How might our parish churches look like in 2050? #1

 

In this and following blogs I explore some possible ideas for making better use of existing spaces in our churches. 

A word by way of context: as we are only painfully aware, Mass attendance is in freefall over recent decades, priests are ageing but here and there a few little green shoots of hope are sprouting up, unexpectedly. 

The reforms to the liturgy and by association church layout ushered in over the decades following Vatican II (1962-65) have run their course.  Attempts to reinvigorate the liturgy and, above all, the way we celebrate the Eucharist have been made.  ‘Synodality’ has been all the talk in some church circles since the early 2020s.

We need to think long and hard about how we do things from here on.  In the course of the next 10-15 years I would expect a very significant reorganisation in the dioceses here in the South East of Ireland. I would expect some church closures while parishes are grouped together with, perhaps, one full-time priest serving catchment areas of 10,000-20,000 if not more.  Perhaps, 5-10% of the population will attend church on anything like a regular basis. Of these a very significant proportion will be Catholics from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia especially the Philippines and India due to the need for increased immigration arising from the collapse in birth rates.  It may be that by mid-century close to a majority of serving priests will be from abroad.  Thank God for those who come to live, minister and work in our country.

I may be wide off the mark but I think my expectations are not that unrealistic.  If the last ordination in the diocese in which I live was in 2021 and that was the first since 2014 then it does not take a great effort in Maths to figure out where this is heading.  Bear in mind that it is a safe bet that a majority of serving priests are now over 60 and very few are under 50 then the next 20-30 years will see very dramatic changes.  While there is a trickle of priests – missionaries – arriving from Africa and Asia – this is not going to dramatically change the likely picture that is already emerging.

These changes have huge implications for the way we organise ourselves especially in regards to:

• Lay-led liturgies (as distinct from Mass)
• The role of women in church ministry more broadly
• The role of Sunday Mass in selected locations across the dioceses

• How different Christian churches might pool worship spaces and how some form of shared ministry within the parameters of agreed norms.

On the latter point, I fail to see any theological or logistical reasons why baptism ministry could not be undertaken by suitably trained lay persons working in association with the ordained minister.  I will return to the issue of baptism and its link to the Eucharist in next Wednesday’s blog.