This "confronts us with something new, but something we do not clearly understand.

"There are hardly any priests or practising Catholics.

"We feel perplexed, even that the Lord has abandoned us. We feel that we have lost our way" Archbishop Dermot Farrell told a group of Catechists.

"These are important parts of our journey."

The "memory of huge numbers, and of a secure, strong Church" can be "a very painful learning for us". He said this during a ceremony where 45 lay people received certificates after completing a year-long course in Catechesis (teaching Christianity).

"Generously, you have given of your time - to engage with your faith" he said.

But the ceremony - and the need for it in the first place - is something new for the Church, he pointed out.

"Even 20 years ago, hardly anyone here could have imagined an evening like this.

We've changed

"Our country has changed, our lives have changed, and the expression of our faith - which is an expression of our lives - has changed" the archbishop said.

The Church "happens in our lives. As we change, our Church changes. We are called to recognise how the Church is changing and discern where the Good Shepherd is leading us" he said.

Farrell compared human life to a journey. Our faith lives are also journeys he commented. And, "the Church is our journey in faith together".

The journey's current stage is in a new environment with a diminishing number of priests available to serve in the Archdiocese's parishes and other ministries.

At the same time, there are fewer and fewer people who celebrate the sacraments regularly, and a need for increased resources required to maintain the existing parish infrastructure, he said.

Parish cooperation

The changes in priestly and congregational numbers, combined with today's infrastructure costs mean "it is no longer possible for me to appoint a resident priest to every parish" the archbishop said.

That means parishes will have to step up their cooperation to provide sacraments and pastoral care, Farrell explained.

Lay Catholics will need to help out.

It will require "a much greater involvement of the lay faithful in the partnerships of parishes to enable them to fulfil their mission and ministry".

It would always be "a little flock that takes the way of Jesus to heart; it will always be a little flock that will have the courage to follow him, and the generosity to give as he gives" he said.

New generations are needed to "lead new generations on the way of Christ, to guide and empower their peers to receive the gift of God".

It was "not about who will say our Masses, or who will teach the faith" he said.

"Let us pray for people - young women and men who would ‘hear his voice,' entrust themselves to it, witness to it and show us all how God is near" he said.

Source

• The Irish Times

Coleridge told the Catholic priests that changes were happening, that there would be more of them and that it was important to be prepared.

Coleridge suggested that ministry as a Catholic priest was not a case of 'goundhog day' nor an example of 'yesterday once more.'

Rather, Coleridge recommended that Catholic priests prepare themselves for the changes and "fasten their seatbelts."

In his keynote speech to the nearly 200 Catholic priests at the Assembly, the archbishop said the Catholic Church is experiencing an "Abrahamic" moment.

Just like the biblical Abraham who set out on a journey for God without knowing where he was going, New Zealand's Catholic priests are also on a journey where the destination is unclear, Coleridge said.

Spiritual vitality

"The spiritual vitality of the Church is found largely in our immigrant communities," the archbishop noted.

"The centre of gravity of the Church is passing to Africa, Asia and Latin America. We have a Pope from Argentina. It's fasten your seatbelts time, we are going somewhere and there is no way back."

Coleridge says that, while the shape the future will take is unclear, we can rely on faith.

"But the act of faith is that there is one who does know where it is all leading. We must keep our eyes and our ears on God. We have to be on the journey."

Diminishing numbers

Coleridge pointed out the logical consequences of the current situation for Catholics in New Zealand.

"We cannot sustain the current mode of provision of priests, with far fewer priests and fewer people," he said.

"The shortage of people is the real problem.

"There are far fewer people who identify with the Church or come to Mass.

"People like our schools. They ask why are our schools full and our churches empty?

"Institutionally we are diminished."

Coleridge described the problem as "corrosive in a unique way... we are almost afraid to look at the damage."

Administrative changes

The priests at the Assembly heard that New Zealand's Catholic priests' administrative burden is also more complex than formerly.

Coleridge told the Diocesan priests at the Assembly they need to be like Abraham and turn wandering into journeys.

He acknowledged journeying is hard work - but also pointed out it goes somewhere.

"The priest as pilgrim is someone who can say to all the wanderers, come on a journey.

"The priest in a diocese is also a settler. The priest has a parish, and people are the community. We have to put down roots in a particular place, a parish."

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference