Meath and Kildare today has fifty-seven parishes, all but one of them grouped together with others in larger cluster of parishes, known as Unions of Parishes or Groups of Parishes. (In a Union of Parishes there is a single administrative structure for all the parishes included, whereas in a Group there is more than one.)
Each Union or Group is under the pastoral care of a Rector or “Priest in charge” Meath and Kildare varies from small settled rural communities, little changed over the passing of time, to parishes which are essentially suburbs of Dublin, with large housing developments and rapid demographic movement in and out of the area.
The primary pastoral care of the Dioceses is in the hands of a group of ordained clergy under the leadership of the Bishop - usually a little under twenty stipendiary priests with half a dozen auxiliary (non-stipendiary) priests.. These are assisted by a corps of diocesan readers and pastoral assistants in the liturgical ministry of the Dioceses.
Meath and Kildare also has the supervision of church primary schools - national schools - in many of the Unions of Parishes (see under the different parishes) and there is also a diocesan boarding and day school at secondary level, Wilson's Hospital School.
Our administrative centre is the Meath and Kildare Diocesan Centre, Moyglare, Maynooth, Co Kildare. We have also a number of church organisations, for both young people and adults of which you will find more information within the pages of the web-site.
In all we represent a fellowship of Christian disciples numbering around nine thousand people, who claim an affiliation with the Church of Ireland in this region.