Pastoral letters from bishops announcing church closures usually try to hit an upbeat note. Two current shake-ups, in Wrexham and Salford, exemplify this. Bishop Peter Brignall of Wrexham described his reorganisation plan, “Into the Future”, as a “huge opportunity for renewal”, while Bishop John Arnold of Salford entitled his letter announcing closures “Strengthening Our Presence As Church: A Journey in Hope” and described the plans as “pruning for growth”.
Of course such optimistic language is intended to reassure people, but well-meant euphemisms can also provoke cynicism. It’s difficult not to question whether the closure of dozens of churches can ever really strengthen the Church. Of course, there are times when the closure of a church is inevitable and necessary and its sale might benefit a cash-strapped diocese.
Bishop Arnold’s proposal, which would result in the closure of more than 20 churches and the merger of around 100 parishes in Greater Manchester, received a positive response from the Catholic Universe, a weekly national newspaper based in the Diocese of Salford. The paper said that the bishop’s plan “followed a very successful consultation” with more than 2,000 responses and that the “overwhelming majority of these responses were positive”.
Following the announcement, Bishop John Arnold said that restructuring the diocese and using its priests and parishes more efficiently would free up more time for evangelisation. He told the Catholic Herald: “Closing churches is never the first option that a bishop would look at, but there are occasions when it is necessary and it can be a positive step. Parishioners develop a tremendous loyalty to their parish, which is great. But if the numbers attending a particular church dwindle then that can put a great burden on the few remaining.
“Asking them to attend a more vibrant church nearby can relieve them of that burden and give them a more uplifting experience of Church… Sometimes it is only by cutting things back that they can grow stronger. Now is the time to make changes that will sustain and grow the parishes that will take us forward on our journey.”
But some priests and lay people in the diocese take a different view. One parish priest who asked not to be named said that the approach to restructuring had been “top down” and that most priests felt “pretty hurt” by the argument that closure would lead to renewal when “we’ve been evangelising all our lives”.
The priest said: “It’s as if closing parishes are going to strengthen everything and that is not true.” He argued that it has not been made clear why some churches are remaining open while others are being shut.
Lay people have expressed concerns too. Eric Hester, a retired headteacher in the diocese, said that the bishop’s approach reminded him of the closure of comprehensive schools during the 1970s – meaning that “grand schemes tend not to work”. He said: “Up north people are attached to their local area. So given that something had to be done, we should have followed the example of the Dioceses of Shrewsbury and Liverpool and worked on a piecemeal basis when deciding about closures.”
One of the main criticisms of planned closures is the uncertainty it creates among the clergy, with priests not knowing if they can commit to sacramental celebrations, such as weddings, too far in advance. Mr Hester said that, while there was no revolt over the plan, there was a sense of unease and anxiety about what might come.
But both critics and supporters of schemes such as Salford’s recognise that churches cannot lie empty indefinitely and in some instances they must be closed down. An alternative solution, pursued by the Diocese of Lancaster and Shrewsbury, is to invite religious orders and ethnic communities to take on the churches. Lancaster diocese, for example, has invited the Syro-Malabar community to run St Alphonsa Cathedral in Preston (formerly St Ignatius church).
Where this is not possible, critics suggest that consultation about closures should be conducted deanery by deanery in order for the true local picture to be properly understood.
Ultimately, empty churches are the symptom of a wider problem which is not unique to Salford or Wrexham. The underlying issue, of course, is a shortage of clergy.
It may be that a church closure might, in the long run, strengthen the Church, allowing a greater focus on evangelisation. But that seems unlikely to happen if, in the short term, communities are damaged and the faithful demoralised.
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