St Andrews and Edinburgh facing drastic restructuring

A PROPOSED restructuring of parishes in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh is planning for a reduction in the number of full-time priests to about 30 by 2035, writes Brian Morton.

Making the prediction, Archbishop Leo Cushley described the restructuring process as “painful” and “unpleasant” but essential in light of falling attendance at Mass, fewer baptisms and weddings, and a dramatic stall in the number of vocations to the priesthood.

Those close to the archdiocese deny that there has been any “O’Brien effect”, as reported in some media, or direct fall-out from the admission of sexual misconduct by Cardinal Keith O’Brien in 2013.

The archdiocese has a Catholic population of around 110,000 and has 129 priests, including some who are retired. But the process of restructuring, for which proposals have been canvassed from deaneries and that will be discussed by clergy and lay representatives in a consultation process beginning at Easter 2015, has already begun.

Since 2008 the 109 parishes in St Andrews and Edinburgh have been organised into 31 parish “clusters” in which clergy minister to more than one parish within a particular locality.

The archdiocese has stressed that the change “does not mean that the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh will consist of only 30 churches since a single enhanced parish could contain several church buildings”.

In a letter, Archbishop Cushley said the shake-up, thought to be the most radical since the Restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in Scotland in 1878, was rendered more complicated by demographic change in the archdiocese, in parallel with the situation in the Archdiocese of Glasgow where plans are in place to halve the number of parishes.

Last week, the Diocese of Dunkeld called for an evangelisation drive due to a larger than estimated gap between self-identifying Catholics and those who attend Mass.