I. J. Reilly has left a new comment on your post "WELS Pastor Answers Home Visiting Issue":
I am a WELS pastor of a small/medium sized congregation. I have been to the homes of most of my members at least once. I regularly visit those who are in special need. I would probably spend a few more evenings visiting, but I have a severely autistic son and I am needed quite a bit at home. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm saying this because most of the WELS pastors in my area follow the same pattern -- actually, they probably outstrip my efforts. Your characterization has NO BASIS IN REALITY. Why you are this bitter and try to find deficiencies where none exist simply boggle my mind! Actually, I pitty you. (I threw that last spelling error in so that you would publish my comments if only to gloat over your superiority in the use of the English language.)
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GJ - If this is the same person, or parson, I get a lot of angry comments from him when I criticize the Shrinkers. Of course, there is no way to tell from anonymous messages. It could be another Faux-Reilly.
His WELS region must be exceptional, because I have heard from all over - not just laity. I had a WELS family move from a Minnesota town to Columbus. The husband said he never experienced a WELS pastoral visit in the decade or so he lived in that state. He was astonished that I visited homes.
I gained a wider perspective from a WELS leader who has a position where he would know what is happening in a large region. Sad to say, there are WELS leaders who are quite friendly and they actually identify themselves by their real names. But I digress. This WELS leader said the lack of visitation by pastors is a terrible problem and it exists just as much among the solid, orthodox pastors. He is not a Shrinker fan.
This is what a WELS pastor told me, about 22 years ago, Faux-Reilly. "In Milwaukee the parishes are about one square mile. The pastors can drink all week and preach on Sunday. That is what a lot of them do." I did not accuse him of being angry and bitter.
