A Vatican plan to reshuffle some of the smaller dioceses in Ireland could have a serious affect on the Diocese of Ossory and on the number of bishops who are currently employed in this country.
The shake-up which has been discussed by the Holy See could see the amalgamation of some of the dioceses of Ireland with Ossory one of those mooted for possible cutbacks and/or amalgamation.
In a recent edition of the Irish Catholic newspaper, it was reported that a committee met in Maynooth in September in a bid to address the reduction in the numbers of dioceses in the country.
This would be implemented by placing a lower limit of 100,000 Catholics per diocese .
The Diocese of Ossory has 42 parishes altogether including nine in county Laois, one in Co Offaly and the remaining 32 located in Co Kilkenny.
The PRO of the Diocese of Ossory Fr Dan Carroll of St Patrick’s parish, said that although he had heard about the Vatican plans to cut back on the numbers of diocese and subsequently the numbers of bishops in the country, he said that he wasn’t overly concerned.
“This is nothing but speculation at this point in time and I gather that it is fuelled by the fact that several bishops who have resigned have not yet been replaced and there hasn’t been a bishop replaced in the past 18 months. However, this is because the powers that be are awaiting the publication of an important report on the church, which is due to be published imminently and until this report has been examined, there won’t be any new bishops ordained.”
Fr Carroll also addressed the issue surrounding the numbers of priests and lack of new vocations being recorded in this country and he dismissed the idea that this was part of the problem.
“There are plenty of priests available to take up bishops’ posts — this is certainly not the problem. There is no real criteria for becoming a bishop — any priest can be made a bishop so lack of numbers is not a concern,” he said.
Currently Bishop Seamus Freeman presides over the Diocese of Ossory while neighbouring diocese, Kildare and Leighlin has no sitting bishop at present since the standing down of Bishop Jim Moriarty.
Bishop Freeman has been in his post for three years and is likely to remain in that post for at least another 10 years and therefore it would be unlikely that Ossory would lose its bishop before then, however, he could possibly be given another neighbouring diocese to manage.
Meanwhile, the Irish Catholics Bishops’ Conference said it would not comment on the issue as they believed it was ‘speculative’.
Bishop Freeman was also out of the country and unable to comment.