Cathal BarryThe issue was addressed by the bishops at their summer meeting in Maynooth last week.
Weekday Masses may be axed as part of radical new plans as more and more parishes are set to be left without a priest for the first time.
As the number of clerics continues to decline and faced with an increasingly older age profile, the Church here is being forced to take radical action which may see the Eucharist celebrated on Sundays only.
The issue was addressed by the bishops at their summer meeting in Maynooth last week.
In a statement, the bishops said they “welcomed the conversations being conducted by the Council for Liturgy of the Bishops’ Conference on liturgy on weekdays when the celebration of Mass is not possible”.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Danny Murphy, Director of the National Centre for Liturgy said that “people need to be made aware that there is nourishment both from the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist”.
“Critically,” he added, “there is a need to make people aware that distributing Communion from the tabernacle outside Mass is different from the celebration of Mass; that distributing Communion from the tabernacle even during Mass is not what the Church intends.”
While it is not yet known exactly what action may be taken to replace weekday Masses in the future, greater lay participation is widely expected to be on the agenda. It is also expected that married deacons will play a key role in the absence of a priest.