"The Importance of of Geographic Stability for the Church"
When the new Code of Canon Law came out in 1983, it provided for episcopal conferences to request permission to make limited pastor assignments. The NCCB (now USCCB) requested permission to assign and reassign pastors with no time limit. Rome gave permission for a minimum of six years, although the norm was supposed to be that pastors could expect an indefinite assignment. This was more in the tradition of life-time assignments prior to 1983.
If there are real problems, there is a canonical process to remove pastors from all parish ministry. If it would serve the good of the faithful, a bishop can invoke transfer to move a good pastor to an area which needs a good pastor. But with limited terms, assignments just end, and pastors can be moved without any clear reason at all.
We've been experimenting with this new idea of limited pastor terms for thirty-five years. I'm not sure there's compelling evidence that being able to move pastors around serves the mission of the church or the flourishing of its members in any way. I give some reasons in this article why we might want to reconsider stability, definitely for pastors, as well as bishops, other priests, and laity. I also recommend watching Msgr. Charles Brown's talk on stability of bishops.