ONE of the largest Roman Catholic dioceses in England has announced a drastic shake-up of its parishes in the face of clergy shortages and dwindling vocations.
“This remains an ongoing process, shaped by local discernment and circumstances rather than a single uniform reorganisation,” the archdiocese of Birmingham told the Church Times last week.
The diocese outlined the planned shake-up following a mid-June meeting in Leamington Spa between the RC Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Revd Bernard Longley, and more than 100 priests from the region.
It said that work on the reorganisation had been under way since 2023, and would align the “diocesan vision” with wider priorities set out at the Roman Catholic Church’s 2023-24 “Synod on Synodality”, held in Rome (News, 1 November 2024).
The emphasis had been on “setting a clear vision at diocesan level”, while encouraging parishes to “identify local solutions” that facilitated “vibrant and sustainable communities of faith”, the archdiocese told the Church Times.
The archdiocese of Birmingham extends over five counties, from Berkshire to Staffordshire, with a population of five million, and runs 217 parishes and 240 schools, served by 210 active and retired priests and 80 deacons.
Under the plans, the number of parishes will be cut over the next five years to approximately 50 “mega-parishes”, each run by a collective of priests with their own pastoral councils and finance boards.
A source at the archdiocese said that the reform had been necessary because of a “serious shortage of clergy”, as half of all the priests were set to retire within a decade, and only three ordinations were envisaged for summer 2026.