After he sent a pastoral letter to every parish in the Diocese of Clogher highlighting the alarming situation arising from declining priest numbers here, Bishop Larry Duffy told Northern Sound Radio "there is a plan in place".
Apart from stating "We need priests!" and asking men to "take a risk for Christ" Bishop Duffy said the diocese is going to set up a group of mostly lay people to guide local clergy in formulating a plan for the Clogher Diocese.
The letter followed a summit of clergy and lay people in Monaghan on June 6TH.
Describing that meeting as a "sobering reflection", Bishop Larry wrote that if the diocese was to continue as is, there will be fewer than 10 priests covering the 85 churches throughout Clogher Diocese which stretches from Bundoran on the Atlantic to, Inniskeen in Monaghan and Killanny near Dundalk.
This week, his pastoral letter explained that from now on the diocese "needs to move from a model that is clergy-dependant … to one of co-responsibility that utilises all the baptised" urging "we cannot afford to wait any longer."
"There was a lot of listening and we need to do that. Then we need to formulate some sort of vision for the future because the next 20 years will be very different. We need to draw up a plan as to how we will approach the future. And with less priests, it will probably involve less masses," said the Bishop.
