Older priests want pastoral work not paperwork – bishop

Elderly priests are seeking to focus on pastoral work in the face of growing administrative burdens, Ossory’s Bishop Dermot Farrell has said.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic after announcing this year’s diocesan changes, Bishop Farrell said he had tried to support elderly priests.

“This year the men wanted to be relieved on the administrative side of being a parish priest, but they were very happy to continue in the role of, effectively, being a curate,” he said. “In other words, whatever pastoral things they could do like celebrating Mass or looking after the sick or whatever, they were quite happy to do that.”

Some priests wanted to continue their sacramental and pastoral ministry without also being burdened by administrative work, Dr Farrell explained.

“That’s becoming more onerous in terms of stuff that’s coming down the line, particularly for older men who are finding it difficult for example with GDPR and that sort of area,” he said, adding that increased accountability necessitated by recent charity legislation is good but sometimes challenging to deal with.

Problem

Part of the problem, he said, is that the diocese has an infrastructure fit for a different time.

“In some senses the issue is not the shortage of priests but is really the overabundance of infrastructure. Do we need four parishes and 10 churches in Kilkenny City? Probably not,” he said.

“We did at one stage,” he continued, “and we’d love to think that they’re all full, but 10 churches and 25,000 people – that’s an overabundance of infrastructure, so what I’m trying to do and what I think most bishops are trying to do is create some new structures to support a sustainable ministry of both priests and people.”

With a committee commissioned this weekend to promote Eucharistic Adoration across the diocese, Dr Farrell said prayer and adoration will be key for the diocese going forward.

“Prayer is the heart of every parish,” he said, adding, “I’m trying to put adoration at the heart of parish community, encouraging parishes to encourage their parishioners to put it sometimes on a more formal basis.”

Stressing the importance of prayer for helping the Eucharist to bear fruit, he said: “If you don’t have prayer you can’t sustain faith even in individuals. That’s what sustains our relationship with the Lord.”