The number of parish communities in the diocese of Erfurt, ex Eastern Germany, will drop from 63 to 46 on January 1st 2017. This figure was announced yesterday at a press conference in the bishopric of the capital city of Thuringia. This figure is part of the progressive administrative, ecclesial and pastoral reorganisation of the diocese, which started in 2012, partly due to an endlessly decreasing number of priests, mainly because of old age, retirement, death and above all non-replacements because of the lack of ordinations. Out of 85 priests, only 44 are expected to be still working by 2020. The Bishop of Erfurt, mgr. Ulrich Neymeyr, said that, despite all the problems, “no church will be sold or closed down”, “hopefully pushing instead for increasing the independence and pastoral service of the churches, even if no priest had to live there”. Because the priests will not “be doing everything singlehandedly”. According to the bishop, “all baptised and confirmed people are responsible for the Church, especially for the local Church”. Anne Rademacher, director of the pastoral office of the diocese, said that the reform is connected with decentralisation. The local communities may ask the pastoral office for support, but, even if they will want to reach out to everyone, “priests will not always be available”: “Here, in the diocese, we have over 50 years of tradition in the worship of the Word, with Holy Communion held by lay people”, bishop Neymeyr said.