Diocese reconfigures deaneries

By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

As the new year kicks off, 2025 brings the implementation of a new deanery structure in the Diocese of Sioux City.

Father David Esquiliano, judicial vicar and canon lawyer, explained the diocese recently went from four deaneries to three.

“For parishioners in the pews, they will not notice a change,” he explained.

The most recent deanery model divided the 24-county diocese into four quadrants – Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast Deaneries. The new deanery configuration sections the diocese into thirds – West, Central and East Deaneries. Each deanery is now made up of eight counties.

Fr. Esquiliano“Ultimately, the decision came down to the bishop, but the bishop did not act on his own,” explained the judicial vicar. “This is a process that took months. It wasn’t a decision that was made in days or weeks.”

Conversations about reconfiguring the deanery structure were held several times at the Presbyteral Council and within the deaneries. Eventually, there was a consensus to bring this recommendation to the bishop. As a member of the Presbyteral Council and given this was a canonical decision, Father Esquiliano played an advisory role in the process.

While the new structure took effect on Jan. 1, it was announced to the priests a few months ago.

To better understand the reason behind the decision, the judicial vicar said it helps to understand what deaneries are.

Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Dictionary defines a deanery as: A section of a diocese made up of parishes and other ecclesiastical institutions within the areas under the limited authority of a dean.

“A deanery is a geographical region which the bishop organizes in a diocese to better serve it,” explained Father Esquiliano. “As the number of parishes decreases, it makes sense the number of deaneries decreases as well. When you have more parishes, you can make more groupings. Fewer parishes, fewer groupings.”

For each deanery, one priest is appointed as vicar forane – also known as a dean – who has limited authority and assists the bishop within that region, the deanery. In addition to the dean, another priest is appointed as a deanery representative. Father Terry Roder is dean of the Central Deanery; Father Timothy Pick is dean of the West Deanery and Father Matthew Solyntjes is dean of the East Deanery.

Reducing from four to three deaneries, Father Esquiliano explained, saves the manpower/workload of two priests – one dean and one representative.

Fr. RoderFather Terry Roder, pastor of Good Shepherd Parish of Breda and dean of the Central Deanery, said priest numbers was a big factor in this.“It has been pointed out that we have fewer and fewer priests but we still need to cover the same amount of territory,” said the dean. “Pastors are getting more and more busy and needing to cover more territory themselves.”

By going to the three deaneries, there are less meetings for two of the priests.

“As there are less priests, fewer priests are getting more jobs,” agreed Father Esquiliano. “This frees up two priests. When we don’t have many priests and they are wearing more hats, that’s important.”

He pointed out that this is not the first time in recent history there has been a change in the number of deaneries.

For many decades the diocese had six deaneries, sectioned into the Northwest, Southwest, Central, South Central, Northeast and Southeast Deaneries.

It was in February of 2016 when the draft plan for Ministry 2025 was unveiled. That plan proposed the diocese go from six to four deaneries and the four-deanery structure was implemented in 2017.

Father Esquiliano called deans the “boots on the ground” who are ranked higher to other priests in the deanery but act on behalf of the superior, who is the bishop. 

The judicial vicar explained that the dean is charged with being an intermediary for the bishop in working with pastors and priests of their region to make sure they are doing okay and also that they are fulfilling their obligations, especially when it comes to things such as celebrating the liturgy in a worthy manner. Sometimes deans will act in the name of the bishop for tasks such as installing new pastors.

“The dean is entrusted with organizing meetings among the priests. Here in our diocese, we have a tradition of meeting monthly at least during the school year for prayer, a business meeting and a social. It is the role of the dean to organize those meetings,” said Father Esquiliano. “But the dean could also say we need to organize a meeting to discuss other business.”

And while Father Roder can see the value in a reduced number of deaneries from a practical standpoint, one disadvantage is that is does spread the priests out even further when it comes to priests gathering together at the deanery level.

“That is a downside to it, but we are going to have to figure something out.  We may have to do a little something different for our fellowship and times of prayer together,” he acknowledged, noting that in the past, it usually was a drive of an hour or less and now it could be two hours or more for priest deanery gatherings. “This may mean that we reinvent our times of fellowship and prayer, so it is more convenient and accessible to our retired priests and deacons.”

With the busy priest schedules and added distance for retired priests to drive, it may mean less priests would be able to attend the deanery meetings that are crucial for staying informed, gathering ideas and overall fellowship.

In the end, it is a sign of the times that “requires us to do something different from what we have done in the past,” said Father Roder. “We still have the same needs of consultation, have the same needs of gathering together and getting people’s opinions on things - to talk out ideas, problems and to understand what’s happening around the diocese so we have to do things differently. Like the saying goes, we must work smarter, not harder.”

The dean asked the faithful to pray for their priests and for vocations to the priesthood.