The Bishop of Wrexham has said that the closure of 20 churches across his diocese is a “huge opportunity for renewal”.
In a pastoral letter, Bishop Peter Brignall announced that he planned to shut around 20 of the current 62 Catholic churches by 2020. He wrote: “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.”
Bishop Brignall said some of the changes would begin in the next few weeks. “Churches are going to be closed and I hope some new ones built; parishes are going to be suppressed and new ones established, and some Mass times will be altered. Not all of this will happen at once, but some of it will happen immediately, ie within weeks,” he said.
Bishop Brignall asked Catholics to approach the decision with a “generous heart and a steadfast faith … I said at the outset of this reorganisation and restructuring, my intent was to ensure that in each of the remaining churches of the diocese Sunday Mass would be celebrated every Sunday of the year.
“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. Many of the details and consequences of closures … can only be faced in the reality of the new situation.”
No change on Communion for remarried, says bishop
The Bishop of Portsmouth has described the Pope’s exhortation Amoris Laetitia as a “magnificent” document, “breathtaking in scope”, and urged everyone to read it.
But Bishop Philip Egan clarified that it did not change Church teaching on the subject of Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried.
In a pastoral letter he said: “Does the Pope say the divorced and civilly remarried may now be readmitted to Holy Communion? No.
“What he says is that instead they need a good priest to reach out to them, to accompany them, to help them discern their situation before the Lord and to enable them to develop, to change and to take their proper place in the Church’s life and mission.”
Bishop Egan said that the document did contain something new: “the Pope’s direct consideration of messy situations. The Holy Father wants the Church, where necessary, to adopt a new and more compassionate pastoral approach, one that acknowledges the Truth yet more vigorously reaches out with God’s mercy to those who are struggling. This can be a delicate balance.”
Southwark bishop appointed
Pope Francis has appointed Fr Paul Mason as an auxiliary bishop of Southwark.
Bishop-elect Mason is currently episcopal vicar for Kent. His episcopal ordination will take place in St George’s Cathedral on May 31, the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Bishop-elect Mason, born in 1962, worked for Olivetti and Hewlett-Packard before being ordained a priest in 1998.
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