On a mission…

Do we still believe in the Hierarchy? Asks Fr Bede Rowe

This article could be called ‘do we believe in parishes (3)’ as it follows on from the last two issues of this magazine. I think that we all know that the present structure of the parishes in our diocese is out of date. In my own diocese we have over 20 parishes in Bristol with fewer people going to Mass than in Swindon, which is served by three parishes.

I argued last time that perhaps now is the time to bite the bullet and close those parishes, and build new, temporary ones. This does not mean that they have to be ghastly prefabs. Look at shops and businesses, they manage to put on a great ‘experience’. These new places of worship could be truly flexible… just think, at the touch of a button altar rails could slide into place, a reredos opens up, a pulpit springs forth; gradines, frontals, predellas, statues, incense, proper lighting. Then all melting into the background for a different expression for the new Mass. But I’m getting lost in my modestly grandiose plans!

My question today is ‘Do we need the hierarchy?’ I don’t mean ‘do we need Bishop X or Y?’ That way madness lies (and exile for parish priests who express an opinion). Bishops come in all shapes and sizes, saints and sinners, teachers, preachers, administrators. Also, middle managers, idlers, vain men open to arrogance and slights. Strangely… exactly like us priests (and exactly like Christ’s lay faithful)! This is not an attack on any one man. Or even two or three. I am not asking if we should get rid of the hierarchy as such, to become a congregationalist organisation, freewheeling in the spirit, but rather I am asking if it is time to get rid of the stable hierarchical structure as we have had it since the restoration of the hierarchy in the 1850s.

The question is: ‘Does the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church as it is currently found in England and Wales spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and sanctify the People of God?’ Does the existence of parishes and diocese help or hinder the basic commands of the Lord? Are we a Christian people to be supported and ministered to, or are we actually mission territory?

Personally, for what it’s worth, I think it is both, but we have to concentrate on the latter. To be polemical, our efforts and strength are going into the twofold process of evangelising those who are already Catholic and keeping the show on the road. Of course, the evangelisation of Catholics is not so much ‘on-going formation’ but a fundamental instruction in the basics of the faith. The fracturing of the Church means that what Fr A says in St John’s parish can be quite different from what Fr B says in St Mark’s. Catechesis no longer necessarily points to ‘Catholicism’, but Fr C’s version of it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if the faith had continued to be taught as an objective truth to be accepted and then understood, rather than as an experience to be internalised and then lived out for oneself, we might have been in a very different place. But we are where we are. And keeping the show on the road, be that the infrastructure, or the Catholic ‘presence’ in the public forum (to which lip-service can be paid, then conveniently forgotten), is a thankless task.

‘We could respond to the needs of the people in a much more dynamic way’

So, what could be put in its place? Well, how about becoming a mission territory again with a couple of Vicars Apostolic deploying priests and religious as they are needed. We could respond to the needs of the people in a much more dynamic way. When they moved, the priests (and the bishops) could move. Catechesis would become the responsibility of the individual for themselves and their family, supported by the Church. Our people could be fortified for apologetics, so that they become primary missioners by the witness of their lives, fortified by the teaching of the Church, and the nourishment of the sacraments. We would have no need of a different Bishop every fifty miles, or even parish boundaries which have less and less meaning.

How wonderfully subversive to be a member of an underground movement designed to bring about a new governance and morality (aka the Kingdom of God). Radically abandoning everything and putting ourselves under the Holy Ghost and Our Holy Mother the Church; no longer relying on programs or cosy liturgy, where our main concern is replacing the tea urn, or a new set of hymn books. Do we need the hierarchy? Yes! But how about something new and fresh, and dangerously subversive?