Commissioning of Parish Pastoral Councils and
Parish Finance Committees 2024-2028
Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas
Homily by Bishop Michael
10th of September 2024
“With those words of Christ’s great commission ringing in our ears, I would encourage all members
of these newly constituted bodies and all of our priest to please not let these new Parish Pastoral
Councils or Parish Finance Committees be anything less than real.” – Bishop Michael
Choosing your parting words
Back then it was just something we accepted as part of our programme of formation
for the priesthood. Students studying in Rome were allowed home only once a year.
For me, it made the going away in September all the harder knowing that it would
be next July or August before you would see family and friends again. The days
before your departure you tended to savour your time with people a bit more. You
even put extra thought into choosing your parting words.
The parting words of Jesus
The Gospel we have just heard brings us back to what we tend to call the Ascension
of Jesus. That event in his life that marked his definitive departure from this world
once his initial work here had been done. I suspect that, for Jesus, those days back
then were coloured with that “going away feeling”. I imagine that not only did he
savour his time with people a bit more but that he too thought deeply about his
choice of parting words. The Gospel of Matthew recalls that moment as follows:
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“Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations;
baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with
you always; yes, to the end of time.” (Mt 28)
The “Great Commissioning”
Down through the ages, many have described this Gospel passage as the “Great
Commission” or the “Great Commissioning”. The Oxford Dictionary describes
“Commissioning” as “formally choosing or asking someone to do a special piece of
work”. Jesus formally chooses and asks his disciples to go and make new disciples –
to go and invite new people to see in his message a truth that has the potential to
transform their lives for the better. He commissions them to be, above all else,
“disciple makers” and promises that he would always be with them on this mission
even “to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28)
Commissioned in a time of challenges
We gather here this evening from every one of our forty parishes in the Diocese of
Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfneora. In a very real sense, we gather for our own
“Great Commissioning” – the commissioning of our newly constituted Parish
Pastoral Councils and Parish Finance Committees. Like the disciples, who were no
strangers to challenges, we too have an immensity of challenges facing our parish
faith communities today. All we have to do is look around. Pews that were once full
are now half empty.
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We hear our children’s voices from the nearby sports fields and lament their absence
from our churches. Our priests are advancing in age. There is no one to replace
them. Energy is often in short supply. Volunteers are few and far between. In many
places it often is a struggle to heat the church building -to keep the lights on.
A new opportunity to “shake things up”
At times it is not easy to keep our spirits up or hope in our hearts. However, Jesus
calls people today just as he called those reluctant disciples on the shores of Galilee
those many years ago. Gathered tonight, I sense that he is calling and commissioning
each one of us here to work together for the good of our local faith community. He
is calling both priest and people to grasp the opportunity a new Parish Pastoral
Council or new Parish Finance Committee presents for renewing the life of their
parish. He is calling us to listen more attentively to his voice, to trust in him, to have
courage, to move away from the “way things have always been around here”
mentality. Not that long ago Pope Francis encouraged the youth of the world, to
“shake up” their parishes. I believe God is calling us to do the same. You and I and
the priests gathered here this evening, we are being called to “shake up” our parishes
like never before, to do something brave – to do something new. This term of office
of these Parish Pastoral Councils and Parish Finance Committees may indeed be our
last attempt to keep some of our local faith communities alive.
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Co-responsibility
During the training evenings we had – I threw out two ideas that might become, so
the speak, the oars that would propel our parishes going forward. The first idea was
that of “co-responsibility”. The days of the people leaving it to the Priest or of
“Father” lording it over the people are over. We must work together. Each one has
a responsibility, according to their own calling, for the life of their local parish. There
can be no hurlers on the ditch when it comes to the future of our faith communities.
All have a right to be involved. All should be involved.
Missionary Discipleship
The second idea that I spoke about was that of “missionary discipleship”.
Missionary not to foreign lands but rather to our own land and our own people.
Missionary to our families, our local communities, to those we live and work with.
This is not an easy change of mindset and certainly not an easy task. In the Ireland
of today, it is not easy to open a conversation with people about faith. It is not easy
to invite people to come and be part of our local faith community or to come and
pray with us on a Sunday morning. However, perhaps the greatest challenge for
parishes – and for you as members of the Parish Pastoral Council or Parish Finance
Committee and therefore as leaders in your local parishes is to be missionary in
outlook. To ever seek to reach out and to bring new people into the pews each
Sunday.
