News
Priests shortage may mean more flexible funerals
There are no plans to introduce collective weddings or funerals in response to a shortage of priests in Galway.
The communications officer for Galway Diocese, Fr Diarmuid Hogan, said however more flexibility may be required when it comes to planning ceremonies like funerals.
“Both weddings and funerals are extraordinarily important times in the lives of the faithful and the Church always responds to ensure they are celebrated with due respect and dignity,” said the parish priest of Oranmore.
“However funerals in particular are, by their nature, often planned at short notice. More flexibility may well be required in times to come when planning funeral liturgies to facilitate the participation of clergy who have a variety of responsibilities and duties.”
A group representing Catholic priests has warned that collective funeral Masses and weddings are inevitable unless the Catholic hierarchy implement radical changes to save hundreds of parishes from closing.
Fr Brendan Hoban, a founder of the Association of Catholic Prests (ACP), said unless the bishops respond to a crisis in priest numbers, there would no longer be Mass said in parish churches.
“One of the main functions of a priest is to say Mass. But we’re facing a situation where there won’t be priests available in some parishes for funerals, weddings or baptisms,” Fr Hoban said.
“That means there’s a very real prospect of priests having to marry several couples at the same time. We could even be looking at having funeral Masses where there are up to ten coffins in the church at the same time.”
Fr Hogan said the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora had seen much increased cooperation between parishes.
“Because of the hard work and passion of so many committed people who work to support the work of the Church in Pastoral Councils and in so many other areas of parish life and because it is possible for people to travel longer distances to Mass and other liturgies there has not been a hugely significant impact on parish life across the diocese,” he explained.
“Indeed, in many ways, life in parishes has been invigorated by the new, welcome, long overdue and active participation of so many of the faithful in so many areas of Church life.”
A small number of parishes have been amalgamated. However these parishes retain their identity.
“The rationale behind these developments is to create viable and vibrant units which can function efficiently,” he stated.
Fewer than five men from the diocese have been ordained in the last five years, significantly more have retired in that period.
There are five students studying for the priesthood at the moment, four in Maynooth and one in Rome. The diocese has never had an occasion when there were no students in formation, he revealed.
A new Vocations Director has recently been appointed – Fr. Ian O’Neill, the parish priest of Claregalway – who will work with clergy and others to foster and promote vocations to the diocesan priesthood through workshops and through a variety of liturgical and social events.
The issues raised by the ACP are not new.
“The faithful of this Diocese have known bad times and good, hungry times and times of plenty. Through all this they have always been loyal to God and loyal to the Church. The priests of this diocese have also shown loyalty – to God, to their ordination commitment and loyalty to the people they are called to serve. Whatever is ahead, this will continue, whether the Lord gives or takes away.”
The ACP has called on Catholic leaders to implement three proposals which they believe will save the immediate future of the church in Ireland – to ordain married men, to invite back priests who’d left the parish previously to get married, and to ordain women.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
