Ireland is to see a “new model” of the Catholic church, involving the merging of parishes, more laymen administering religious services and people having to “get used to the fact that not every church will have mass at 10 o’clock every morning”, according to a leading churchman.

Paddy Rushe, the church’s vocational director, has said such changes are necessary in order to cope with the declining number of priests.

He predicted that the practice of priests having to double-job across parishes, and laymen supervising church services, “is going to become widespread”.

The church is also planning to “modernise” its recruitment methods in order to attract more young people to the priesthood, including using social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo.

The most recent figures for applications to the priesthood are from 2006, when 30 people were accepted for vocation. There were 27 in 2005. There are currently 2,536 priests in Ireland, 142 fewer than in 2007.

Rushe said the present set-up, with several parishes operating in some areas, is unsustainable. Towns such as Dundalk, “where there are eight churches within two square miles of each other”, will have to get used to meeting at a central location.

“People in communities like Dundalk need to come together and see what they can provide with the number of priests that they have,” he said. “Then they have to look at having services that laymen can administer.”

Last week a row broke out in the Ardfinnan parish in Co Tipperary when Ken Hackett, a sacristan, conducted a service without the presence of the priest, who was on holiday. Several angry parishioners left the church in protest.

Rushe admitted that changes need to happen slowly so people do not feel “swept aside”. He said: “I believe there are enough priests coming forward to cater for a new model, whereby in 10 years the parishes that don’t have a priest might be merged together to form a new parish.”

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