'Slow work of God' bears fruit in Killala Diocese

Rome wasn’t built in a day. So the word goes. And Catholic Rome doesn’t move very far in a day, a year or even a lifetime. It’s why the famous Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, composed a reflection on ‘The Slow Work of God’. 

"It is a law of all progress," he wrote, "that it may take a long time. Don’t force ideas on, as though you could be today what time will make of your tomorrow."

My generation of priests – excited by the promise of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) on which fare we were reared and to which many of us became unambiguously committed – didn’t appreciate the wisdom of De Chardin, born out of his experience of his scientific insights being rubbished by Rome.

Now that the Irish Catholic Church is preparing for a National Synod Assembly in October 2026, let me give a potted history in ten lessons of the half-century of ‘progress’ in my 50-plus years in Killala diocese – part of de Chardin’s ‘the slow work of God’.

1. When I was ordained I foolishly imagined that I would be part of a Church that would put flesh on the insights of Vatican Two (as we called it) and we would be transformed into ‘A People’s Church’ where the gifts of all the baptised would be harnessed.

2. In Ballycastle Church, where I was ordained in 1973, a temporary altar that could be wheeled out as needed was a symbol for years afterwards of a refusal (or inability) to acknowledge the imperative of change.

3. However, in the following year, 1974, it seemed as if the reform would be turbo-charged when the Irish bishops, after a week-long meeting in Mulranny, issued Pastoral Guidelines. The document was impressive in its scope and ambitions, not least in its declared openness to change. The bishops set one clear priority: The main thrust of the Irish (Catholic) Church over the next five years should be the implementation of the involvement of the laity in the spiritual mission of the Church. However, hopes were dashed when progress after five years could be summed up as bogged down in the very Irish category of ‘very-little-if-anything-at-all’.

4. With the appointment of Bishop Thomas Finnegan in 1987, there was a welcome change of gears in the Diocese of Killala. Two two-week consultations with priests led to an agreed priority around the greater involvement of lay people (again!). This led to the establishment of a resource group for parish development in 1991 of 18 members – laywomen, laymen and priests, which was trained by the Parish Development and Renewal Group in Dublin diocese. Its focus was on lay participation (again!) and its main brief was to establish Parish Councils and a Diocesan Council.

So Vatican Two was finally on its way. Well, not really. Bishop Finnegan had conceded early on that parish priests had an effective veto on parish involvement and that was where, as we say, Aughrim was lost. The resource group disbanded in frustration in 1995.

5. However, Bishop Finnegan was not to be undone. He continued to push the importance of lay involvement and for a time tried to convince the priests to adopt the American Renew Parish Pastoral Programme and eventually launched it against their advice. It died a quiet death.

6. Then in 1994, the Irish bishops commissioned Joe Dargan, a Jesuit priest, to visit every diocese with a view towards working out a co-ordinated Diocesan Pastoral Plan. However, though little time, less energy and much paper were expended, the plan never reached an implementation point.

7. Next during 2014-17, Killala priests discussed at length what might be done to arrest the palpable decline of the Catholic Church. A range of possibilities was explored and experts were brought on board. Eventually, in February 2017 the priests decided that (i) we didn’t know what to do and (ii) that even if we did (know what to do) we wouldn’t be able to achieve it on our own.

From this insight a number of decisions followed: (i) we should ask the people of the diocese what they wanted; (ii) we should then as priests do as they would suggest and, crucially, (iii) that the priests would support its implementation. This time there would be no veto by priests to exclude their parish from the process. These decisions were carried (almost!) unanimously. And the vote received important confirmation when Bishop John Fleming indicated that whatever the people wanted to do would become diocesan policy.

8. Another steering committee was formed. Open discussions of key issues followed from May to December 2017. In September 2017, an analysis of present and possible future priest numbers was undertaken as well as a a survey of mass attendance in the churches of the diocese. 

In November 2017, a decision to undertake an anonymous, comprehensive survey was undertaken with agreement on seven key questions. The process, which was called Placing Hope in Faith, was launched in January 2018. Surveys were distributed, collected and independently analysed through January to May, 2018. And on July 1, 2019, a Diocesan Assembly – the first ever in the history of the diocese – of 300-plus representatives of the 22 parishes in the diocese voted to prioritise through a system of electronic voting 129 proposals from the survey. In the years that followed, a focus was placed on the involvement of lay people with a series of lay ministries proposed and agreed by priest and people.

9. Now, thanks to Pope Francis, the Vatican Two agenda – 60 years on – is once again on course as reflected in Francis’ image of a Church where ‘the People of God’ sit astride an inverted pyramid with pope and bishops at its service. In Killala Diocese, that change is reflected in the 64 lay women and men who graduated on March 28 after successfully completing a course in Theology, Culture and Ministry and the promise they bring to enriching and enhancing an effective lay contribution to our Church.

10. And, finally, at the Chrism Mass during Holy Week (on Monday, April 15 in Ballina Cathedral at 6.30pm) 60-plus women and men will be officially commissioned by Archbishop Francis Duffy for service in the 22 parishes of the diocese. It represents an historic expansion of lay ministries – including funeral ministry where women and men will co-lead funeral rituals with priests.

De Chardin’s ‘slow work of God’ has at last delivered the needed and much-welcomed support of 60-plus workers in God’s vineyard.