The Capuchin Friars will withdraw from the Adelaide parish of Newton by January 2024, ending a 73-year association with the local Catholic community. Source: The Southern Cross.
Fr Gerard O’Dempsey OFM Cap, provincial of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said it was his “sad duty” to announce the decision.
“We are faced with an ever-aging group of active friars and very few new vocations entering the order,” he said.
“Our recent ordination to the priesthood was the first in six years. Consequently, it has been necessary to take this difficult decision.”
The Newton parish will continue under the pastoral care of the Adelaide Archdiocese.
Fr O’Dempsey said the friars had “reached a point in the life of our province whereby we need to make some strategic decisions concerning the future of the Capuchin Order in Australia”.
Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan said the parish would be supported by the Archdiocese as it moved towards this transition and would remain under its pastoral care.
He thanked the many priests who had been involved in the parish and for the care of its people.
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Capuchins leaving in January (The Southern Cross)
