Archbishop warns of stark challenge of ageing priesthood

By JACQUELINE HOGGE THE continuing crisis in clerical vocations has seen only one priest ordained in the Tuam Archdiocese over the past five years, during which time 23 priests passed away. Flagged by Archbishop Michael Neary during his homily at Masses in Tuam at the weekend, the statistics have given way to a renewed effort to engage more lay people in the running of local parishes.[private] With the average age of the 113 priests in the diocese 63, and with 29 of those aged in their 70s, more and more focus is being placed in newly formed pastoral councils to redistribute work traditionally done by priests, to lay people. Archbishop Neary said the statistics were stark and represented a real challenge but the issue could be addressed in a positive and constructive way through the pastoral councils. 'We are prioritising priests' roles and responsibilities and through the pastoral councils we are beginning to recognise the capacity lay people have to take more responsibility for the church,' he said. 'The pastoral council here in Tuam has been up and running since last March but in some places, where they have only recently begun to experience a shortage of priests, the councils are only being set up.' A working group set up in 2008 to make proposals on how the diocese could best be served with a reduced number of priests concluded that clustering parishes would be one way of addressing the problem. However, even with parishes linking up to share personnel and administration duties, it is envisaged there will be no more than 70 priests in the diocese by 2013. One possible solution to the problem is the introduction of lay deacons in the archdiocese, as is being done in other parts of the country. The diaconate, which is a ministry of service that is carried out alongside the bishop and priests of a parish, was restored under the Second Vatican Council but has only been adopted in Ireland in recent years. Deacons perform a variety of the functions of priesthood including baptism, marriage, exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and officiate at funerals. They can also assist the priest at the celebration of the Eucharist, but the part-time nature of the role allows them to continue with their secular lives. Deacons can be married but if unmarried they must, in the same way as a priest, make a solemn promise to a life of celibacy. Not intended to replace lay ministers, those deacons who are in active ministry in other parts of the country, such as Dublin and Armagh, play an important role in the development and co-ordination of lay ministry. However, Archbishop Neary was cautious about introducing lay deacons as he said the functions of such were already being carried out well by those involved in the pastoral councils. 'Lay people have acknowledged and responded to the situation very well, in fact their response has given me great hope for the future and I would be guarding against the clericalism of ordained lay deacons at this stage,' he said. 'But it is something that will be considered as part of the board perspective. In the diocese of Elphin there are lay deacons about to be ordained this year so we will wait and see how well they perform. 'No place in the archdiocese will be unaffected by the falling number of priests and every parish will be affected in some way, whether that is sharing priests or reducing the number of Masses offered.'[/private]