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24/08/2012
Catholic Church 'Not Planning' To Introduce Lay Services
The Catholic Church has denied reports it is planning to extend lay services to Sundays.
Although the church hierarchy admitted there is a lack of people going into the priesthood, bishops said they had no plans for lay-led Sunday services.
Such services take place during the week, at times when it is not possible for a priest to be found to say Mass.
Just 14 ordinations have taken place in the Dublin Archdiocese in the last decade.
Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois Colm O'Reilly told the Irish Independent that discussions were continually taking place between bishops as they shared experiences on how to deal with the issue.
"In almost all our parishes (in the diocese) there is a resident priest. It's not imminent yet, but it's a concern," Bishop O'Reilly said.
The Catholic Communications Office could not say how widespread lay-led services were, as each of the 26 dioceses were "administratively autonomous".
A spokesman said there was a "distinction between the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist on a Sunday, and Eucharist celebrated on a weekday."
Bishop O'Reilly of the Diocese of Kilmore told the newspaper that he "certainly wouldn’t be too happy" if at some point in the future there were not enough priests to provide Sunday Eucharist for parishioners.
(NE)
Although the church hierarchy admitted there is a lack of people going into the priesthood, bishops said they had no plans for lay-led Sunday services.
Such services take place during the week, at times when it is not possible for a priest to be found to say Mass.
Just 14 ordinations have taken place in the Dublin Archdiocese in the last decade.
Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois Colm O'Reilly told the Irish Independent that discussions were continually taking place between bishops as they shared experiences on how to deal with the issue.
"In almost all our parishes (in the diocese) there is a resident priest. It's not imminent yet, but it's a concern," Bishop O'Reilly said.
The Catholic Communications Office could not say how widespread lay-led services were, as each of the 26 dioceses were "administratively autonomous".
A spokesman said there was a "distinction between the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist on a Sunday, and Eucharist celebrated on a weekday."
Bishop O'Reilly of the Diocese of Kilmore told the newspaper that he "certainly wouldn’t be too happy" if at some point in the future there were not enough priests to provide Sunday Eucharist for parishioners.
(NE)
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