McMahon calls for missionary Church

THE NEW Archbishop of Liverpool has urged his diocese to break with old structures and become a Church that is focused on evangel­isation and serving the poor.

In his installation homily, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon was due to tell his congregation to be ready to “break with convention, and do things differently”.

He said: “Taking risks to proclaim the good news of salvation is the task before us as much in the Archdiocese of Liverpool as elsewhere. Breaking with structures and conventions that give us comfort, that feed our complacency and dull our sensitivity to the demands of being a Christian, is what it means to be a missionary disciple.”

The archbishop was to be installed on Thursday at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral on the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, a day when the Church highlights its ministry to workers.

Taking St Joseph as a theme, the archbishop was to say that the Church and society must be “mindful of the obligations of social justice” and that Catholics should find “fulfilment in our God-given gifts of creativity and service, not giving in to pastimes and leisure activities, chasing the false gods of materialism and self-satisfaction.”

In an interview following news of his appointment, the archbishop told The Tablet that the Church’s social mission would be one of his priorities in Liverpool.

Archbishop McMahon also urged Catholics not to “give in to the temptation to misery and despair, even when it seems we are swimming against the tide”, and that “to be a Christian is a real challenge in the world in which we live”.

The Archdiocese of Liverpool is grappling with a general decline in population, a chan­ging demographic among Catholics and an ageing clergy.

This week, a retreat centre run by the Jesuits – Loyola Hall, at Rainhill – closed its doors after more than 90 years. According to its most recent annual report, for the year ended 2012, the archdiocese is served by 156 priests but by next year only 100 will be under the age of 75 with average weekly Mass attendance standing at 54,000.

Under former Archbishop Patrick Kelly, the diocese started a restructuring and renewal programme called “Leaving Safe Harbours”. This has led to the creation of 23 pastoral areas with the expectation of one priest for every 5,000 parishioners. The programme has also led to priests working more closely together. The archdiocese is currently pioneering a new catechesis programme where parents are formed to prepare their children for the sacraments. Fr Philip Inch, who has responsibility for evangelisation in the diocese, said it had led to an increase in Catholics practising their faith.

Archbishop McMahon was due to praise the Leaving Safe Harbours programme in his homily and called for all Catholics to be involved in the spreading of the Gospel.