Cardinal Jose Advincula is looking to establish “mission stations” in the Archdiocese of Manila.
The 69-year old is known for establishing mission stations and mission schools in far-flung areas in his previous dioceses.
"I don’t know if it’s possible to divide these big parishes into smaller ones so that people will be given more attention,”CBCP News quoted Advincula's interview over Radio Veritas.
The Manila prelate said he will consult the clergy and the archdiocese’s board of consultors on the matter.
Advincula said more mission stations would also mean more priests will be given the chance to lead a ministry especially the younger ones.
He noted that many clergy have been to different parishes but they remained as assistant parish priests until now.
Advincula said that young priests will most likely be given the responsibilities in the new mission stations because of their creativity in serving the community.
“These young priests have very strong generativity and they put their energy into creating programs in their parishes,” he said.
“I saw it among the young priests in San Carlos and Capiz,” added Advincula.
“Life is hard at mission stations, in the mountains, but they are very creative in their ministries and services to the people," he said.
Advincula said he still needs to visit more parishes to see the deeper situation of the archdiocese.
"So we need to look at the whole situation so that we can determine how many parishes or mission stations can we open, even gradually,” he said.
There are 224 priests incarnated to the archdiocese, which covers the cities of Manila, Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong and San Juan.