The Church in Ireland needs a whole “mindset shift” over lay ministry, as dioceses and parishes seek to embed a synodal approach to local leadership, a leading theologian has said. Irish dioceses have a “brilliant opportunity” to initiate a more “inclusive” model of leadership, according to the Dean of Theology at St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, Dr Jessie Rogers. But for this to take place, “there’s so much change of mindset that has to happen”, Dr Rogers told The Synodal Times.
“On one level, people are saying how do we go forward with a shortage of priests,” said Dr Rogers. “On another level, which I hope is the deeper, truer level, is recognising that we’re in a different world… and that God gives to the Church everything that we need to be able to fulfil the ministry that he has given to us.” “There is a whole load of possibilities”, she said, including lay-led liturgies, catechetics and corporal works of mercy, adding that it is “a brilliant opportunity and invitation for all of the Baptised to more fully live out our faith”.
However, this needs training, formation and proper preparations by dioceses and parishes to make space for lay leadership. “People’s experience over the years is that they feel they have something to give, but there’s no opportunity in the parish,” warned Dr Rogers.
Maynooth is entering into partnership with a number of Irish dioceses to provide part-time courses on lay ministry, with 30 aspiring lay ministers from Ferns already gathering in January for a period of discernment. The college is “in partnership with the dioceses,” said Dr Rogers, “who are looking to change their model, to make it more inclusive, to include more people… the training and formation is only a piece”.
A lot of the work the dioceses have been doing in the synod has already brought about possibilities and people on board who may not have been as involved before, the theologian and Old Testament scholar said. She encouraged the Faithful “not to fear”, saying we are “gaining so much more than we are losing”. However, she warned against a mindset that asks, “how do we compensate for the lack of a priest, how do we do the next best thing”.
That mindset leads to the danger of that we “miss other possibilities”. “It’s not just, how do we fix things, how do we make the best of a bad situation – it’s a case of what surprising thing is God doing in this time and this place,” said Dr Rogers
