Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais. Photo: Saint-Omer Tourist Office One Green Party politician described their recent election experience as being spat out by the Irish people. It is somewhat ironic that while there is general agreement that climate change is the great issue of our generation, the one political party dedicated to highlighting the problem and coming up with solutions is the one that gets completely rejected by the people. The Green Party and other climate activists desperately try to get home the message that we are in a dire situation. They have tried all kinds of ways to shock us with statistics in order to get us to change our ways. Are they being successful?
The result of the election and indeed the return of Mr ‘drill baby drill’ Trump might suggest not.
Parallel
I find a striking parallel between our attitude to climate change and how so many in our Irish Church approach the realities and challenges facing us today. We are heading into a new year, a Jubilee Year, so I’d like to revisit some aspects of our present reality. I do this, conscious that there will be many who will want to spit me and what I have to say out with the Greens!
Everyone knows that the number of active priests is dwindling rapidly. An article in this newspaper a few weeks ago highlighted the fact that in Dublin Archdiocese, the largest in the country, there will only be a few dozen priests to lead almost two hundred parishes in the next decades. This situation is reflected proportionally in every other diocese in Ireland. Not so long ago in our own diocese, all parish priests were obliged to retire just after their 75th birthday. That seems a distant memory now as priests feel they cannot retire at 75.
There are also priests who cannot imagine a life beyond their identity as a parish priest and therefore wish to hang on even though they find the role overwhelming at times”
Many bishops who asked for retirements in the past are now hoping, or even expecting, priests to go on administering large parishes and increasingly more than one parish. Elderly priests themselves, coming from years of serving others, feel obliged to stay on even when they are tired and dealing with various health challenges. Some men feel they are letting their younger colleagues down if they choose to retire. There are also priests who cannot imagine a life beyond their identity as a parish priest and therefore wish to hang on even though they find the role overwhelming at times. There are priests who fear financial insecurity if they retire.
Situation
None of this makes a happy situation. In the first instance I believe it is unfair and unjust to expect men who have given over 50 years of service to continue working. I would go so far as to say that the Church may be open to the charge of elder abuse if it continues this approach. Secondly, I fear that the practice of parish priests staying on in administrative roles, for whatever reason, is frustrating the move towards necessary Church reform at parish and diocesan level. The role of a parish priest is canonically one of the most powerful and influential in the Church. We are the gatekeepers and quite simply, when it comes to new thinking and reform parish priests have the power to open the gate or close the gate.
Many of our dioceses have embarked on creative journeys to look for new ways to be Church in this time of change. It is difficult to measure the success of such initiatives and one of the huge challenges is to get buy in from the various stakeholders. Having participated in countless ‘listening sessions’ and various other forms of consultation over three decades I sense a certain paralysis and fatigue with that process. There are many dedicated people in our communities who are tired of being asked their opinion but then see little effective action. At some point we have to realise that the process is not the destination. Something more is needed!
A prayer at the beginning of a New Year
God of this New Year, we are walking into mystery. We face the future, not knowing what the days and months will bring to us or how we will respond. Be love in us as we journey. May we welcome all who come our way. Deepen our faith to see all of life through your eyes. Fill us with hope and an abiding trust that you dwell in us amidst our joys and sorrows. Thank you for the treasure of our faith life. Thank you for the gift of being able to rise each day with the assurance of your walking through the day with us. God of this new year, we praise you. Amen. (Joyce Rupp)
Blame the bishop!
A priest leaving the parish, addressed his saddened parishioners and tried to console them by revealing that the bishop had promised he would send a good man as a replacement. One woman, however, was inconsolable. “Why?” enquired the concerned but departing priest “Didn’t the bishop say he would send a good man in my place?” “Yes that’s just it,” she cried. “He said that the last time too!”