Laity and pastoral units” “

The shortage of priests is also an urgent problem for the Church of Great Britain. Today there are 4274 British diocesan priests, excluding permanent deacons (601), to serve just over 3000 parishes, but it is calculated that their number will be reduced by roughly half in fifteen years time. In its document “The Sign We Give” of 1995 the Bishops’ Conference had encouraged greater lay participation in the life of the Church as one solution. The dioceses, in any case, are left free to find individual solutions to the problem. In some, those of Southwark and Salford for example, the shortage of priests is less chronic than in others. Edinburgh, Leeds and East Anglia have already taken remedial action, and adopted strategies to cope with the problem. Among the first dioceses to tackle the problem was that of Arundel and Brighton where Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was bishop before becoming Primate of England and Wales. Another is the diocese that the cardinal now heads, Westminster. The approaches adopted by these two dioceses were twofold, one spiritual concentrating on pastoral renewal, and the other more pragmatic to redress the shortage of priests. diocesE OF westminster: LISTENING CENTRES AND PASTORAL UNITS. The programme of pastoral renewal of the diocese of Westminster is described by Father Stuart Wilson, who is responsible for: “‘At your word Lord’, that’s the name of our renewal programme for laity and clergy. The idea comes from Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, who had already successfully launched a similar project in the diocese of Arundel and Brighton ten years ago”. “The programme, begun in November 2002, is organized and run by an American agency called “Renew International”, which provides us with programme structures and materials. Groups of eight to ten persons have been formed in each parish; they meet every week for six weeks to reflect on the Sunday Gospel and to share a journey of faith. At the present time, over 20,000 faithful are meeting in small groups of this kind throughout the diocese”. Westminster, moreover, has launched a programme to redress the shortage of priests. Currently there are 550 priests in the diocese, but it is calculated that their number will have been halved in little more than ten years’ time. The programme is called “Graced by the spirit”, and is taking its first steps. The most favoured solutions include that of pastoral units with the establishment of communities of priests that share together the responsibility for several parishes and the greater involvement of the laity. DiocesE OF Arundel-Brighton: THE LAITY ARE BEING INVOLVED. If pastoral renewal is still in its start-up phase in the diocese of Westminster, it’s an experience that has already produced important results in that of Arundel-Brighton. “We are still deriving benefit from this programme that was very important for us”, explains Barbara Wallace, coordinator of the pastoral group, “Many of these groups are still meeting today”. “Three years ago – she recalls – with the arrival of Bishop Kieran Conry in Arundel and Brighton, the diocese also began a new programme to tackle the problem of the shortage of priests. A report, prepared in 1994, announced that, by 2020, the number of priests in the diocese would be halved, falling from 115 to about 55. Moreover, by this date there would be only 27 priests below the age of 75 in the diocese. An alarming forecast! A letter was sent to each parish to heighten its awareness of the problem”. A wide-ranging process of consultation then began, “in which small groups of faithful in each parish were involved; they were each asked to examine the problem and suggest solutions”. “Some areas in the diocese, Eastbourne, Crawley, East Brighton and Guildford, have gained an awareness of the problem and, albeit with some regret, have reached a solution, which consists in the more homogeneous distribution of the number of masses and the reduction of the workload assigned to priests”, explains Monsignor Conry. “It was further decided to entrust the celebration of the Sacraments to the clergy and finance and administration to the laity”.