Chai Brady
Archbishop Dermot Farrell The chair of the task force established by Archbishop Dermot Farrell has said there will be an emphasis on pastoral initiatives aimed at “animating parishes”.
Msgr Ciaran O’Carroll of Donnybrook parish, chairperson of the ‘Task Force on a Church for the Dublin of Tomorrow’ which comes under the title ‘Building Hope’, said it is “exciting”.
“It’s mainly focused on pastoral initiatives, the emphasis is on giving hope to parishes and animating parishes and seeing what positive supports can be offered to the people of the diocese,” he said.
The task force is composed of clergy, religious and laypeople. They met for the first time last week and again this week. It was established by Archbishop Farrell to prepare an assessment of the needs of the people of the Archdiocese of Dublin as they emerge from the Covid crisis.
The archbishop urged haste, with the group expected to complete its work by the end of summer. Msgr O’Carroll admitted “we have a very short timeframe”.
Asked about some of the details of discussions around finances, Msgr O’Carroll said: “Everything is possible, whatever is best to proclaim the Gospel. The group are going to work towards the mandate given it by the archbishop, I’m not going to pre-judge what’s going to be in the final report.”
In a previous statement Dr Farrell said the aim of the task force will be to “prepare an approach to a pastoral strategy” that supports parishes to undertake a “radical renewal”, and that will allow communities of faith to look to the “future with creativity”.