Parochial Houses.

hoodie6029 · 08-04-2023 06:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455022#Comment_120455022

Fair play to your community for getting that done. I know at least three parishes my scenario has happened. Depends on the Bishop I suppose…

French Toast · 08-04-2023 06:27PM

The local one here is a handy bungalow. Built in the late 80's afaik. The curates house was sold and turned in to a family home at the same time. Fine block of a 2 story house.

Hotblack Desiato · 08-04-2023 11:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453465#Comment_120453465

Just as most weddings no longer take place in a church, it won't be too long before most funerals won't either and the world will keep turning. Then we'll wonder where the many billions in funds provided by the Irish people over the decades, often more than they could afford, went.

Mrs OBumble · 08-04-2023 11:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456323#Comment_120456323

Sure - who do you see is likely to step in to the master-of-ceremonies role, and what venue will be used.

AFAIK Ireland has been singularly slow as both training celebrants and providing venues.

kneemos · 08-04-2023 11:49PM

All you need is gravediggers and a few bodies to lower a coffin.

Even if you are religious a funeral is after the fact, won't hardly make any difference at the pearly gates.

Jim2007 · 09-04-2023 01:34AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058291478/parochial-houses

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120451464#Comment_120451464

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120451488#Comment_120451488

More like one in a deanery at this stage I’d imagine. The parish I grew up in used two have two houses when I was a boy and they were sold off at least a decade or more ago and the money was used to refurbish the community hall and the local football pitch. Last I heard the bishops had been advised to abolish parishes and operate on the deanery level as there were no remotely enough priests to staff parishes.

On the same note there were two convents plus the brothers teaching in the catchment area also all gone. The residential part of two were just turned into school rooms and the third now houses community services offices.

I now live in Switzerland and when I came here 30 years ago there were two churches in the parish, two houses, plus a rented one for three priests and an equal complement on the the Protestant side. Today it’s all gone. There is one church of each demonstration opened and closed by a parishioner, mass is said every third Sunday and the nearest priest is over 20km away.

On the other hand I now have a Sikh template within 200m of the front door!

Galwayguy35 · 09-04-2023 10:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456323#Comment_120456323

Don't know where you live but over this side of the country most people still get married in a church.

Galwayguy35 · 09-04-2023 10:02AM

2 houses in my parish the CC and PP houses were sold off about 20 years ago and the priest used the money to build a small house for himself.

Yellow_Fern · 09-04-2023 10:15AM

There are cases of rural churches that no longer resident priests. The priest just drives in for mass. Leaving houses empty is not favoured by dioceses. The houses will degrade and the churches could be robbed. I know one cases where one is rented to a woman for say 400 euro or so. That is a fairly commo. n practise. Others would be sold off.

tesla_newbie · 09-04-2023 10:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456323#Comment_120456323

Yes , today billions in funds go to NGO sector to promote dogma , the ordinary person still gets a lecture only instead of from the pulpit, it’s in the papers or on tv/ radio

meet the new boss ( same as the old boss)

Yellow_Fern · 09-04-2023 10:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454823#Comment_120454823

Actually no. Bishops do not own parochial houses. The diocese owns it.

hoodie6029 · 09-04-2023 11:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456965#Comment_120456965

And who runs the Diocese and make the decisions on property sales etc ?

HazeDoll · 09-04-2023 12:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454383#Comment_120454383

They were happy enough to have collected money from generations of lower class Irish scuzz. It's about time they had to share their living conditions.

Jesus sought out the poor, the oppressed, the shunned, didn't he? The priests should be climbing over each other to emulate Jesus and live among those the rest of us would consider to be undesirable neighbours.

Unless... unless they're pompous old men who have been grifting their living from the uneducated and gullible while keeping as much distance as they possibly can...

lucalux · 09-04-2023 12:49PM

three or four empty parochial houses around me at least

one older house was replaced by an absolutely massive new priests palace, sorry, house (think dermot bannon style) about ten years ago, both empty now

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 01:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457252#Comment_120457252

Bishops don’t own anything. Priests don’t own anything. The diocese owns any property. The bishop is over the diocese but he wouldn’t be buying and selling properties. It’s not run like a corporation. Did you think that whoever was the bishop “owns” the buildings?!?

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 01:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457392#Comment_120457392

“lower class Irish scuzz”. I’ll just leave that description of your own ancestors including probably your possibly still alive grandparents sitting right here for all to see.

“the rest of us would consider to be undesirable neighbours” is another absolute beaut….

No….wait “uneducated and gullible” is absolutely perfect too.

Tell me you think you’re far superior to everyone else and that you hold more or less everyone who’s not you in total contempt WITHOUT blah blah blah….

HazeDoll · 09-04-2023 01:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457530#Comment_120457530

Read the comment to which I was replying then pull your horns in.

No idea what you're getting at by mentioning my grandparents. Weird comment to make, in fact.

