The Church’s problem is everyone knows what it is against, but no one knows what it’s for

MUCH of the energy in the Church in 2018 will inevitably be consumed by plans for the visit of Pope Francis.

But Church leaders must not lose sight of the fact that the job of renewing the Church in Ireland is a major ground operation that will be won or lost at local level.

An outsider looking in on the Catholic Church in Ireland could be forgiven for thinking it is a picture of utter decline – and certainly Irish people’s relationship with the Church has changed dramatically. At the same time, Ireland has one of the highest rates of Mass attendance in the western world. A French priest recently remarked to me: “I hear the Church in Ireland is in crisis. I’d love to have your crisis if the numbers are anything to go by.”

Jokes aside, the truth is that parallel realities exist side-by-side. Church history has never been a tale of either just decline or growth, but a story of both at the same time.

There are parishes in Ireland – particularly in Dublin, as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has pointed out – where Mass attendance is as low as 2pc or 3pc. At the same time, there are many parishes that are thriving.

Counting the number of people going to Mass is a crude weather vane, but it is also the only reliable statistic for gauging public affiliation to the Church.

One priest in the Midlands told me recently that he was now in a position where he has to put on an extra weekend Mass, such was the upsurge in people with young families discovering the practise of their faith once again. The secret, if there is one, rests in a conscious decision to take Pope Francis at his word, and get out of the churches and sacristies and start visiting people in their homes, and engaging with their real-life concerns.

In a large provincial town in the south-west, one parish priest, concerned about a fall-off in attendance at Mass, started celebrating outdoor summer Masses in housing estates. The reaction was overwhelming – and many of the people engaged at these summer Masses are now the backbone of the parish.

What does this say? It tells us that renewal is not only possible, but it is already happening.

The great weakness of Catholicism is that the hierarchical nature of the Church runs the risk of having people constantly looking upwards for leadership and reform. Parishioners look to the hardpressed priest, the priests inevitably look to the bishop for a strategy, and the bishops look to Rome and the Pope as if one man has the winning formula that will transform ailing parishes.

The parishes that thrive are parishes that are rooted in local communities and where people feel – and know – that the real world concerns are there on a Sunday morning as they gather together for Mass. A vibrant parish sees no great divide between the sacred and the secular, and outreach to those on the margins is seen as key rather than an add-on.

The problem for the Church in Ireland for too long has been that everyone has known what the Church is against, but no one has known what the Church is for. So much time and energy has gone into preaching against certain things rather than highlighting the practise of faith as a life-enriching thing. It’s not for nothing that the boom in mindfulness and wellness courses has gone hand-in-hand with the decline of religious practise – people are responding to a felt need, they’re just not finding that need met within the Church. The Church has struggled to present faith as a positive choice, rather than a list of prohibitions.

None of this means, as some conservative critics of new approaches sometimes claim, that the Church compromises on the more contentious elements of what it teaches, but rather that it no longer sees these teachings as the starting point to reach people.

Next year’s expected abortion referendum will inevitably see the Church catapulted right into the heart of an extremely divisive issue where, from a Catholic point of view, there is no compromise. If Church leaders are wise, they will continue to affirm the basic Catholic principle that all human life should be cherished while avoiding bruising public confrontations with pro-choice

leaders. The Church’s stance on abortion is hardly a revelation to anyone, and there is little to be gained from seeing bishops appearing on television feeding the inevitable ‘belt of the crosier’ Church-State battle stereotype. Bishops would do well to leave the public fight to the pro-life movement and concentrate their efforts where they have a captive audience in churches across the country.

Next year will also see a change in Church leadership.

Pope Francis will appoint no fewer than six new members of the Irish hierarchy, marking a decisive generational shift. Most importantly, perhaps, in Dublin, Diarmuid Martin will be just 18 months away from retirement when the Pope visits.

Francis will no doubt hear the concerns of clergy who have been quick to laud Dr Martin for his decisive leadership on the abuse crisis, but less than impressed with his seeming unwillingness to tackle what they see as the urgent need to close some churches across the sprawling diocese.

The closing stage of 2018 could well see the appointment of an assistant coadjutor archbishop to shadow – and eventually replace – Dr Martin.

It will be Pope Francis’s mostimportant Irish appointment, and the qualities of the candidate chosen will be a clear indicator where the Pontiff wants the Church in Ireland to go.

It’s not for nothing that the boom in mindfulness and wellness courses has gone hand-in-hand with the decline of religious practise