By Jason Scheer
In the Easter Sunday edition of the church's bulletin, the Rev. Donald Baier, the current pastor, announced that he will be leaving in June after 12 years as head of Our Lady of Lourdes. The church was scheduled to hold an informational session on Wednesday. Parishioners were expected to meet with representatives of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and provide input as to what qualities they want in the next pastor of the church.
Baier said that Wednesday's meeting is regular procedure, and that he would not be in attendance. "This is a chance to get ideas of the strengths and weaknesses," he said.
There are currently 10 open positions in the diocese.
Parishioner Linda Finneran said she planned to attend the meeting. She saw it as an opportunity to help shape the search for the next pastor. As for the qualities she is looking for, she said, "I am looking for our pastor to be in the school more, in the classrooms, so that children can tie religion together with the school and the church."
Finneran added that fiscal responsibility is an asset that the next pastor should possess. "[I want] someone who is financially savvy," she said. "With all the closing schools around, we need someone who can balance the books properly, and I'm looking for someone who can bring God into everyday life."
She said she was not criticizing Baier, but hopes to get the best candidate possible. "Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and if we want to get the A-plus No. 1 candidate, that's what I am looking for," she said.
In the Easter bulletin, Baier also mentioned that he plans to contact parishioners who donated money to the expansion plans. The church had been asking the Village of Malverne for a change in zoning to accommodate an expanded church before it pulled the plans off the table.
Sean Dolan, a diocese spokesman, said the decision to withdraw the expansion plans was made by Baier in consultation with representatives of the diocese. He echoed the statements made by Baier in the bulletin, saying, "We are tabling the expansion plans at this time, and the main reason for that is it wouldn't be prudent to proceed with expansion that doesn't serve the needs of the parish at this time."
He said that if concessions were made to meet the Village of Malverne's requirements, it "would reduce the size of the expanded church where it will fall significantly short of what was defined in the feasibility study."
In regard to the outstanding donations, Finneran said she had not been contacted, but would like to see the money put to good use. "I would like to have it put into the school," she said. "[In addition], I think we need some type of handicapped accessibility, whether we expand the church or not. We do need to be able to get these poor people that are in this parish, especially the older generation, as well as people in wheelchairs who can't come to events here. We need to find a way to get them into this church."
Dolan said he did not know how the money would be dispersed.
Comments about this story? Mal-wheditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
