Organisers of a key conference on breathing life into Irish parishes hope the visit of Pope Francis can give new energy to a more lay-led vision of Church reform.
The two-day conference on the Future of the parish in Ireland is being hosted by the Irish Institute for Pastoral Studies based at MIC St Patrick’s Campus, Thurles and will be addressed by highly experienced speakers from around the globe.
Pope Francis, who will visit Ireland just days before this conference is held, has said that the parish is not an out-dated institution.
However, according to organisers of the event, in Ireland it is quite clear that the dynamic of the parish is changing dramatically with the declining number of priests left to serve throughout every diocese.
Challenge
How the parishes are run and managed is a major challenge for Church authorities and for laypeople as they bid to chart a way forward.
According to Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon, who runs the Irish Institute of Pastoral Studies, the conference will address issues which are central to all the parishes and the dioceses of the country.
“We are trying to find a way forward and trying to figure out who will run our parishes in the years to come,” he said. Dr Fitzgibbon said he hopes the conference will build on the listening processes which have been ongoing in many Irish dioceses.
According to Dr Fitzgibbon, while Ireland is right in the middle of this seismic transition other parts of the world have already been through it and the conference will draw on the experiences of people like Cardinal John Dew of New Zealand.
Other speakers will include Bishop Michael Wustenberg who has extensive experience of parish ministry and missionary work.
The conference runs August 28 and 29.
For more information please call 0504 20590 or see www.irishinstituteforpastoralstudies.com