Dublin Task Force and the Synodal Process

Editorial and two letters in The Irish Times (30 November 2021):

The Irish Times view on future of the Catholic Church

Within five years there will be 173 priests aged under 75 serving the Dublin archdiocese’s 1.1 million Catholics

In his first pastoral letter for Advent as Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell does not hold back. “We are living through dark days. We confront immense challenges, not least that the dominant culture is hostile to faith, while there is much in our story that discourages and even repels many people,” he says.

Those immense challenges are outlined in a report published last week by a group he set up in March to develop a strategy for “radical renewal”. Made up of seven women and seven men, the Building Hope task force consulted widely. What it found is sobering. Within five years there will be 173 priests under 75 (retirement age) serving Dublin’s 1.1 million Catholics in its 197 parishes, with two seminarians currently studying for priesthood in Dublin. The last census (in 2016) found that almost half of Dubliners in the 25-29 age group did not identify as Roman Catholic while a minority of Dublin marriages are now in church.

Two Letters to The Irish Times:

Sir,

Archbishop Dermot Farrell is to be commended for his quote that we need to change from a “clergy-owned” church to a church truly “owned” by the people of God (“‘Great change’ needed in Dublin’s ageing Catholic Archdiocese, says report”, November 26th).

Sadly the Task Force Report does not take any steps in this direction and prefers to ask the people of God to continue to support a failed patriarchal structure.

The report states that: “Some issues raised in the consultation are beyond the scope of this Task Force and thus are not reflected in this strategy”.

Nowhere in the report are these “issues” listed or discussed. If you cannot even identify these important issues it totally undermines the report.

Yours, etc,

COLM HOLMES

Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Sir,

The report on the Dublin Archdiocese concludes that “many hard decisions cannot be avoided”.

Is it possible that such hard decisions would include the Archbishop calling publicly for the right of women to be admitted to priesthood?

Given the shortage of priests, would Rome be likely to dismiss him from his post as a consequence to such a declaration?

Yours, etc,

MARGARET LEE,

Newport, Co Tipperary.