The 11 pastoral areas of Kildare and Leighlin.
Photo: Kildare and Leighlin Diocese. Major reorganisation will see 56 parishes move into 11 pastoral areas
Parish identity must not be lost as dioceses reorganise into larger pastoral areas, the diocesan director of parish development in Kildare and Leighlin has said in reassurance to worried parishioners.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Deacon Roche, diocesan director of parish development in Kildare and Leighlin, said he has worked with Bishop Denis Nulty and others to reorganise the diocese’s 56 parishes and 117 faith communities into 11 pastoral areas.
Bishop Nulty previously said the new model would allow parishes to “share resources, work closer together, collaborate closer together”, while still holding on to their own identity.
Deacon Roche said protecting parish identity is central to his work, particularly “making sure parishes as individual entities don’t get lost in this whole thing.”
The Leighlin based deacon said some parishioners fear that without a resident priest their parish could lose its identity or be “subsumed into a larger entity”, but insisted that “it’s the people who give the parish their identity, not the priest, not a geographic boundary, but the faith community.”
Likewise, Bishop Nulty said the biggest issue for people is often “their identity through a local parish”, noting that parish life can be associated with football, hurling and even where people want to be buried.
However, Deacon Roche said parishes must also remember that their deepest identity is found in their shared faith. “We all have a common baptism. We all have a shared faith,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what team we play for in the GAA pitch. We should be able to set our sporting differences aside and come together in prayer and in faith.”
Consultations across the 11 pastoral areas found “huge affection and respect” for local parishes, he said, with some responding to the prospect of losing a resident priest with “real devastation and sorrow”, but also “significant resilience”.
Deacon Roche said lay people will have a major role in the new model, with 25 men and women in the diocese preparing to become lay pastoral ministers after an initial period of discernment.
“The vision for those lay pastoral ministers would be at pastoral area level,” he said, adding that they may have a primary focus on their own parish while also supporting other parishes in the pastoral area.
Bishop Nulty said lay people must be “at the heart of parish and Church”, particularly in the work of evangelisation.