A number of Roman Catholic churches could face closure due to a shortage of priests, Birmingham’s Archbishop has warned.
Despite the warning a church spokesman stressed the church is not in crisis and described the likely cutbacks as ‘good housekeeping’.
Worshippers have been handed a document warning some churches are under threat and not every parish will have its own priest.
It said: “One of the most important truths we have to accept, and it is not easy to do so, is that our current provision and projections for the future show it will not be possible, in the next generation, to sustain the number of church buildings we have, and for each to have its own resident priest.”
In an accompanying letter, th Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley wrote: “I realise some decisions will not be popular with everybody, but I know you will do your best to support your priests and deacons.”
The diocese covers a huge swathe of Middle England, taking in the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire.
It has 224 churches, 95 convents and 425 priests – 216 who are active, 41 retired and 168 from religious orders.
But diocesan spokesman Peter Jennings denied the Catholic church was in crisis and said the Archbishop was simply looking to the future.
“He is carrying out some good housekeeping, looking to see how the situation is today, how it might be in three years time and making the necessary changes,” he said. Changes could include moving a priest from a rural parish with a tiny congregation to a bigger, busier one in an urban area.
