More than 50 of Sydney's Catholic parishes may be asked to share priests to overcome a growing clerical shortage.
The proposed "twinning" of parishes, already common in rural areas, is to be announced by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, to all parishioners this weekend. Under the restructure, one priest would be responsible for two or more neighbouring parishes.
Although the archdiocese says "partnership" does not amount to a merger or closure of churches, in practice it is believed twinned local parishes may have to reduce the frequency of their Mass times.
"There are no plans to close or suppress local communities," Cardinal Pell said in his message to parishes, his first pastoral message for this time of the year. "This restructuring will place additional burdens on some priests and parishes. No community wants to lose their resident priest. Therefore, I ask all parish communities to rally behind their priests and support them and one another in every way during this next challenge."
Affected parishes include Beauty Point, which is to be partnered with Clifton Gardens; Mosman and Neutral Bay; Botany with Pagewood and Daceyville; and Bondi Beach with Rose Bay and Dover Heights.
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Only last week, a Melbourne priest and statistician warned that the Catholic Church in NSW faced a dire shortage of priests in the next 20 years as its clergy aged, retired or died. Father Eric Hodgens predicted it would have fewer than one-sixth the number regarded as necessary to conduct Sunday Mass.
Cardinal Pell said more priests were needed and the pressure on parishes would continue, with changes in the distribution of Catholics and the ageing of the clergy.
Already, 14 groups of Sydney parishes have been partnered. They include North Sydney with Lavender Bay and Kirribilli; Balmain and Rozelle; and Penshurst and Peakhurst.
The archdiocese set up a committee in April 2002 to identify parishes that might be partnered in the short, medium and long term.
Cardinal Pell said the "list of possibilities" was not "set in concrete" but parish priests involved were "asked to continue local discussions so that they can be implemented as opportunities arise. Every age in the church has faced challenges of faith, of expansion or decline, of social change, and our age is no exception."
Sydney has 167 active Catholic priests and six deacons to serve its parishes. Only priests can say Mass, hear confessions and anoint the sick.
Father Peter Brock, executive officer of the National Commission for Clergy, Life and Ministry, which oversees Australian priests, said such proposals were part of a debate happening in the wider Catholic Church.
"All over Australia, dioceses are looking at models of partnership, twinning, clustering and amalgamation of parishes."