HAMPDEN – Lillian Harrigan stood at the lectern during Mass on Sunday at St. Matthew Catholic Church.

The 65-year-old wife and grandmother spoke about the church’s position on the sacrament of marriage. She told of how she and her husband, Fred Harrigan, 65, the deacon at the Hampden parish, had built their life together with their faith as the foundation.

It was the first time a layperson had witnessed to the congregation during a Mass.

Laypeople like Lillian Harrigan may need to get comfortable taking on more public leadership roles traditionally performed by priests, Bishop Richard J. Malone has said.

The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the spiritual leader of the state’s 234,000 Catholics earlier this month began announcing new assignments for priests as of July 1.

The changes outlined for the parishes in the Bangor region are a harbinger for the diocese as it works in the next four years to execute Malone’s plan to reorganize the diocese.

The plan, to be fully implemented by 2010, reduces the number of parish groupings, called clusters, in the diocese from 31 to 27. It also assigns a certain number of priests to each cluster.

“We are trying to begin the structural work now for what will be in place in the clusters at a later date,” Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the diocese, said last week.

Under the plan, Cluster 9, which comprises 11 parishes in Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, Winterport, Old Town, Bradley and Indian Island, will have four priests in 2010. Six priests now serve those churches, reduced last June from seven.

As of July 1, that number will be reduced again, to five.

The Rev. Paul Kerns, now pastor at Catholic churches in Bradley and Indian Island, will become the parish administrator of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Pittsfield.

The Rev. Joel Cyr, pastor of St. Teresa’s and St. Joseph’s churches in Brewer, will become the parish administrator of St. Martin of Tours in Millinocket, St. Peter Catholic Church in East Millinocket, and St. Benedict Catholic Church in Benedicta.

Cyr and Kerns will be replaced by the Rev. Thomas Farley, now the pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Lewiston. He will serve as the parochial vicar for all 11 parishes in the cluster, and Fred Harrigan will serve as the cluster deacon.

The changes are being driven by an anticipated reduction in the number of priests in the diocese because of retirements and the number of men studying for the priesthood.

This year there are about 90 priests serving in parishes around the state. In five years, that number is expected to drop to 60 to 65 priests.

In addition to the priest shortage, the same demographic trends that have hit sectors of the state’s economy have hit Catholic congregations.

In 1989, when Malone’s predecessor, Bishop Joseph J. Gerry, was installed, there were 279,000 Catholics in Maine. That dropped to 234,000 over the next 15 years.

The shift in population from northern to southern Maine, aging and the loss of manufacturing jobs have affected dramatically some Maine towns and the parishes within them.

Over the past year, committees in each cluster have worked through the process outlined last year using information from individual churches.

Each parish has conducted an inventory that included average weekly Mass attendance, an assessment of the church building and related properties such as a rectory or parish hall, and a description of the community’s spiritual life.

It will be up to each cluster to recommend to the bishop whether church buildings will be closed or sold, how cluster councils and committees will be structured, and when and where Masses will be celebrated. The final decision on the dispensation of property will be Malone’s.

Each cluster’s inventory, along with which cluster model will be used, is due in Malone’s office in Portland on June 30.

Malone’s plan offered four models for how the new clusters might structure themselves. They are:

. Multiple parishes merged into one with one staff, one pastoral council and multiple worship sites.

. Separate parishes with their own councils, but one staff and one cluster pastoral council and one finance council.

. One staff, merged parishes and a new, larger church building while closing older, smaller buildings.

. A combination of the above models.

Cluster 9, which includes the Bangor region, will use the second model with two parishes – one that includes churches in Bangor, Brewer, Hampden and Winterport, and the other made up of parishes in Orono, Old Town, Bradley and Indian Island.

In the short run, however, the uncertainty of what the final changes might bring has caused parishioners to feel uneasy, according to Tom Kohl, chairman of the parish council at St. Joseph’s in Brewer.

“People don’t really feel in the loop,” Kohl, 61, of Brewer said Saturday after Mass.

For example, fewer Masses at each location will be inevitable, he said.

But which services will be eliminated has not been decided.

Also, whether a priest will live in the St. Joseph’s rectory or whether, for the first time in more than 100 years, there will be no Catholic priest living in Brewer hasn’t been decided.

The biggest concern, however, is maintaining a relationship with a priest who is serving several parishes, he said.

“It’s going to be difficult for us,” Kohl said. “More importantly, it’s going to be difficult for the priest. We want to feel that they have a relationship with the [church] community because we really are celebrating together. That’s what we’re all concerned about: Will the priest feel he is a part of each community?”

That also is a concern at St. Matthew’s in Hampden, Deacon Harrigan said Sunday after Mass. The parish pastor, the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt, was on vacation Sunday.

“It’s going to spread him a bit thin, perhaps,” Fred Harrigan said of Vaillancourt adding St. Teresa’s to his duties. “But we realize his value and are willing to share him.”

In the past 50 years, the deacon said, Catholics in Maine have depended on priests to do too much and have not been as active in parish life as they could have been. The priest shortage and Malone’s reorganization will change that, Harrigan believes.

“It has been wonderful how the bishop has done so much to help the laity attain their faith,” he said. “It’s really going to enliven the church.”

It also means that many more Catholics will be witnessing the way Lillian Harrigan did Sunday morning.

Priest assignments in Cluster 9

Bangor, St. Mary’s, the Rev. Thomas Lequin.

Bangor, St. John’s, the Rev. Richard McLaughlin.

Bradley, St. Ann’s, the Rev. Thomas Lequin.

Brewer, St. Joseph’s, the Rev. Richard McLaughlin.

Brewer, St. Teresa’s, the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt.

Hampden, St. Matthew’s, the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt.

Indian Island, St. Ann’s, the Rev. Thomas Lequin.

Old Town, Holy Family, the Rev. William Labbe.

Orono, St. Mary’s, the Rev. William Labbe.

Orono, Our Lady of Wisdom, the Rev. William Labbe.

Winterport, St. Gabriel’s, the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt.

Cluster Parochial Vicar, the Rev. Thomas Farley.

Cluster Deacon, Fred Harrigan.

Fast Facts

Pastor: A priest appointed to lead a parish or a group of parishes for a six-year period.

Parish administrator: A priest appointed to lead a parish on a temporary or interim basis.

Parochial vicar: A priest appointed to assist a pastor or administrator.