermont has one of the lowest birth rates in the nation with a rapidly aging population (according to the Vermont Department of Health, almost 20% of Vermonters are 65 or older).  Additionally, due to numerous factors, Vermont’s economic growth is not strong. These factors have an increasingly negative impact upon the people of Vermont. In his recent State of the State address, Governor Phil Scott highlighted the difficulties the State of Vermont faces relative to education funding with an overall decreasing population of students, present economic uncertainty and ever-increasing education spending. His words and warnings on the consequence of not acting could be applied to our Church as well. 

Added to the secular factors is the reality that Vermont has among the least religious populace in the nation, with most individuals claiming no religious affiliation.  While the population of Vermont has grown from 609,000 to 646,000 from 2000 to 2025, the overall religious population of the state has declined.  This is especially true of the Catholic population in Vermont. Fewer families, fewer children, an older population, the fallout from the abuse crisis, and the Covid Pandemic, as well as aging parish infrastructures present the Diocese of Burlington and its parishes with many obstacles.   

While I could provide significant details for all these areas, I wish to highlight just some of the pastoral and sacramental changes we have experienced as a Diocese and in parish life in the last 25 years.

It is quite clear from these numbers that the Catholic Church has experienced a very negative transformation.  And though we have reduced the number of churches in the last 25 years by almost 25%, we have 60% fewer diocesan priests to celebrate the sacraments. 

I also would like to bring to your attention the present age distribution of the 35 active diocesan priests in our Diocese: 

• Age 30-39: 9 priests
• Age 40-49: 5 priests
• Age 50-59: 8 priests
• Age 60-69: 8 priests
• Age 70+ 5: priests

Our present policy in the Diocese of Burlington is to permit priests to retire from active ministry at the age of 70, and while many choose to remain active after their 70th birthday, our aging and dwindling clergy presents yet another clear challenge before us. 

If we had many seminarians this clergy distribution would not be as daunting, but at present we have only one seminarian, with several young men considering priestly formation.  Looking ahead, in the next eight years if our seminarian and candidates persevere to ordination, I will, at best, ordain only three men to the priesthood, not nearly enough to take the place of those priests who will step away from active ministry due to age. 

Additionally, though we are blessed to have priests serving our parishes from religious orders and extern dioceses (12 priests at the time of my writing), religious orders can choose to discontinue serving in Vermont.  For instance, both the Congregation of Holy Cross, serving in Bennington, and the Capuchin Franciscans, serving in Rutland County, will be withdrawing from Vermont this summer leaving us to cover the eight churches served by these priests.    

Additionally, priests from foreign nations and religious orders face many cultural differences and an uncertain future due to immigration obstacles.  Therefore, while these priests will remain part of our presbyterate, they are not the permanent solution to our vocational situation. 

I am happy to report that we will be instituting a new vocational initiative this year to increase the number of seminarians for the Diocese.  This initiative will include extending our digital outreach, updating our vocations web page and seeking opportunities to bring young men together to discuss faith, prayer, discernment and vocations.  I believe these efforts will bear good fruit. However, the priestly formation period is extensive and so an increase in seminarians over the next few years will only result in more diocesan priests in 10 years or more.  And so, beginning today, I ask that families pray for priestly vocations and that parents encourage their sons to consider a priestly vocation during this Year of Vocations. 

So, what are we to do?

One possibility is simply to close more of our parish churches and to consolidate communities into fewer parishes and buildings.   This has happened several times over the last 25 years.  However, the question of which churches should close and which communities should combine always brings a great deal of frustration and at times anger.  Also, the decision to close a large percentage of churches all at once risks alienating an already dwindling population of Catholics and responding to multiple ecclesiastical appeals.  Although I anticipate that additional churches may close in the future, I am hoping to pursue another course of action to allow our vocational situation to improve to a point where we can retain churches and eventually appoint both resident pastors to communities presently sharing a priest with other churches and parochial vicars to our larger and busier parishes. 

When Bishop Louis De Goesbriand arrived in Vermont in 1853, he had only five priests to serve the entire state.  Over the years, the number of priests and churches grew.  However, a review of diocesan history makes clear that for some of our churches, Mass and the other sacraments were celebrated, not weekly, but bi-weekly or even monthly.  Churches and parishioners had to wait upon the ability of a priest to arrive at churches to celebrate the liturgy and the Sacraments.  This, of course, was at a time in our history when travel was difficult and means of transportation limited.  Now that travel is much easier, I believe we can consider adjusting weekly Mass schedules at churches to only bi-weekly or monthly celebrations.  Already we have some churches that host Mass on a rotating schedule, and I think this will need to become more common as the number of available priests declines in the coming few years. 

However, unlike the early years of our diocese when traveling to neighboring churches might have been extremely difficult, we live in an age when we routinely travel significant miles to shop, work and receive medical care.  No longer are we having to hitch up our horse to a buggy to attend Sunday Mass.  Thus, I am asking that parishioners prepare themselves to make the sacrifice to follow their priests as they travel to the churches entrusted to their pastoral care.  For example, that if several churches are sharing a priest for their pastoral care, and the Mass schedule only allows for a monthly Mass at one or several churches, parishioners will travel to the neighboring church for Mass.  This will require sacrifice, but it is my prayer that our devotion to Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament will be stronger than our devotion to a particular church building or Mass time. 

