' The Church must be "new and inclusive" to appeal to LGBT+ people, divorcees and migrants, a leading archbishop said yesterday,' wrote an Irish paper.
Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly of Cashel and Emly said the Church had survived scandals but now that the Holy Spirit was guiding them in a more inclusive direction. Although many in the Church have spoken out against groups of people including the LGBT+ community, the archbiashop hoped the archdiocesde's pastoral plan, called SEEDS OF HOPE, would modernise the institution.
He launched the plan at Holycross Abbey, Co. Tipperary yesterday. Arcghbishop O'Rielly said: "the world around us is changing very rapidly and it is not only the Church that must adopt. "The Church must change, not because of necessity or because of declining vocations and attendance at Masses, but because it is the right thing to do. "What we are now embarking on is about delivering a new and inclusive Church, and in doing so, it is the Holy Spirit that is guiding us. We must styep out of the past, embrace the present and move on to the fuiture. The model whereby a public attends Mass once a week is not what the Church is about, It is, and must be, about the Church being out in the community, rader than the community being in the Church. The Church is changing now and the priest-led Church of the past will need to embrace a partnership approach with people into the future." he said.
The plan hopes to make the Church more appealing for minority groups 'from divorced or separated people to LGBT+, migrants and the Travelling community and appoint more women to leadership roles.
And that is where the Churchmen of Ireland are nowadays.