The German cardinal's motivation is his firm rejection of clustering parishes to resolve Germany's shortage of priests.

The shortfall of priests in Marx's archdiocese of Munich and Freising is clear.

He says of its 1.7 million Catholics, there was only one candidate for the priesthood this year.

Furthermore, he says not all the priests in his archdiocese are in the position to run parishes.

Giving lay people parish leadership roles would mean reconsidering and reorganising the requirements for admission to the priesthood, he says.

To test his idea, Marx has announced plans to run a pilot project using a selection of parish leadership models.

The positions would be full-time and staffed by lay volunteers.

Marx stresses the importance of retaining individual parishes. He says by using lay parish leaders, the Church's local presence will be guaranteed.

This "is most significant," he says.

"We would waste a great many opportunities if we were to withdraw from our territorial roots. It is a case of remaining visible locally."

Marx says his views are supported by the Second Vatican Council's "priesthood of all the faithful" and canon law.

Source

• La Croix
• LifeSite
• Image: Catholic Herald