A reduction in the number of bishops in the West of Ireland is part of the most radical restructuring of Irish Church governance in nine centuries.
The key changes made in a 10 April announcement by Argentinian-born Archbishop Luis Montemayorm, Papal Nuncio to Ireland, and which mark the biggest change in diocesan structures since the 12th century, will see the number of bishops in the region halved from six to three.
The Papal Nuncio has confirmed that there may be movement towards actual amalgamation of dioceses. This continues a trend already seen in Northern Ireland, where Dromore is without a bishop and is being run from Armagh.
As a result of the diocesan shake up, the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Francis Duffy, will also act as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Killala, following the retirement of Bishop John Fleming; while the bishop of Elphin, Dr Kevin Doran, will also be apostolic administrator of the diocese of Achonry. Its current bishop, Dr Paul Dempsey, is being moved to Dublin as an auxiliary bishop with a particular focus on outreach to young people – he is being widely tipped as a future archbishop.
The announcement follows the 2021 decision that the bishop of Clonfert would also serve as bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, and as apostolic administrator of Kilfenora. Dr Michael Duignan was confirmed in that role the following year. As a result of all this, the metropolitan province of Tuam, which includes most of the West of Ireland, will now have just three bishops when it used to have six.
Observers have expressed surprise at the small sizes of some of the dioceses but have also welcomed the moves as enabling greater efficiency. For example, the diocese of Achonry has just 23 parishes, catering to a Catholic population of less than 40,000.
In sharp contrast, in the US the archdiocese of Los Angeles, with a Catholic population of more than 4 million, is served by one archbishop and six auxiliaries. This is roughly equivalent to the entire Irish Catholic population, north and south of the border, which has 26 dioceses.
The Papal Nuncio stated: “In due time, and following careful assessment and consultation, the present Dioceses of Tuam and Killala on the one hand, and Elphin and Achonry on the other, may be governed by one bishop in each case, just as the Dioceses of Galway and Clonfert are today governed by one bishop. If this process evolves still further, the associated Dioceses may then merge fully under their bishop, and, in this way, the six Dioceses in the Province of Tuam will eventually become three.”
To put all this in historical context, the synod of Ráth Breasail in 1111 marked the transition from a monastic to a diocesan system of Church governance. It was followed by the synod of Kells in 1152 which established the system of the four metropolitan provinces of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam, and which survive to this day.
While various smaller dioceses were merged over time with larger ones, the essential structure that Ireland currently has dates to the 12th century. In the last 200 years, the only major changes prior to recent developments were the establishment of the diocese of Galway in 1831 and the merger of Ross with Cork in 1958.
It is important to stress that Ireland’s western area is predominantly rural and sparsely populated, with the notable exceptions of the city of Galway and its commuter belt, and some of the larger towns such as Sligo and Castlebar.
By contrast, some 40 per cent of the Republic’s population lives in Dublin and the adjoining counties of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.
The decision to move Dr Dempsey to Dublin, where he is expected to focus on work to bring young people back to the Church, follows the recent announcement that Father Donal Roche is also to be appointed as an auxiliary to assist Archbishop Dermot Farrell.
Dr Dempsey, a former columnist with the Leinster Leader newspaper, has been tipped by many as a potential future archbishop of Dublin.
As Ronan Doheny has previously written in the Catholic Herald, it is going to take a lot to rebuild the Irish Catholic Church. He argues that over and above logistical moves toward efficiency, a key factor, if there is to be any success, will be the need for “sincerity” throughout the Church in Ireland.
Despite Ireland’s massive decline in weekly Mass attendance from 91 per cent in 1973 to around 30 per cent prior to the pandemic, and the decline in priest numbers, the evidence indicates that there is still a great deal of respect at the local level for parish priests and curates.
There are other signs of hope, one of which lies in Ireland’s growing immigrant population that follows the Catholic faith, and which has saved many parishes from extinction.
It may well be that in years to come, the definition of an Irish Catholic will come to be the son or daughter of someone from Warsaw or Lagos, Manila or Rio de Janeiro, to judge by accounts of religious processions and church attendance and involvement by members of migrant communities.
In the meantime, the reduction in episcopal numbers reflects both a declining Catholic population in an increasingly secular land, and a drastic fall in priest numbers.
Calls for such a course of action have been heard since the 2009 Murphy and Ryan reports into Church handling of sexual abuse cases, when the argument was made to reduce episcopal numbers so as to avoid undue bureaucracy, of the sort that was partly blamed for cover ups and lack of accountability. But the actual catalyst for the changes now being made has been the decline in church attendance and priest numbers.
Looking ahead, the Church will be seeking to engage with young people while facing the reality that its flock will be smaller though potentially more engaged.
Photo: Stained-glassed window depicting Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland.
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