Bishop William Murphy of Kerry has said that any attempt to amalgamate his diocese with the neighbouring Cork and Ross diocese would lead to a “very unwieldy” structure. The bishop was commenting on recent proposals that Irish diocese would be restructured and reduced in number as part of a general reform and rejuvenation of Church management in this country.
He said that when he and his colleagues visited Rome together recently “it was made obvious that this was not a project for the present – maybe for the future”
Bishop Murphy conceded that the size and population of dioceses would “probably be looked at”.
“You have some very small dioceses and I would imagine they will look at that,” he said.
He said that the number of confirmation ceremonies each year placed a heavy workload on a bishop.
“It takes up a lot of energy especially in the months of February, March, April, into May; I would do 35 confirmations each year”.
“The numbers (of children) vary; Adrigole and Caherdaniel had seven this year whereas in St John’s in Tralee, I had two confirmations in the one day,” Dr Murphy said.
“It would be very difficult for one bishop to do the conformations in Cork and Kerry – it would be impossible”.
The bishop said that the public had to be realistic about the consequences of the declining numbers of priests.
"Parishes won’t be without a priest but they might be without a resident priest,” he warned, adding that a “joint responsibility” model was currently being considered.
“There are 84 active priests in Kerry now but you will have fewer active and if you are in a pastoral area of four parishes with three priests, the priests will all be responsible for each parish”.
Dr Murphy is the third bishop to downplay any suggestion that a reform of diocesan boundaries is imminent.
Bishop Michael Smith of Meath said recently that he doubted that any changes would happen in the short term.
And Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe correctly predicted he would not be the last bishop in his diocese, dismissing suggestions that the coincidence of his retirement and that of Bishop Donal Murray in neighbouring Limerick might be used as an opportunity to amalgamate their two dioceses.
SIC: CIN