A proposed restructuring of parishes in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh will lead to a reduction in the number of full-time priests to about 30 by 2035.
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 disgraced 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 which 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” by which clergy minister to more than one parish within a particular locality.
In a statement, the archdiocese said that it was important to emphasise that the creation of parish units “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 where Holy Mass and the sacraments are available on a Sunday and throughout the week”.
It is, however, assumed that with falling attendance entailing a net drop in offertory income some church closures are inevitable.
In a letter, Archbishop Cushley conceded that 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 already in place to halve the total number of parishes.
Archbishop Cushley referred to a “natural shift of the population in the archdiocese’s considerable and diverse territory”, which includes Fife, the Lothians and Eastern Borders. He said: “At the end of this exercise, we must aim to have a total of some 30 parishes or so throughout the diocese. I am all too aware how painful it will be for us to arrive at this figure.”
Last week The Tablet reported a call in the Diocese of Dunkeld for more evangelisation due to a larger than estimated gap between self-identifying Catholics and those who attend Mass.
The Scottish Bishops have asked a senior child protection adviser based in the Vatican to brief them on safeguarding. Monsignor Robert Oliver, secretary to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, addressed the bishops in Salamanca last month. The briefing comes shortly before the expected publication of former Church of Scotland Moderator and Chief Inspector of Prisons Dr Andrew McLellan’s Commission on safeguarding protocols and procedures. The McLellan report is due to be released “in the first half” of 2015.
Above: Archbishop Cushley at a Mass last weekend to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the bishops' aid agency, Sciaf. Photo: Paul McSherry
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