Closures are inevitable, but let's not give in to defeatism

The Bishop of Lancaster, the Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, has reacted to shrinking Mass attendance by announcing plans to close more than 20 churches, including the Grade I listed St Walburge's. The closures are being packaged as a "Mission Review' that looks on the changes as a challenge rather than as a disaster. "Under the Spirit we will find new ways of working, sharing, building, witnessing and praying together," says Bishop O'Donoghue.
The number of worshippers in Lancaster diocese has fallen from 17,000 in 1974 to around 6,000 today. Closures are inevitable. The bishop is taking these decisions with a heavy heart. We are reluctant to add to his burden by criticising him; but, even so, the plan as it has been announced leaves a lot to be desired.
We think the diocese is making a mistake by attempting to put such a positive spin on a scheme that will break the hearts of many faithful Catholics who will lose the church where their families have worshipped for generations. If the closing of churches is part of the work of the Holy Spirit, then God does indeed work in mysterious ways. Surely the Church in Lancaster should be trying to fill its existing structures — and particularly one as deeply sanctified by prayer and tradition as St Walburge's.
Canon Aidan Turner, who is leading the diocesan Mission Review, points out that the church has only 100 Mass-goers a week. He also says: "In the next 10 years there will be half the number of worshippers... If theie is a sudden upsurge in Mass attendance. we would need much more suitable buildings than St Walburge's, which was built 150 years ago."
Clearly, the depopulation of Preston town centre poses special problems for its parishes. But the assumption that St Walburge's congregation will halve over the next decade also raises questions about the defeatist institutional culture of the Church in England and Wales. If dynamic Anglican pastors can fill abandoned inner-city churches. then why not adventurous Catholic priests? And the implication that Gothic churches are unsuited to the needs of a modern Catholic congregation sits badly with Pope Benedict's call for the rediscovery of tradition. Here is a suggestion: if the diocese really cannot revive St Walburge's, then offer the building to the Society of St Peter. We suspect that, if the traditional Latin Mass is celebrated there beautifully every Sunday, the worshippers will return.