The future of the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese is being investigated by the church, as it is currently short two priests and does not have a bishop.The shortage of outback priests will be a point of discussion when a congregation of Australian Bishops meet in Rome, and may be discussed with the Pope.
The administrator of the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese, Bishop Kevin Manning says Bishops from across the country will meet to discuss a range of issues affecting the church in Australia.
"One of the things that might be in the context of the Diocese of Wilcannia Forbes, of course, is the priestly situation of the outback diocese, the numbers, relationships that are going on there, because, well, most of the diocese are short of clergy."
Bishop Manning leaves for the papal capital today and says a lack of men joining the priesthood is of great concern.
"The big difficulty is promoting vocations in a diocese or area where the priests may not be in great standing. That's why I say this matter of clerical abuse hasn't helped the image of the priesthood here at all," he said.
"Fellows (are) not wanting to join up with a body of clergy that are being lambasted for wrong doing."
Bishop Manning says there is no way around the lack of priests.
"There have been attempts to try and make substitutes and so on, by involving the laity, which they should be doing anyway. But for a man to be ordained to celebrate the mass and so on, that's the critical point."