A "PASTORAL audit" to canvass the views of priests, religious and the laity has been carried out by the Hierarchy in the past three years, the coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Sean Brady, has told the National Conference of Priests of Ireland.
Giving the opening address at the organisation's annual conference in Dublin last night, Archbishop Brady stressed the importance of providing more opportunity for lay involvement, and said people needed to be persuaded "to take ownership and responsibility for their own parishes".
Dr Brady said the pastoral audit "revealed the need which priests feel to be listened to, to be affirmed, to be consulted, to be made feel part of the present and future ministry in the diocese. While the vast majority of priests are happy in their vocation, morale has been undermined in recent years.
"Personal interest in the priests and affirmation of their work are especially appreciated. For some, loneliness and isolation are problems. Many older priests remark that while we talk more we actually do less about fraternity nowadays.
"Some felt that their talents are undervalued and underused. There is a strongly felt need of continuing formation and a sense of spiritual starvation and a need also for greater spiritual motivation".
Archbishop Brady said if ever the Catholic Church "loses its capacity to listen to and to speak to contemporary thought and culture then it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant in its teaching".
He said "quite an amount of listening is going on" through the pastoral audit, parish listening days, women religious undertaking renewal programmes, and the Renew programme in the five western dioceses and the Cooley peninsula.
The preparation and publication of the guidelines of the bishops' advisory committee on clerical sex abuse was "another example of listening at its best". In the course of its discussions, the committee had heard the views of victims of abuse and organisations with expertise on child sex abuse, and held a series of "listening days" to hear other views.
Dr Brady went on: "The listening has shown that there is need for pastoral renewal. The pastoral requirements of the next millennium are going to be immense. The transformation of society that is taking place daily before our eyes brings this home to us.
"We just cannot assume any longer that our traditional pastoral practices, while meeting the needs of some, are adequate for all. It is clear that the church is having some difficulty in meeting the expectations of its people. As one parish priest put it: `The system is not working anymore. The old wine skins are not holding, new skins for new wine'."
He went on: "People expressed the need to be heard with respect for their own dignity. They feel the need to belong. They need to be reconciled, to be part of a church that reveals more of the attitude which Jesus showed in his conversations with the Samaritan woman.
"There, Jesus overcame the sectarian barriers and divisions and in the process he released in her magnificent resources of energy.
Dr Brady said co operation between clergy and people realistically means persuading people to take ownership and responsibility for their own parishes. This can be participative ministry in action. What it involves is saying to people: `This is your church. This is your parish. As your priest for the time being I am very much with you but, in truth, I am only passing through'".