This sacrifice will require that all of us come to understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and not just a member of a particular parish or church.  What is this challenge for discipleship? 

In the article: “Call to Conversion, Out of the Shadows into the Trust: Essays for Formation in an Apostolic Time”, University of Mary, 2025, p. 139) we read: 

Today there are many Christians who seem to be in a state of uncertainty concerning discipleship.  They have been brought up in the faith, they have been influenced by it, and they know a lot about it.  They call themselves Christians, they have an interest in their faith, and they often attend church.  They admire Jesus and try to live good lives.  However, they have never gotten to the point of discipleship.  They have never relinquished their claim on their lives and acknowledged Jesus as their Lord, their Teacher, and their Master.  They are happy enough to treat with God, to hear what He may have to say, and to consider the various possibilities He might suggest.  They are happy to look for help from Him when they are in a scrape.  But they are careful to maintain a certain independence.  They set conditions and limits around what their faith may or may not cost them.  They negotiate rather than love and obey.  They do not belong to Christ, because they still belong essentially to themselves.  

Bishop de Goesbriand wrote often how Vermont Catholics would routinely travel for hours on foot or horseback each way to attend Sunday Mass even after a long work week.  Will our faith be equal in generosity as the generations that went before us? If we Catholics are unwilling to embrace this call to discipleship and sacrifice and believe our Catholic faith must be celebrated in just one church building or at one Mass time, it will make me wonder if we are devoted to Jesus Christ or a building.

What am I proposing?

Before we are faced with an even more critical shortage of priests, we must plan. As is happening in several churches in northwest Vermont, I am asking that parishes around the state, working with their parish priests, parish councils and finance councils, begin considering how Mass schedules can be adjusted to deal with the reality of a decrease in the number of priests in your region of the state.  Realities to keep in mind include: ideally a priest will offer one Vigil Mass and two Sunday morning Masses, what are the travel distances between churches, what Mass times would work best for the majority of parishioners, and what rotation cycle of churches would work best for all concerned.   

If we pursue this course, there will be other questions to address – How parishes maintain and pay for buildings being used less frequently? How are parish expenses shared by churches? How are priests compensated for their ministry? And, I am sure, many others. However, I am confident that if we all work together, sharing the burdens, obligations and sacrifices, we can address them all.   

Although there may be other possible pastoral solutions which appear as we move into the future, the only other immediate option available to me at this time is to close parishes and churches.  It is my fervent desire not to choose this path, but we will need to cooperate to get everyone “on the box” to avoid this option.  I invite every Catholic in Vermont to strive to grow as disciples of Christ and cooperate in determining a plan for pastoral coverage in the coming years. We cannot wait until more priests retire, return to their native land or are recalled by their order; we must plan now. 

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! (Phil. 4:13)

While this letter is rather sobering, I do not want us to think that all is lost because there are signs of hope and inspiration all around us.  It is possible we will have three young men in different stages of priestly formation this coming fall.  Our parish OCIA programs are reporting a significant increase in the number of adults who are looking to enter a closer relationship with Christ, enter the Catholic Church and receive the sacraments.  At UVM, Norwich University and Middlebury College we have an increasing number of college students looking to strengthen their faith and seeking to do God’s will.  We have an increase in our Catholic School enrollments. We have young adults gathering for “Faith Ascending.” We have people gathering for Bible studies, faith sharing and service opportunities.  The Holy Spirit is moving in Vermont and touching the hearts of many to seek Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our faith (cf. Heb. 12:2). We must now ask the Holy Spirit to stir up the hearts of young men to follow Jesus and become “fishers of men.” 

Bishop De Goesbriand and his five priests through their tireless efforts and zeal helped spread the gospel and build up the Body of Christ in Vermont, we are now being asked to imitate their faith to ensure the Gospel continues to be proclaimed in the Green Mountains. 

This moment in our diocesan history presents all of us with the challenge to be disciples of Jesus Christ.  To look beyond the walls of our individual church buildings and strive to bring the good news to the entire State of Vermont.  To realize that while church buildings are wonderful aids to our worship of God, they are not the foundation of our faith.  To place Jesus Christ at the very center of individual hearts, families and church communities and do all we can to live out our relationship, not just on Sundays, but every day, and pray that new priestly vocations emerge to sustain our parishioners in the future.  To willingly sacrifice to remain close to Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of our life of faith. As Canon 897 of the Code of Canon Law so beautifully states: 

The most August sacrament is the Most Holy Eucharist in which Christ the Lord himself is contained, offered, and received and by which the Church continually lives and grows. The eucharistic sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated through the ages is the summit and source of all worship and Christian life, which signifies and effects the unity of the People of God and brings about the building up of the body of Christ. Indeed, the other sacraments and all the ecclesiastical works of the apostolate are closely connected with the Most Holy Eucharist and ordered to it. 

While it is my prayer, we soon enjoy an increase in the number of diocesan priests to celebrate this “most August sacrament,” in the interim we must be willing to make sacrifices for Him who sacrificed everything for us. God alone suffices! 

Seeking the intercession of our patroness the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, and St. Joseph, her beloved spouse, I remain 

Sincerely yours in Christ,

The Most Reverend John J. McDermott
Bishop of Burlington

A video version of Bishop McDermott reading the letter can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/1160186322?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci