Still hope for future even if old model of Church is dying, says Irish priest

The old model of church in Ireland is “in crisis” and “dying” but there is still “great hope” for the future, well-known cleric Fr Paddy Byrne has said.

The parish priest who serves in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin referred to Bishop Denis Nulty’s recent pastoral letter which outlined the stark reality of the fall in the number of serving priests, forcing many clergy to serve well beyond the normal retirement age. 

While the volume of work has not grown less, the numbers available to do it have declined.

“This situation did not develop overnight. A substantial decline in vocations began as far back as 30 years ago,” he underlined.

In an article in Laois Today titled, ‘Why there is hope for the Irish church’, Fr Byrne appealed for sensitivity towards elderly and overburdened clergy, noting that it is no longer possible for fewer priests to meet every expectation.

There are 27 priests over 75 years of age still holding parish appointments in his diocese he said, including 10 who are serving as parish priests or administrators in some of the 56 parishes with 117 churches which are organised into 11 pastoral areas.

Some religious and overseas priests who served in Ireland in recent years are now returning to their orders or home dioceses.

Despite this crisis, Fr Byrne said a new model is slowly emerging and the synodal way of being Church is being discovered in many Irish dioceses.

In this new emerging ecclesial reality lay pastoral leaders are being recruited, trained and commissioned to work collaboratively with priests in parishes. “Parishes will be served by clergy and pastoral leaders working together as a team,” Fr Byrne said.

Currently in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin 25 people are training as lay pastoral leaders.

These lay leaders are engaged in a diverse range of pastoral activities such as coordinating the visitation of the housebound and elderly, visiting nursing homes, and supporting staff and residents to celebrate moments of prayer; they also design initiatives around catechesis that complement the role of the teacher in sacramental preparation of children.

Some of the newly commissioned lay leaders exercise a ministry of bereavement support and lead funeral ministry teams. Some are skilled in IT and so use social media, which significantly improves communications in their parishes.

Fr Byrne highlighted how these emerging lay leaders “experience their ministry as a calling, a vocation”.

They engage in a six-month discernment process to test that calling. They are then inducted into the two-year theological formation programme. “It is apparent from the response to date that there are many such vocations.”

“People are responding to the call with great generosity of spirit and are eager to establish dynamic collaborative leadership teams in parishes to serve the people in their communities.”

Fr Byrne, who is currently parish priest of Abbeyleix, Co Laois, said that in the parishes he has served in he has been “deeply indebted to the many lay people who take leadership and contribute greatly to our faith communities”.

“It is often in the absence of the priest where that lay presence comes forward celebrating our common baptismal calling as followers of Christ. So, yes, even in the midst of such a crisis, I have great hope for the Irish Church.”