Bishop Joseph Williams and Father James Bernard stand outside Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul where both started serving together as priests-in-solidum Sept. 8.

Bishop Joseph Williams and Father James Bernard stand outside Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul where both started serving together as priests-in-solidum Sept. 8.

Five priests and one bishop have been assigned to serve the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as priests-in-solidum, with the first two serving since last summer. The designation, which describes the pastoral care of one or more parishes to a team of priests, was introduced in the Church’s Code of Canon Law in 1983, but is just now being used more regularly within the archdiocese.

The archdiocese has some history in the 1980s and 1990s of assigning a team of priests to care for a parish, sometimes under the titles of co-pastors. In the priest-in-solidum arrangement, priests share the governing authority as equals, with a team approach to administering the parish, said Susan Mulheron, chancellor for canonical affairs. That’s different than a pastor and a parochial vicar relationship, where the pastor leads the parish with the vicar’s assistance.

One priest-in-solidum at an assignment is designated the moderator, similar to a “tie-breaker,” Mulheron said. But more than that, the moderator is the legal representative of the parish, she said, the person signing proxy requests for permissions for major transactions, advancing decisions made jointly by the pastoral team and answering for the business of the parish to the archbishop, she said.

But the moderator does not supervise other priests-in-solidum, Mulheron said. “It’s an equal relationship.”

Since July 1, 2021, Father Bryce Evans and Father Byron Hagan have served as priests-in-solidum at St. Mary in St. Paul. Father Hagan, the moderator, also serves as chaplain for Regions Hospital in St. Paul, and Father Evans works at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

This summer, Maternity of Mary and Holy Childhood in St. Paul also adopted the model, with Father Andrew Brinkman serving as moderator and priest-in-solidum alongside Father Philip Vigneron. Both are members of the Emmanuel Community, an organization of clergy, married, single and consecrated members who respond to God’s call to holiness through its three “pillars” of adoration, compassion and evangelization. A community was formed in the archdiocese in 1999.

And since Sept. 8, Father James Bernard and Bishop Joseph Williams have served as priests-in-solidum at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul, where the bishop had been serving as the parish’s parochial administrator. He is the moderator.

Assignments consider both a parish’s needs and available priests, Mulheron said. St. Mary does not need two full-time priests but both men sought community life and a shared assignment where each takes on a half-time assignment while serving elsewhere. When St. Mary needed a pastor, “the pieces came together and made sense” for the priest-in-solidum relationship, Mulheron said.

“We’re hearing from a lot of priests that they’re desiring community life and more of a team experience in ministry,” Mulheron said. And in theory, the model can provide parishes a balance of leadership styles and skills, she said.

“We ask a lot of our pastors to be great at a wide variety of things, everything from preaching to spiritual care to administration,” she said. A team approach increases the chances of the priests complementing each other’s skills, which benefits parishioners, she said.

The model also gives the archbishop flexibility to provide pastoral care in a way he thinks is the best option for a parish’s circumstances, Mulheron said, and it has great potential as a model of parish governance.

The situation at Our Lady of Guadalupe is unique with Bishop Williams serving there, said Father Michael Van Sloun, the archdiocese’s director of clergy personnel. Because Bishop Williams also is vicar for Latino affairs, he can lead with his feet on the ground at a parish, providing guidance to other parishes doing the same ministry, he said.

It also gives Father Bernard’s position a bit more standing, Father Van Sloun said, as he will lead the parish when the bishop is tending to other obligations.

Father Bernard, ordained in 2021, lived with Bishop Williams when he was assigned as a seminarian to assist then-Father Williams at St. Stephen in Minneapolis, where the now-bishop ministered through Sept. 7. There, the two shared in prayer, which Father Bernard called “very formative.” Father Bernard said he believes with two priests at a parish, “we can focus on our strengths,” which benefits parishioners.

Father Bernard anticipates value in collaborating more intentionally. “It’s an opportunity to check with one another and … dissect different ideas,” he said, that could bring about better decisions for the parish.

“There’s a certain synergy of two people hashing out ideas and sharing thoughts,” he said.