Notebook
I have in my possession a copy of the Irish Catholic Directory 2018, printed just before COVID. There are over 4,000 priests named in its index, but only a handful of Co-PPs. An Irish Catholic Directory 2024 (if there were one) would include quite a few more. I am one myself, since 2022. But what is a Co-PP?
There are two schools of thought. For some, the Co-PP who lives in a particular parish is to all intents and purposes a parish priest in the traditional sense, with all the rights and duties linked to that office. So though I am titled Co-PP living in Castlehaven & Myross, they would contend that I am really the PP of Castlehaven & Myross, in the ways that its parish priests always were.
Parishes
According to that school of thought, it’s in the parishes that no longer have a resident priest that Co-PPs come into their own. Two parishes in our family of five parishes (pastoral area) are in that category: that means that the three of us who are Co-PPs are communally in charge of those parishes, all equally responsible, working as a team to guide them.
According to that school of thought, the moderator is the first among equals, who ‘keeps the whole show on the road’, organises a rota so that every Mass and other event is covered and sees that each priest has time off and holidays.
The much spoken-of shortage of priests has become a reality, even if a priest still resides with them”
The other school of thought disagrees: for them, the moderator is key, he is in fact the new PP of the multiple-parish grouping, though this new designation is unstated. Those titled Co-PPs then are really only curates, helping the moderator, their boss, to staff and run this new multi-parish organism. According to this school of thought, the moderator alone acts in the person of the parishes, not the Co-PPs, whose role is significantly less than that of PP.
Assess
How can we assess which school of thought is correct? Canon law is checked — here there is no such thing as a co-PP, though there is provision for several priests to have the care of number of parishes together with a moderator, who acts in the name of the parish or parishes cared for by the group.
Whichever school of thought is followed, it is the parishioners who feel the difference. Once a Co-PP is appointed, they no longer have a “priest of their own” but one shared with at least one other parish. The much spoken-of shortage of priests has become a reality, even if a priest still resides with them.
If all this seems clear as mud, here is my suggestion: when a Co-PP is appointed to your parish, ask him what his role is and how it differs from that of PP. And if you happen upon a moderator of a group of parishes, ask him a similar question: is he the boss of the parishes and their clergy, or is he there to keep everything running smoothly?
And when you discover, let me know…..
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When the Poor Clares recommend a YouTube video, it’s time to sit up and take notice! My Poor Clare friends who live in community on College Road in Cork city recommended “The Chosen” to me, and I pass their recommendation on to you. Google the title of the series and you get 24 episodes over four series, all professionally filmed and scripted (you can view the episodes free on YouTube.) This presentation shows that the Christian message never gets old, there is always a new generation of talented professionals ready to take up the torch and share the Good News.
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l I watched – and enjoyed – the opening ceremony of the Olympics. I was intrigued by the horse apparently running up the Seine, and loved the fire floating over Paris as its Olympic flames. As to the rest, it seemed odd, outlandish — and very typically French.
It was only later that I discovered that I should have been outraged, that I had witnessed Christianity being mocked. The trouble is that hadn’t spotted that at all. Should I have changed my view? A Facebook meme gave me the answer I would incline to:
“A mature Christian is someone who is very hard to offend”.