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The new archbishop of Westminster, England, said in an interview that “I don’t think we’re managing decline. It is the case that we have a few less priests knocking around than we used to.”

Archbishop Richard Moth said:

For me, it’s not about managing decline. It’s about saying, “OK, we may need to deploy our clergy slightly differently.” But also, I think this is an invitation to engage everybody in the Church’s mission. That’s the bit that I find really very positive.

The synodal journey that Pope Francis asked us to engage in is a help to that, because that’s not about doctrine, it’s about the way we do our business. It’s about having relationships, having conversations, talking to one another so that we can discern the way forward together. And then with priests, religious, deacons, lay faithful, married, single, consecrated, we can all see where our gifts and talents lie for the mission that the Lord has called us to carry out. That, to me, is the moment of excitement that we’ve got now.

Archbishop Moth also described the celibate priesthood as “a great gift to the Church.”

“We’re at a moment where those countercultural signs of the Gospel become more and more important, because it speaks to us of the ways of Christ,” he added. “It speaks to us of the ways of the kingdom of heaven ultimately. That’s something that we need to proclaim.”