Parishioner-led communities of faith in Mayo as priest numbers decline
PARISHES in the Tuam Archdioceses will have to plan for parishioner-led communities of faith in the future as the number of priests continues to decline.
The approach was outlined by Archbishop Francis Duffy in his pastoral letter for Advent.
The archbishop set out the rapid decline in the number of clergy in his letter: The archdiocese has 41 diocesan priests under the retirement age of 75 working in its 56 parishes. There are four diocesan priests, well over 75, who continue, by choice, to minister. There are also seven priests from abroad and three Irish priests who worked with missionary congregations now ministering locally.
Two students are studying for the priesthood.
He continued: “The trend is downward. Retirements and ill health, in addition to so few replacements, mean that our pastoral services have to be reimagined. In six years’ time an additional seven diocesan clergy will be over 75.
“Now is the time to plan for greater parishioner-led communities of faith.
“Every parish will be impacted by the current trend, and so I am asking each parish pastoral council, along with neighbouring parish pastoral councils in the deanery, to address this issue and plan for the immediate future. The question is ‘how can we provide for the pastoral needs in our parish and surrounding parishes, given the declining number of priests and with an immediate reduction of one priest in the deanery?’
Priests may celebrate up to three Sunday Masses, including the Vigil Mass. It will be necessary to reduce the current number of Masses so priests may be able to attend to the pastoral needs of two or more parishes.
As is clear in some parishes, it is not necessary to have a resident priest to have a flourishing community of faith, said Archbishop Duffy.
Priests will be available for pastoral needs, but it is not necessary to have a Sunday Mass in each church; already several churches have weekday Masses and no Sunday Mass.
In some parishes, when the priest is unavoidably absent during the week, parishioners hold a prayer service - this may need to be extended to weekends where necessary.
Some parishes, added Archbishop Duffy, are already addressing issues such as engagement with youth and older parishioners, pilgrimages, sacramental preparation, adult faith formation, safeguarding and other initiatives that benefit faith and community.
Ministries such as acolyte, catechist and lector have been inaugurated by Pope Francis and will be developed at local level. Also, training for parishioners to lead prayer services as well as training for parish pastoral councils, liturgy councils and finance committees will become a feature of diocesan life.