Bishop Fintan Gavin
Photo: Brian Lougheed Bishop of Cork and Ross Fintan Gavin has insisted that more parishes sharing fewer priests will increasingly be the reality in the diocese.
As a response to the vocations crisis, he has announced a series of clustering of parishes to share resources and co-ordinate Mass times together.
He said the future is going to involve what he describes as “radical change”.
“We have to re-configure our parish faith communities for mission so that we can live and share the good news of Jesus Christ reaching out to those on the margins of our Church community, those who may have drifted away, our young people and those hurt by the Church.
“For the foreseeable future, more ‘Families of Parishes’ will develop in the diocese whereby a number of parishes will form a bond between them which sustains the pastoral life of these parishes.
“This will mean parishioners, clergy and religious communities sharing resources, sharing in responsibility and ministry, and strengthening our unity as one Body of Christ,” Bishop Gavin writes in a letter announcing clerical changes this week.