The Bishop of the Derry diocese of the Catholic Church says that the organisation needs to look at ways of restructuring itself as members of the clergy are being “worked to exhaustion”.
Bishop Donal McKeown, who has handed in his resignation after turning 75 but remains in post while his successor is selected, spoke to The Irish News after the suspension of Sunday Mass services in two rural Co Tyrone churches earlier this month due to a lack of priests.
First published in The Irish News 2 Feb 2026 by Conor Coyle
St Mary’s Church in Knockmoyle and Corpus Christi in Mountfield, both near Omagh, will no longer host fortnightly Sunday Mass, but will remain available for the local community for individual prayer, funerals, weddings and anniversary events. Cappagh Parish, where the fortnightly services were suspended, said the decision would be “disappointing and painful” for many, but reflected the “pastoral realities” faced by clergy.
Thirteen new seminarians entered Irish dioceses during the 2025/26 academic term, bringing the total number to 77 men training for the priesthood in the country.
Parishes have had to combine across dioceses in Ireland in recent years due to falling numbers of priests, while Clogher Diocese received its first seminarian in six years last year.
When asked whether he regularly hears reports from priests of being overworked, Bishop McKeown said that was very much the case, while many are working “to exhaustion”.
Last bells ring for Sunday Mass at Co Tyrone churches as parish admits ‘pastoral realities’Opens in new window
“I most certainly do, my job is to try and see what we can do at the centre of the diocese to ensure that we can work together to do the best we can in the circumstances without burning ourselves out,” the Bishop said.
“There’s no use in priests tiring themselves out with unnecessary burdens.
“We have to learn from the experience of other areas where churches did not have a lot of clergy, how can we restructure and use what resources we do have without people working themselves absolutely to the bone.
“I know many of our priests work themselves to exhaustion trying to satisfy everyone’s needs, turning up for all the funerals, turning up for all the weddings, events at school, communions, confirmation as well as doing the regular masses.
“I want to praise priests who in so many circumstances are working against the odds and trying to do their best and to remain cheerful.
“My job is to support them and coordinate, do my best in a leadership role so that we keep that momentum going and help our young people to believe that there is hope in the future rather than despair.”
The Bishop added that those from the Catholic faith needed to move away from the idea of the church being a “service delivery” body and move towards what it can deliver as a “community organisation”.
“There’s an opportunity for renewal of the church, not as a service delivering body, but as a community organisation providing help to one another, particularly to those in distress.
“I see this really not as a bad time, but as a time when God is remaking the church to serve a different purpose.
“There’s a limit on what can be done by a small number of priests and the ministries that they have. It’s a call to lay people to see how they can serve the parish and the community, rather than the idea of a service organisation run by clergy meeting the needs of people.
“Those needs are increasing as far as I can see. I think we all know the fragmentation that’s going on in our society. We all know the levels of distress, the levels of mental illness, suicide, poverty. There’s a huge need out there for good news and for healing.”
Bishop McKeown also revealed that church leaders have been contacted by local health trusts in order to explore how the church can be used on the ground to support the struggling health service.
“The health service has been in contact with a number of us in terms of drawing up a policy to say how can our parishes be used to deliver belonging, healing, hope.
“There are examples now of young people rediscovering ancient spiritual values like meditation, rituals of gathering together, common celebrations. All of those things are hopeful for healing for our younger generation, who are being assailed by online materials and exposure to denigrating material at a very early age.
“That’s what I mean when saying there’s a huge need for seeing how the church can respond to the distress being experienced by our young people.
“We are trying to see how we can be useful on the ground in a faith context, because it’s about belonging and utilising that social capital in a fragmented society.”
The search for his successor as Bishop of Derry is continuing, and Bishop McKeown says he will continue to do his best after decades of service to the church.
“I’ll do whatever I’m asked to do. I’ve always done that throughout my years as a priest and as a bishop.
“I’m happy to do my best in the circumstances, realising I can’t do any short or medium term initiatives as changes like that really need to come from my successor.
“It is a period of uncertainty but I’m happy to do my best in the circumstances.”
The “smell of the sheep” ascended when reading Bishop Donal McKeown’s words.
He revealed the liminal space we, the church, are now entering: The movement from an isolated delivery service to delivering services as a community. This liminal space is a time of struggle and uncertainty. On a lighter note Burl Ives song “Mr. In Between” caught the feeling of this space.
This is what the end of Christendom looks like: the depletion, exhaustion and looming disappearance of the ordained clerical corps – and no easy method of transition to a totally new era has yet been devised.
Synodality could be the solution but so far most clergy are too exhausted to add this to their existing burdens. Without them, synodal events lack focus and realism.
So – to face reality – why not radically reduce the number of Masses everywhere, and schedule some Mass times as synodal events instead, to allow clergy and those lay people who ‘get it’ and want to share responsibility to meet for synodal discussion and retraining instead?
As things are we’ll just be going to Mass until we can’t, with a blank brick wall at the end of that. Can anyone see any point to that?
Family heads need especially to wise up to co-responsibility. The baptism/confirmation and Goodbye treadmill gets more ridiculous year-by-year, and continual vaunting of Catholic schools week without facing that reality is absurd.
As ever, the over-complicated story we have to tell about Easter is the real root of the problem, and that too comes to us from Christendom rather than the Gospel. We have become incoherent about the meaning of the Creed – but synodality could get to grips with that as well.
Firstly I want to offer best wishes to Bishop McKeown on his retirement.
On reflection I find it amusing that it is upon retirement that Bishops decide to speak out on issues that have been ongoing for years. It is the Bishops who have the power and authority to make some of the changes that are necessary to lighten the burden that is put on priests and nothing is done.
I am also struck by the fact that these same Bishops have continued to refuse to engage with the ACP who have been highlighting for many years the pressure that priests are being put under.
The lack of enthusiasm and leadership from the Hierarchy in the Irish Synodal Pathway is also very telling.
The Kilkenny question was spot on. What do we need to stop doing?
Organise for mission, let go of keeping things as they are. It hasn’t been working for at least all of the 21st century.
An anniversary and a question❓️
◾️On the 14th February 1993, three of us initiated a petition which would eventually garner over 20,000 signatures from every diocese in Ireland (all pen & paper!) and be sent to all the Irish bishops after Cardinal Daly refused to receive it.
◾️ Brothers And Sisters In Christ
(BASIC)
Petition for A New Partnership of Women and Men in the Roman Catholic Church.
“In Christ Jesus there is no longer male and female”( Galatians 3:28)
We, the undersigned, believe that:
▪️Both men and women are equally created in the image of God.
▪️Christ is equally present in both women and men.
▪️The Spirit calls and gifts both women and men equally.
We therefore petition
that all ministries in the Church be equally open to both women and men
and all sexist structures and regulations be abolished.
◾️Question 📍Thirty-three years later and after 5 years of the Irish Synodal Pathway,
how much inequality and sexism are we still continue to tolerate in the Church, and for how long❓️