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“Fake News”
In the last years, a powerful concept that has emerged throughout the world is that
of “Fake News”. It sheds light on how in certain instances situations can be
intentionally influenced or controlled by a false story. The idea of Parish Pastoral
Councils or Parish Finance Committees has been around for well over half a century
now. It is not something new in the Church. However, in some places our Parish
Pastoral Councils and Parish Finance Committees seem to be less than real. Focused
not on what they should be focused on. Engaging in rubberstamping rather than
proactive planning. Meeting infrequently and achieving little.
With those words of Christ’s great commission ringing in our ears, I would
encourage all members of these newly constituted bodies and all of our priests not
let these new Parish Pastoral Councils or Parish Finance Committees be anything
less than real. As you are commissioned tonight make it your focus to give your all
to the important task at hand.
To work together in a spirit of co-responsibility for the mission given to us by Jesus
and to focus in particular on outreach to those who do not believe or those who
once believed and who now no longer believe or practice. We are at that juncture,
now more than ever, when the future survival of your parish depends on adopting
this particular focus- this particular mindset.
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In gratitude
I thank all the members of our newly constituted Parish Pastoral Councils and Parish
Finance Committees for your generosity and goodness in answering the call to serve
in this way. I thank our priests for the tireless work they have put into the formation
of these important parish bodies and for the nurturing care they give them. I thank
the staff in our Diocesan Office for the support they give to them. I thank all those
involved in our formation programme for members of Parish Pastoral Councils and
Parish Finance Committees and for their support into the future.
Tonight as you are commissioned, let the thoughtfully chosen parting words of Jesus
himself in that “Great Commissioning of Christianity”, ring in your ears and stir
your hearts. Let them inspire your thoughts and direct your hands and your feet
towards the urgent action now needed.
“Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations;
baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)
Are you interested in learning more about the Catholic tradition? The RCIA offers a
pressure-free, non-judgmental environment where you can learn about Catholicism
and what Catholics believe and are called to witness to. The RCIA are for inquirers
and for people who are unbaptized, as well as those who are baptized Christians but
have not received the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. You do not
have to journey alone! Please contact the Diocese (091 563 566 /
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) for further information.
BISHOP MICHAEL'S WORDS:
Good evening and welcome! Thank you to the priests of this area and to all of you who have taken the time to attend. I would like to begin by 1) giving you a bit of background to the meeting, and 2) outlining what we might hope to get out of it.
Background
On the day of my installation as Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, I spoke about the current situation we find ourselves in as a faith community and expressed the hope that we would dialogue together – bishop, priests, religious and people – in order to plan for the future. Last November, I set up a small committee of priests to see how we might bring this idea forward. At the beginning of February, we began the process with a two-day meeting of the priests of the diocese at Spanish Point. At that meeting we agreed we needed to broaden the conversation and include the voice of our parishioners. As a result, we divided the diocese into seven groupings of parishes/chaplaincies and asked priests to invite a representative body of key parishioners to meet as we are doing this evening. This is just the beginning of a conversation: more dialogue and collective discernment will need to be undertaken as we move forward together.
Profoundly Positive about the Future
Let me preface what I am about to say by affirming that I am absolutely convinced that the times we live in are intensely blessed. Deep down, I am profoundly positive about the future of the Church. I believe that the Holy Spirit is powerfully active in our midst. Uprooting that which is no longer fruitful, planting new seeds, and pointing to new ways. My mother used to always say, “you do your bit and let God do the rest.” So what might be “our bit” when it comes to planning for the future of our parishes and our diocese?
Current Challenges
To throw the ball – let me paint a brief picture of the challenges of our current situation in 7 points.
1) For a variety of reasons, regular participation in our parishes has rapidly decreased over the last decade and looks likely to decrease even further into the future. While this is a reality in all our parishes, it is perhaps more obvious in small rural parishes than in larger urban ones.
2) For the most part, those participating regularly in the life of our parishes are advancing in age. It is a visible fact that there are fewer and fewer people in the pews between the ages of 20 and 50.
3) In many places, the decline in participation and the ageing of our congregations is resulting in a lack of volunteers and difficulty paying the bills.
4) At the moment, we do not have a single seminarian. Over the next twenty years or so we will be left with approximately 20 diocesan priests to serve 40 parishes and chaplaincies. At the moment, we have three parishes without a resident priest and more to follow?
5) There is only so much a single priest can do especially as we advance in age. Our hard-working priests have never had as much demands upon them. We simply cannot divide the same workload among fewer priests. Something has to give.
6) We do not have a long tradition of lay involvement and lay led faith communities; there is a great need for training and education so that laity can minister with insight and confidence.
