The Archbishop of Glasgow has unveiled plans to reduce the number of parishes in the city by half and close dozens of churches under what church leaders describe as the archdiocese's biggest ever restructure.
William Nolan said the Catholic church must “face up to reality” after a significant drop in the number of priests and worshippers. The blueprint would see parishes whittled down to around 40 through a programme of mergers and “painful” closures over the next decade.
Church leaders said the move will lead to a “major reorganisation of Catholic parish life” and is the “biggest ever undertaken” by the archdiocese.
Priest numbers down by a third
Nolan said: “For years now there has been much talk of the need to restructure and reduce the number of parishes in the Archdiocese. A plan for that restructuring has now been drawn up, reducing the number of parishes by half and seeing the closure of two dozen churches.
“There are too many parishes but too few people, too many churches but too few priests.
“I have been Archbishop for less than five years and the number of our active priests is down by a third in that time. Only one of our priests is under the age of 45, most are over the age of 60. Thank goodness we have foreign priests and religious willing to serve in the Archdiocese, otherwise the situation would be even more critical than it is.
“Our parishes and our churches hold great memories for us and are dear to our hearts, so any reduction in parishes and any closure of churches will be a painful experience. We cannot avoid that pain, though, by not facing up to reality.”
Consultation and next steps
The proposals, which would be carried out over the next five to 10 years, follow local deanery area consultations over the past few years. They have been approved in principle by the Archbishop and the Council of Priests and will now be discussed locally in parishes.
There would be no mass closure of churches at one time, with each case for a merger or closure subject to a process under Canon law. Full details on the dozens of parishes and churches affected have been published by the archdiocese's newspaper, Flourish.
Nolan added: “I would ask everyone in the Archdiocese to respond to these plans with a spirit of cooperation and a willingness to make sacrifices, to look to the past with fondness, but to let the past go in order to enable a new future to take shape.”
The Archbishop's letter is to be read out in churches this weekend.
Parishioners' concerns
Campaign Group Save St Patrick’s Parish, which is fighting plans to close the Anderston parish, described the news as “troubling”.
One parishioner responded on Facebook: “Some parishes are going to cover huge areas. Not everyone drives, not all areas have great bus services, especially on Sundays, and some churches don’t have available parking.
“It’s all very sad, and for the above reasons I suspect it will lead to even fewer people going to Mass, so it’s hard to see how the pruning can make us healthier.”
Another wrote: “This situation will not only affect the Archdiocese of Glasgow but every Diocese in Scotland ...This is all very sad and naturally people will be upset when the reality of this is put into practise.”
The future structure of the Catholic Church in Scotland is being assessed after a request to the Vatican for the Bishops to consider changes to the current arrangement of eight dioceses. The last time the structure was changed was shortly after World War II. The bishops have said they will consider maintaining the current structures but with “greater sharing and collaboration”.
