Over 60 parishioners will be commissioned as Catholic Church lay leaders at a ceremony in Co Mayo marking Easter Holy Week later today.
The 42 women and 22 men from the Diocese of Killala have spent two years studying at the Newman Institute in Ballina to enable them to work alongside priests and co-lead various rites, including funerals.
Seeds for the course were first planted back in 2015, when priests of the diocese decided to plan for the future by asking parishioners what they wanted.
Over a number of years anonymous surveys were conducted, electronic votes were commissioned, pastoral proposals were gathered and it was clear there was an "expressed desire" from the people for lay leadership.
This resulted in the creation of a two-year Certificate in Lay Leadership: Theology, Culture and Ministry at the Newman Institute in Ballina, which began in 2023.
Almost 70 committed volunteers signed up and travelled weekly to Ballina in a Diocese which stretches from northern parts of Co Mayo and Co Sligo.
The course included 12 modules in the areas of church history, faith and culture, liturgy, sacred music, sacred scripture, pastoral theology, safeguarding, bereavement care, synodality, moral theology and catholic social teaching, christology, and canon law and the administration of parishes.
Participants had to complete pastoral placements in a number of host parishes which involved co-leading funeral rites with their priest, which is an aspect of the course on which there was a strong emphasis.
Anne Sweeney said it was "an amazing experience".
"People appreciate it. They actually appreciate it and I'm finding that the priests appreciate it too."
"I have to say people absolutely love it. They like to see a woman's face, they like to hear a woman's voice ... they have no issues whatsoever with that," Ms Sweeney said.
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Co-leading is the key phrase because "it's priests and people working together in the service of their local community," according to the course's director, Fr Michael Gilroy of the Newman Institute.
"I have a funeral this evening. So the lay leader will accompany me to the wake, she will co-lead the prayers with me there, she will welcome the remains when it arrives in the porch of the church, she will sprinkle the coffin, she will say the prayers at the door and then we will co-lead the liturgy of the Rite of Reception."
The new position enabled Martin Wilson to co-lead a funeral recently, which was a bittersweet privilege because he knew the deceased and the bereaved very well.
"I was a bit nervous about it being my first funeral, but what was encouraging was the response from the family. I'm delighted to have done it. I find it very rewarding and I'm looking forward to the future."
The future also includes lay leaders like married couple Liam and Pauline Scanlon, both in their 30s and the youngest participants on the course.
Asked if they enjoyed the course, Ms Scanlon said they listened a lot more than they vocalised during the modules.
"It's been a challenge being amongst the younger of the group in a way," according to Ms Scanlon.
"We're almost acting like bridges between one form of what the church is known as, and one form of what the church should or could be known as, and I think that's an evolution," she added.
Archbishop Francis Duffy was a year into his role as Archbishop of Tuam before he got word that he would become Apostolic Administrator of Killala.
Therefore, he is equally impacted by the falling clergy numbers.
Killala has not been the only diocese to introduce lay leaders, but Archbishop Duffy views the number that came forward in this instance as significant and positive.
"If you take 64 people, in this diocese of 37,000. If we were to multiply this very small diocese, by other dioceses, you would find a lot of people proportionately involved. So I think this development is very welcome," Archbishop Duffy said.
"It will be very interesting to see how it develops, and it will develop. So I think it's a good day for the Catholic Church and the Diocese of Killala."