Count Dracula · 09-04-2023 01:47PM

One of the greatest failures of the power vacuum created in 1921 was how the Roman Catholic church managed to ironically sneak ( get it ) back into the forefront of modern Irish society. When the Brits turned off the taps, the gunmen knew we were phucked and basically handed education, health and with that massive social authority and influence, to a religion which denies its' members the preference of their own personal conscience, matrimonial rights of its entire senior membership, a prehistoric attitude to the role of females in society ( still followed btw ) and first nibs on influencing and coercing the next 10 generations of Irish people?

The Penal laws might get a bad rep, but they may have had a point as well as a purpose.

Except for Brain Darcy, a saint amongst them. They didn't like that either, but without him we might still be back 30 years. Dude should be beatified.

They are not our halls anyways? They are privately owned by the Roman Catholic Church or Eaglais na hEireann where they have retained ownership.

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 02:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457558#Comment_120457558

If you’re Irish going back a few generations then the “scuzzy lower class uneducated gullible undesirable neighbours” ( 99% of the population of Ireland for 100s of years) you refer to in your very telling post include your own grandparents.

If you can’t understand that then I can’t help you.

HazeDoll · 09-04-2023 02:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457663#Comment_120457663

And if you won't read the thread you're beyond help.

You're very interested in my grandparents. I hope this helps.

My grandparents: Two were farmers eking out a living on the side of a mountain in the west of Ireland. They saw the value in education and every one of their numerous offspring finished second level and all but one went on to third level. This was done against the advice of their parish priest, who felt very strongly that education was not for the likes of them, particularly where the girls were concerned. There is a letter to this effect written by the priest that my Grandmother used to show people who mentioned religion to her.

My other grandparents were from slightly more privileged backgrounds and politely disregarded priests, though they were married in a church and baptised their children. My grandmother used to tell us to turn off the radio when the angelus came on, she said it gave her heartburn.

I don't know why you felt the need to mention my grandparents in a thread about priests' accommodation.

hoodie6029 · 09-04-2023 03:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457509#Comment_120457509

The Archbishop then? Cardinal? Pope? An Organisation with a massive prime property portfolio and no one is in charge? Pull the other one.

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 03:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457726#Comment_120457726

So farmers with notions on one side and middle class professionals on the other.

That partially explains your contempt, and I quote, “Lower class scuzz/undesirable neighbours/uneducated gullible” for Irish people of years not too long gone by.

No one will look down their nose at the not too far beneath them quite like upstarts.

And you know perfectly well what I’m talking about.

HazeDoll · 09-04-2023 03:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457990#Comment_120457990

You are weirdly angry with me and my grandparents.

I hope your day improves and you have a few days off over Easter to relax and arrive at a more benevolent outlook. Maybe have some chocolate. Lent is over, you can indulge yourself.

09-04-2023 03:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456898#Comment_120456898

Only 39% of marriages in 2021 were Roman Catholic.

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-mar/marriages2021/marriages2021mainresults/

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 03:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457981#Comment_120457981

If the bishop owns the bishops house then why does he have to leave it and find somewhere else to live when he retires? If he owned it couldn’t he stay there and tell the new bishop to go and find somewhere else to sit?

If the parish priest owns the parochial house then why doesn’t any of them ever decide to sell it and buy something else?

Id say you thought the queen of England owned Buckingham palace too, didn’t you?🤣🤣🤣

Youre not making any sense to be honest. The Catholic Church owns all of these buildings, most of the schools and lots of the hospitals.

The Catholic Church is the catholic people. The people are the church. The administrators (the diocese) manage the properties and all other matters on behalf of the people. Some clergy have personal private wealth the same way anyone else gets it. Through inheritances etc.

The collection plate is managed by committees that may not even have a member of clergy sitting on it. Lay Catholics volunteer to aid in the administration.

Did you think Br Kevin at the Penny Dinners owned that building? Sr Stan? Fr McVerry?? They own nothing.

Priests and nuns come back from 40/50/60 years in Africa with a suitcase of clothes and have to apply for a non contributory pension, and get it, because they have absolutely nothing. Some of them might have an inherited property to go to but mostly they have to ask their diocese or Order to find them somewhere to live.

That’s just the way it is. I hope you have a clearer understanding now.

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 03:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120458056#Comment_120458056

I’m not angry at all. I’m amused at your naïveté in describing our ancestors and recent family with such contempt and venom and naked snobbery and not expecting there to be any pushback. That’s all.

Mrs OBumble · 09-04-2023 04:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457509#Comment_120457509

I don't think that is quite correct, legally speaking.

Legally, the bishop is the owner of a lot of church property. But he's not free to sell it at will: The church has Canon Law, which specifies how bishops and priests have to act. This requires Finance Commtees,and bishops cannot act without their approval.

Galwayguy35 · 09-04-2023 05:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120458109#Comment_120458109

That's interesting hadn't realised that.

I guess it's the urban areas that might be going civil because its all church weddings around here

apache · 09-04-2023 05:17PM

Priests are very lucky to have Parochial houses. I remember in my local parish two priests shared a nice house and a neighbour was the house keeper. No worries about putting a roof over their head and they were well looked after.

I haven't been to church since I was young so not sure what the situation now is.

TooTired123 · 09-04-2023 05:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120458544#Comment_120458544

There’s a lot of religious weddings, just far more non Christian ones now of course.

Parochial Houses.

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