7) While we need to celebrate Mass and the other sacraments and bury the dead, this will only maintain what we have and only for a limited time at that. Do we not need to focus on rekindling the faith, especially among the young and become more missionary in our practice?
“Freedom From” – “Freedom For”
We owe a debt of gratitude to the selfless work done over the years by our priests, religious, and key lay people. I believe that changing circumstances now mean there are many structures and practices that have served us well for a long time but are now no longer as fruitful as they once were. Let me elaborate a bit. Do we need all the Masses we have at the moment? Does a priest need to do a lot of what he is currently engaged in – or could appropriately trained laypeople do some of it? What role should our Parish Pastoral Councils play in shaping the future? Will we be able to keep open all the churches that we now have? Are there things that we are currently doing that we need to “free ourselves from” in order to be “free for” something better? Would fewer Masses mean more people present, more people to take part and a more meaningful celebration for those who come? How might we ensure that our parishes are genuinely life-giving communities of faith rather than mere anonymous convenience stores where we go to pick up this or that spiritual product? Could appropriately trained lay people do a lot more? How are we going to train suitable lay people? Who will do it? How will we pay for it? What of our outreach and ministry to the next generation – young people and young families? Should we be focusing more on preparation for the sacraments? How can we have a more meaningful encounter with the bereaved, the sick, the poor, those on the margins of Church and society? We spend so much money on our buildings – by comparison how much money do we spend on people and faith enhancing initiatives? Would groups of parishes working more closely with each other and sharing resources mean that they could do more together than they might be able to do on their own? Ní neart go cur le chéile - there is a special strength when we come together with a common purpose.
Graced days to “do our bit”
Let me finish by repeating: I am not panicked or despondent. I am convinced that these days are “our days” – graced days to “do our bit”, to make wise choices and brave decisions that will with God’s help secure a bright, albeit different, future for the faith and for our faith communities. It is in this spirit that I welcome these gatherings. It is in this spirit that I hope we will all become involved in positively shaping the future not as passive spectators but as active participants. Thank you so much for being here.
Ballybane/Mervue Office Galway City Partnership
Aim: To encourage the participation of the community as a whole through the provision of information and support. Contact Imelda Gormally Ballybane & Mervue Office, Galway City Partnership. Tel: 091 768305.
Ballybane Community Garden
Aim: To maintain the garden through the collective effort of people. Contact Imelda Gormally Ballybane & Mervue Office, Galway City Partnership. Tel: 091 768305.
Ballybane Enterprise Centre
Aim: To support business development in the local community. Tel: 091 386004 Email:
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Ballybane Family Services
Aim: To support children and young people within their family and community in order to reduce stress and facilitate them in reaching their full potential. Ballybane Resource Centre Tel: 091 768305.
Ballybane Library
Opening Hours:Tuesday-Saturday 11.00am-1.00pm & 2.00-5.00pm. Tel: 091 380590/
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Eastside Community Drama
Aim: To act as a personal, social, community development organisation using drama as a development tool. Tel: 0871838934 Email:
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Eastside Men’s Shed
Aim: Eastside Men’s Shed provides a social space for men to meet and socialise and work on their own projects. Men’s Sheds are open to all men regardless of age, background or ability. Contact Imelda 091 768305.
Ballybane Rainbow Community Childcare Centre
Aim: to teach children how to play and share in the creche. Ballybane Community Resource Centre. Tel: 091 768305.
Ballybane Traveller Women’s Group
Aim: To include the women in community life. C/o Imelda Gormally, Ballybane & Mervue Office, Galway City Partnership. Tel: 091 768305.
Ballybane Traveller Youth Project
Aim: to provide recreational, educational and cultural activities for young Traveller males. Ballybane Community Resource Centre. Tel: 091 768305.
East United Social Club
Aim: To cater for young people and create pride in community and build friendships. Pat Spelman Tel: 086 0832349.
John Paul Centre
Aim: To provide a home away from home, to educate and develop the skills of people with profound learning difficulties. Ballybane. Tel: 091 755161.
Local Employment Service Network
Aim: To provide information, guidance and support service to people who are unemployed in Galway City. The LESN have an office in the Ballybane Community Resource Centre. Tel: 091 768306/Email:
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Teach Áthais – Ballybane Mervue Community Creche
Aim: To provide a good quality affordable community based childcare service. C/o Community House, 197 Castle Park Tel: 091 755575.
Tar Isteach
Aim: To provide a peer support group with a focus on recovery. 2nd Floor, La Nua Buildings, Castle Park Road. Tel: 087 2871572.
