Fr Gerry O’Connor of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) told The Irish Catholic that “Dioceses which are experiencing a decline in revenue from collections are saying to elderly priests: ‘we may not be able to care for you in the future.’
“You can imagine the level of anxiety and worry that causes for people,” he said.
Stressing that this was not an issue of bishops threatening priests, he said: “when priests have their meetings with the bishops and there’s a general gathering and everyone’s talking about the falling collections, one of the issues that is concluded from that is that there would be difficulties in looking after priests in retirement.”
The effect of this, Fr O’Connor said, is increased anxiety among clergy, with this being the case in many dioceses.
“Truthfully, you could take any of the dioceses and you’d find that this is the case. Dublin has a pretty decent common fund system, but if you take any of the smaller west of Ireland dioceses, for example, they’d all be ones that would have difficulties that way,” he said, suggesting nursing home care – where necessary – as an area where diocese funding might fall short.
Reassurance
However, Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran sought to reassure worried clergy, explaining that care for elderly and ill priests is always a priority and denying that this is in peril in Ireland.
“It’s definitely not the case – I’m not aware of it being the case anywhere,” he told The Irish Catholic.
“Needless to say, like any other aspect of finance, it’s under a certain amount of pressure,” he said, but explained that in dioceses, “a percentage of the income that comes in is for sick and retired priests, and they have to be well-looked after.”
Killala’s Bishop John Fleming similarly sought to quell misplaced concerns. “There’s probably some drop here in revenue, but it’s very slight at the moment and certainly it’s not impacting on our care of sick and retired priests,” he told this newspaper, adding that “we certainly would have the care of sick and retired priests as a priority going into the future. That is very important.”
Bishop Denis Nulty, who is a member of the Council for Clergy of the Irish Bishops’ Conference likewise rejected claims that Ireland’s older clergy have grounds for concern, dismissing the suggestion with an adamant “Not at all”.
Unaware
Adding that “it certainly hasn’t come up” in his diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, he said
he was unaware of it being an issue in other dioceses.
Tuam’s Fr Stephen Farragher, who also serves on the national council for clergy and who was at this year’s ACP AGM in Athlone, told The Irish Catholic that while “you hear of falling incomes in parishes” this is unlikely to have an impact on sick or retired priests.
Although the Archdiocese of Tuam lacks a diocesan pension scheme, he said, the fund that subsidises priests’ own long-term arrangements is “guaranteed well into the future”.