Priests and
Parish Pastoral Council members from across the Diocese of Waterford and
Lismore gathered in Clonmel during the week to hear plans outlined for the
years ahead as changes take place owing to the declining number of vocations in
the Diocese.
In the last
three decades nearly all parishes have seen changes happen with the amount of
priests working in parishes cut and some parishes have been left with no priest
living and working in the parish, and are instead administered from
neighbouring parishes.
In the
future lay people could be asked to play an even greater role in most parishes
that they are currently asked to.
Lay people
could well be asked to carry out prayer services at funerals where there is no
priest available to administer and could also be asked to carry out other
functions like the distribution of ashes to the faithful on Ash Wednesday and
to bless throats on the feast of Saint Blaise.
Parishes
could also be brought together with one priest working as a moderator alongside
different Pastoral Councils.
Parishes
could also be administered by a Permanent Deacon or a lay person directed by a
Priest from outside the Parish.
In the
future where it is not possible to have a mass celebrated in a given church, a
lay parishioner could be appointed to lead the people in a prayer service.
The last
number of years has seen the number of Priests working in the Diocese
significantly drop with Priests who are members of Religious Communities
already working in a number of Parishes across the Diocese.
Two years
ago the then newly appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, the Most Very
Reverend Aphonsus Cullinan was able to bring three priests from India to the
Diocese to work in parishes in Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and Waterford City, but
it is understood that there is no plans to bring any other priests in on
Temporary Missions.
There are
currently five parishes in the Diocese that do not have a working priest.
In West
Waterford the Parish of Tallow is without and priest with the Parish Priest of
nearby Ballyduff Upper travelling to Tallow to celebrate mass in the town.
Modeligo and
Affane became the first parish not to have a priest and is administered from
nearby Cappoquin and recently the Parish Priest of Clashmore and Kinsalebeg
retired and the Parish Priest of Ring and Old Parish was appointed as a
moderator working with other priests in the area to ensure that parishioners
can attend mass on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning in their own parish.
In the east
of the county there are two parishes currently without a Parish Priest.
Dunhill and
Fenor is currently administered from Tramore while Butlerstown is administered
from the Saint Paul’s Parish in Waterford City.
Currently all
Parishes in County Tipperary that are part of Waterford and Lismore have at
least one priest working in them.
The Diocese
of Waterford and Lismore has four Diocesan Priest’s that were ordained since
the turn of the Millennium with a further ten priests working that were
ordained in the previous decade.
In the same
time (1990-present) over 40 priests of the diocese have died, while an number
of others have stepped aside from active ministry while a number of men have
decided to be laicised.
At present
priests are obliged to offer their resignation to their Bishop once they reach
the age of 75, but because of the shortage of priests in the Diocese some ask
or are asked to remain in active ministry as long as their heath allows them to
do so.
At present
the Diocese also has a number of priests in the double digits who are currently
retired, but many are helping out in parishes at weekends as well as covering
when priests are sick are on holiday.
In the
Diocese there is currently at least one priest who has only taken time away
from his ministry during the weekdays in recent years so that parishioners in
his care can attend weekend masses without having to call on often what is
often much in demand priests to stand in for him.
The then
Bishop of Waterford and Lismore the Most Very Reverend William Lee began the
process for preparing parishes for what lies ahead some years ago when he
gathered parishes at a meeting in Dungarvan and it was explained to those that
attended that the parishes would have to
be clustered into groupings and that the amount of masses on offer in each
parish could have to be cut and the times of some masses would have to be
changed so that they fell in such a way that allowed a priest from a
neighbouring parish to come and celebrate the mass if needed while also
celebrating mass in his own parish.
