I was born, baptised, made my First Communion and Confession at St. Josephs Catholic Parish in Wigan which is in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, but unsurprising to relate is my home parish church is now closed. Welcome to Liverpool Malcolm McMahon! Apres moi, le deluge. The Archdiocese of Liverpool has a new Archbishop, Malcolm McMahon. He faces enormous challenges, not least is the near collapse in Mass Attendance since Archbishop Worlocks episcopate began in 1976. Liverpool ADs baptised Catholic population is 574,000 but currently only 55,000 regularly attend weekly mass which is less than 10% and they are mainly the wrong side of 50. The city of Liverpool once boasted 60 parishes but half are now been closed. Liverpool AD also boasts a large number of parochial Primary, High Schools and 6th Form Colleges but these are full of unchurched baptised Catholic children or children of other Faiths, such as Muslims. Many Catholic Primary Schools now struggle to find practising Catholic Teachers and many have appointed non-Catholics and that means teachers who are of other Faiths or nominally Christian at best, but they dont attend church services. Yet, these non-Catholic Teachers are teaching Catholic RE to non practising Catholic children and non-Catholic children! You couldnt make this up. I dont live in Liverpool AD anymore, but Lancaster, but things are no better there. Once, Lancashire was considered to be the sacred heartland of Catholicism in England after the Break with Rome and once contained 25% of all baptised Catholics in England. Preston, where I now live, was once the epicentre of Lancashire Catholicism but is now in a similar state to Liverpool. We dont just need a new AB, we need a miracle. catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/03/21/bishop-malcolm-mcmahon-is-appointed-archbishop-of-liverpool/
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 09:20:00 +0000