The Primate of All Ireland says some Irish dioceses and parishes will not survive financially and while there is “pain in letting go” passing on the Faith is more important. Source: The Irish Catholic.
Simply “ensuring that the next generation of Irish people believe in God” is the reality the Church is facing, not the expensive upkeep of buildings, Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin said.
“I’m very hopeful about the future but I do realise there is a lot of pain in letting go, there is a lot of worry,” Archbishop Martin said.
“You look at the maintenance of buildings and huge churches and the expenses, financially the Church is going to be very, very poor – not to mention the impact of paying the just compensation to people who’ve been abused.
“We’re going to find that some parishes, some dioceses perhaps even, are not going to be able to survive financially, and that’s a whole new challenging landscape for us to inhabit.
“But remember the Faith, and the passing on of the Faith, is the really important thing, not the buildings, not the structures, but ensuring that the next generation of Irish people believe in God – you would never have believed that the Archbishop of Armagh would be saying that to you, but that is the reality that we are facing,” he added.
Already many parishes and dioceses are working more closely together across Ireland, with some priests in charge of several parishes and some bishops heading two dioceses.
The archbishop said he would prefer that what emerges is what is best for evangelisation and that Irish dioceses are not treated like a “big jigsaw”.
“I’m hoping that our ongoing synodal journey and the synodal pathway for the Church in Ireland will enable a lot of that thinking to come through.”
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‘We must ensure the next generation believe in God’ (By Chai Brady, Irish Catholic)
