The bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, has warned that some parishes will cease to have a resident priest from as early as this time next year because of the absence of vocations. Speaking at the launch of a five-year pastoral plan for his diocese, Bishop Murphy said the Church will not survive in the face of priests retiring and not being replaced unless the laity steps in to help run parishes.
"The past forty years have seen rapid and radical changes in Irish society - no one should be surprised that the Church has been affected by this," he said.
"It is no exaggeration to say that, in the coming years, the Church in Ireland will not survive without a committed and involved laity," he added.
The bishop told the gathering in Killarney that a greater emphasis is to be placed on twelve new pastoral areas, involving members of parish pastoral councils who will be asked to prepare and preside at a number of Church services and activities. "As a diocese and as parishes, we are facing serious challenges and major changes,” Dr Murphy said.
“Already, new configurations of parishes have been established as pastoral areas and pastoral councils have been set up at diocesan, parish and pastoral area level and the permanent diaconate has been introduced," he continued.
Dr Murphy said that it was “very likely” that by late next year some parishes in the Kerry diocese will be without a resident priest.
In the past three months, the Kerry diocese suffered the loss of three priests through one retirement, one death and the transfer of a third to a training facility in the UK.
The new pastoral plan, entitled ‘Christ Our Hope’, follows almost two years of consultation around the diocese and aims to address issues such as structures, systems and communications in the diocese.
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