Radical plans to deal with the crisis caused by a dwindling number of both priests and Massgoers in Hexham and Newcastle diocese were revealed on Sunday.
In a pastoral letter to be read out at in parishes Bishop Seamus Cunningham explained that only five priests in the diocese are aged under 40, and numbers at Mass are down from around 100,000 in the 1980s to 40,000 today.
“We could be very despondent about this but I am not,” writes Bishop Cunningham, saying that the path ahead is a new initiative called Forward Together in Hope, which will involve every parish being given a questionnaire to “help to provide a realistic picture of how each community can flourish in the future”.
Pope Francis, the bishop says, is inviting all of us to become “missionary disciples” with more involvement in outreach to the poor and more opportunities to witness with sisters and brothers of other faiths.
“We will also have to look at numbers in communities and the geographical proximity of other worshipping communities,” he says.
Fr Jim O’Keefe, diocesan development director and the priest leading the project, said that although his area was perhaps at “the sharp end” of change, many other dioceses were facing a similar situation.
“The diminishment is significant, but this is not just about numbers and buildings,” he said. “This is a genuine opportunity for discipleship. We know it’s painful to move from one place of worship to another, but what it’s about is a relationship with God. The central question here is: how can we flourish as baptised members of Christ’s Church?”
A leaflet to be distributed at all Masses lays out the timeline of the project, which is in three stages. Stage one, which lasts until spring 2015, focuses on informing as many people as possible in the diocese about the project. Stage two, which runs from spring next year into summer 2016, involves questionnaires, meetings and discussion, and stage three, which culminates in summer 2017, will involve communicating the decisions reached and supporting parishes in their move to whatever new arrangements have been decided on.
The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle is the home of the northern saints including Cuthbert, Aidan and Oswald and the birthplace of Cardinal Basil Hume, who is remembered in a statue outside the cathedral.
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