A radical restructuring of the Catholic Church across Greater Manchester which would see the number of parishes reduced by half has been recommended by the Bishop of Salford in a new report.
John Arnold, who was appointed in 2014, suggests that to realistically realign the church, the number of parishes could be reduced from the current 150 to around 75
“Manifestly, we live in a changing world and, while remaining true to the doctrines of the Church, we must adapt and be a changing Church. We must plan for the future and, given the reduction in the number of priests available for pastoral ministry, the planning needs to be radical.”
He says adding
“In the mid-1930’s there were 149 parishes in the Diocese. This number rose to 202 in 1970 and 207 in 1980. We cannot hope to sustain that number today. I appreciate that people grow fond of their local church and indeed there are many Catholics attending the newer churches who were responsible for financing and building them. It will be very difficult, even emotionally demanding, to see some of these churches close – but some must be closed if we are to be serious in re-establishing ourselves as a missionary Church with “missionary parishes”.
By 2020 the bishop says that there will only be 108 priest with 23 already over the age of 75 with the diocese having benefited over the last fifty years from a huge influx of priests from Ireland.
“At present we have one priest for every 1884 Catholics and by 2020 we are likely to have one priest for every 2620. We are facing the challenge of adjusting to having less priests than before but, in the eyes of the rest of the world it is certainly not a “shortage”
The Bishop will meet with all the clergy of the Diocese in early February 2016 to brief them on the importance of their task in the reconstruction, when the priests of each deanery must decide which parishes will be what may be called “Mission Parishes” and will be the centres of our mission in the future. These “Mission Parishes” must depend on an increase in lay involvement.
