The Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry and Raphoe must confront difficult questions about the future of parish ministry, delegates at a Diocesan Synod have been told.
An interim report on its Diocesan Review has highlighted mounting pressures on clergy numbers, congregational life and the sustainability of existing church structures.
Delegates at this the Synod, held at the Everglades Hotel in Derry, heard a sobering assessment from the Archdeacon of Raphoe, the Venerable Archdeacon David Huss, who outlined the work undertaken since the Synod initiated a strategic review of diocesan and parochial structures and future aspirations in October 2023.
Describing progress as “making haste slowly”, Archdeacon Huss said the Review Steering Group had overseen an extensive research process during 2025, including consultation with clergy, an online survey and seven regional meetings involving churchwardens, secretaries and treasurers.
A separate working group examining the structural aspects of the review had also been active since June.
“We do live in changing times,” he told Synod. “The population in general, both north and south, is ageing. Numbers of children are reducing. So, too, are levels of commitment to church life and levels of giving.”
While acknowledging the pressures, Archdeacon Huss cautioned against overstating the picture of decline.
In many places, he said, congregational attendance was holding relatively steady, with some churches seeing numbers move back towards pre-pandemic levels.
Elsewhere, congregations were experiencing gradual decreases reflecting trends that had developed over decades, and in some cases centuries.
Of more immediate concern, he said, was the declining number of stipendiary clergy, who are employed as full-time rectors.
There are currently around 420 stipendiary clergy in Ireland, approximately 60 per cent of whom are aged 55 or over. With the current rate of parochial vacancies standing at around 20 per cent, Synod heard that this figure could almost double over the next decade.
The implications for parish life are significant, raising fundamental questions about how ministry is organised, how clergy are deployed and how congregations can continue to be served.
“With a reduced number of full-time clergy, it makes sense to ask whether we are making the best use of those clergy that we have,” Archdeacon Huss said.
He outlined four broad options for the future: bringing more churches together in larger parish groupings; making greater use of part-time ministry and Ordained Local Ministry, particularly in smaller parishes; developing a combination of larger groupings supported by ministry teams; or closing some smaller churches while retaining those with greater congregational or financial resources.
The last of these, he acknowledged, was widely regarded as unthinkable.
He said: “But, if so, we need either to begin to think the unthinkable, or else to work out how we do keep all these parishes functioning.”
His remarks brought into sharp focus the challenge facing the Diocese: how to sustain local church life and pastoral ministry amid changing demographics and fewer full-time clergy, while making the best possible use of the people and resources available.
The Review Working Group is committed to bringing substantive proposals to next year’s Diocesan Synod, giving the Diocese a further year to consider the evidence and work towards recommendations for the future.
Archdeacon Huss recognised that the scale of the challenge could provoke very different responses.
He spoke of the soul-searching the review had prompted and of his hope that the work over the coming year would lead to the strongest possible response to the challenges identified.
“I’m very much praying that what we can come up with by this time next year will be the very best stab at a solution that we can possibly make.”