Moscow November 10, 2011
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“The determining factor in the process of creating new dioceses is care for the faithful’s needs in those places where there are not enough churches and priests,” stated Vladimir Legoida in an interview with the news agency “Interfax,” answering questions about the principles of forming dioceses.
He emphasized that the decision to create one diocese or another is taken only after carefully studying the regional situation; in places where there is no possibility of forming a new ecclesiastical-administrative unit, no one will create one, the Synodal information department reports.
“His Holiness the Patriarch is continually talking about how the Church, the hierarchs, and priests should be closer to the people. What is behind those words? Nothing other than a striving to create a situation in which a person can come to a church and feel much more attention from the priest and the parish than what he feels today,” noted V. Legoida.
“A new diocese almost always stimulates the creation of new churches. As a result, the lines for confession will, I hope, also become shorter, because there will be more opportunities to talk with the priest at any time—on week days and weekends,” concluded the Moscow Patriarchate representative.
