Madam, - While I share Pope Benedict's concern about lay Catholics performing the functions of priests (The Irish Times, September 15th), my even greater concern is that so many Irish priests spend an inordinate amount of time performing the functions of laity to the detriment of their real vocation.
One very obvious example is the amount of time Irish clergy give to serving as school managers, which is so different to practice within the English Catholic Church. Another example is the number of priests engaged in top positions within diocesan administration. In this special year which concentrates on the notion of vocation, I believe that what Irish Catholicism needs is a very thorough analysis of the respective vocations and roles of clergy and laity.
In terms of lay involvement, the Irish church has a long way to go compared with what is happening elsewhere. Having retired home to Ireland 12 months ago after 40 years of service in English Catholic schools, I found it very difficult to reconcile myself to the minimalist involvement of Irish laity in the day to day activities of their parishes and dioceses. Using my skills as a trained sociologist I now devote much of my time to the comparative study of the Catholic Church in English-speaking countries.
My attention was caught recently by a parish newsletter issued in Riverside, in California's San Bernardino diocese. In the July 6th Riverside newsletter Dr Sarah O'Brien Elder introduced herself thus to her new parish: "My role is to provide pastoral and organisational leadership. I serve in the place of the pastor as the canonical leader of this parish, and I answer to the Episcopal Vicar and to the Bishop. Day to day responsibility for the pastoral and physical wellbeing of the parish is mine. I make sure we have Masses, funerals, religious education, and so on. Also, I take care of temporal matters, like the roof and the bank account.
"My job is to make sure it all happens, but not usually to do it personally. I am not going to climb on the roof and look at the tiles! Someone else will do that. But I will make sure that it is done. Similarly, I am not going to confuse what I do with the priests' role. I may have the final decision on how money is spent, but I can never preside at Mass or give absolution."
There are three full-time priests in this parish. As a lay member of our church Dr O'Brien Elder is functioning in a way that frees the clergy to concentrate on the essence of their vocation: presiding at Mass and playing a pivotal role in the sacramental life of their church community.
For my part, I am particularly excited by the scheme of pastoral co-ordinators operating in San Bernardino since 1988 and pleased that there are now 10 parishes with non-clerical administrators in charge. - Yours, etc,
ALAN WHELAN, Beaufort, Co Kerry.