Madam, - I was saddened to read in your newspaper of February 19th that the Bishop of Limerick has found it necessary to ask parishes to form clusters, with a reduced number of Masses in each parish, as a means of dealing with the problem of shortage of priests.
Before long, the churches in many of these parishes will be closed, with the result that existing local services will no longer be available and parishioners who can will have to travel long distances to participate in the sacramental life of the Church.
There is no need to point out the effect this will have on the faith-life of the Christian people, and the distress that will be caused especially to the elderly. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the re-evangelisation which is so badly needed can take place.
Neither is there any need to point out the effect on quality of life, especially in rural areas. The local parish is as great, if not a greater, source of community and social cohesion as the local school, hospital and post office.
While co-ordination of services is necessary, cutbacks are not. Married priests are part of the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. Even if Church authorities cannot bear even to think about the possibility of ordaining women, the precedent of over a thousand years of the church's history is there for the ordination of married men. This tradition has been recovered in recent years with the ordination to Roman Catholic priesthood of married men who were formerly members of the Anglican Communion.
While individual bishops are powerless, where is the conscience of those who devised this policy of retreat? Should they leave the people without the word of God and the sacraments, or should they return to the sources, to the living tradition? What would St Paul have to say to them about the Law and the Spirit? - Yours, etc.,
ROSEMARY DOORLY,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.