Shortage of vocations leads to closure of 22 churches in Wales

Some 22 of the 62 churches across Wrexham Diocese will be closed in the next four years, Bishop Peter Brignall has announced in a pastoral letter to the diocese.

“On present calculations, by 2020 the number of under-retirement-age priests will be 22; therefore to achieve my intention there need be around only 40 churches, not the 62 there currently are,” he said in the letter read out to all parishioners.

Bishop Bignall said of the news: “To some it will be shocking, to others not radical enough; to some it will come as a relief, to others a disappointment or even a scandal; to us all it will be a challenge, but I firmly believe also a huge opportunity for renewal. It will mean pastors and communities will have to look afresh at how we live parish life, how the Catholic Church in North Wales is profoundly missionary.”

The changes will affect Mass times, but the bishop reassured the faithful of his intention “to ensure that in each of the remaining churches of the Diocese Sunday Mass would be celebrated every Sunday of the year”.

He asked parishioners to approach the restructure with “a generous heart and steadfast faith” and to take inspiration from the disciples on the road to Emmaus who begin their journey downcast but end it in hope of “a new beginning”.