Proceeds from church lands will be used to part-fund the salaries of lay people working in the Catholic diocese of Limerick.
The employment of lay people in the diocese is part of a parish administrative plan which will address the problem of the dwindling numbers of priests. Salaries of more than £20,000 would be paid to lay people working in parishes, Father Tony Mullins, the diocesan secretary, said.
He said lay people could become involved in administration in parishes and could preside over liturgies which did not require the presence of a priest. "Effectively they would be replacing the priest at every level except the sacramental level," he said.
The decision to sell church property to fund lay involvement would be taken at parish level, Father Mullins added. "It is not a matter of raising specific amounts of money. Each piece of property is taken individually as it comes on stream. That decision would be taken locally in consultation with local pastoral councils."
Three presbyteries in the diocese have been sold recently to raise parish funds and the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, has indicated that he would prefer to live in a smaller residence than his current one on the North Circular Road in Limerick.
A collection at Masses on Sunday in the Dublin diocese is used to pay the costs of salaries for lay people working in parishes throughout the diocese. Last year the "share collection", which is distributed centrally to other activities such as church refurbishments, amounted to over £3.5 million. A spokesman for the diocese said it did not have much spare land to sell and would be unable to fund salary payments through property sales.
Father Tom Hayes, a spokesman for the Cork and Ross diocese, said there was not much church land which could be sold in the diocese. In the diocese, 8 per cent of a levy on parish incomes contributed towards funding lay salaries and the costs of lay pastoral activities.
Father Mullins said it was expected that the development of pastoral services would form a key part of the plan, involving lay people both on a voluntary basis and professionally. This would enable more than one parish to be administered by the same parish priest.
Of the 131 priests in the diocese, 31 were aged between 40 and 50, and 86 were over 50, he said. Retirement age for priests is normally 75. In 10 to 15 years the total could be reduced by half.
Meanwhile, the possible sale of an 11-acre site, known as the Bishop's Field, in Corbally, Limerick, has become a contentious issue. Local residents, aware that approaches had been made by developers to the diocese, are campaigning for its retention. The Bishop's Field is used as an amenity area and for sports by a national school.
Father Mullins said no decision had been made.