New Parish Manager Role

Over the past number of years, many of you will have noticed the growing pressure on parishes across the Dublin Archdiocese due to the continuing reduction in the number of available priests.  Our own parish is no exception.

In recent years, the diocese has been encouraging the development of parish partnerships. Our partnership, the Columba Marmion partnership, consists of Balally, Ballinteer, Dundrum and Meadowbrook. We have been encouraged to look to the future, to work more closely together and to share our resources, including the clergy! This represents a significant change from previous years when we were fortunate to have a number of priests in each parish. A recent letter to the Irish Times pointed out the extent to which our circumstances in the church and in our parishes have changed, yet our structures have been too slow to adjust, putting an increasing and unreasonable amount of responsibility on parish priests.

Alongside the full-time pastoral and liturgical responsibilities, there has also been a substantial rise in the amount of administrative and regulatory work required to run a modern parish. This includes areas such as health and safety, GDPR, safeguarding, financial compliance, the increased use of IT systems, communications and HR. These are very necessary responsibilities which place additional demands on already stretched resources.

Taking all of this into account, and following a process of discernment, the Parish Pastoral Council and the Parish Finance Committee, in consultation and initiated by Fr Paul, have agreed that the best way forward, in everyone’s best interest, is to appoint a Parish Manager. The purpose of creating this new role is to allow Fr Paul, Fr Moses and Deacon Gabriel to focus more fully on the pastoral care of the parish and to delegate the responsibility for most of the day-to-day administrative duties to the Parish Manager. Fr Paul will of course remain ultimately responsible for the life and mission of the parish.

It is important to say that we are fortunate to have such dedicated and committed staff who will continue in their roles working closely with Fr Paul and the Parish Manager once appointed. Likewise, the parish is indebted to so many volunteers who give generously of their time, without which we would be lost. This new role will provide everyone with more support.

A recruitment advertisement for the new Parish Manager position is published on the parish website www.dundrumparish.com and has been circulated through the parishes of the Archdiocese. We ask for your support and prayers as we take this important step to ensure the continued smooth running and pastoral vitality of Holy Cross Parish into the future.

Lorna Radcliffe, Chair, Parish Pastoral Council
Cormac O’Sullivan, Chair, Parish Finance Committee