WATCH: Irish American archbishop "hopeful" females can become deacons

Christopher Coyne, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Hartford in Connecticut, is hopeful that females will become deacons.

Coyne, whose grandfathers are Irish, said during a recent interview with local news outlet WTNH News8 that he sees a larger role for women in the Church

"Women's ordination at this point is, in terms of the diaconate, kind of being discussed," Coyne said.

"In terms of for the priesthood, we've been told it's not open for discussion, we've been told it's case closed.

"Hopefully there will be some opportunity down the road where we ordain or name some deaconesses."

Coyne laughed a bit when asked what he would tell Pope Francis he would change about the Church.

"I'd say get it out of Italy, get it out of Rome. Maybe we need to put it somewhere else.

"It's too Roman, to me. I'm not saying anything - I just think because it's Roman, it's inbred in terms of the culture of Rome, it's inbred in the terms of the culture of the community there.

"He [Francis] tried and tried and tried to change the Roman ways, but you hit the Roman ways that have been part of the tradition of the Church for years."

Coyne said he would ask the Pope if there was any way he could move the Catholic Church out of Rome and start again with a "different bureaucracy."

Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview, Coyne, who was appointed as Coadjutor Archbishop of Hartford over the summer, spoke of growing up in a "very large Irish Catholic family" stating that he was the middle child of seven children. 

He said he was part of a "great community" in his local church, with priests always coming in and out of his family home. 

"We were all altar servers. My mother and father would volunteer. I was very familiar with a lot of the priests and deacons." 

He also discussed being a bartender for a number of years before becoming a priest, during which time he says he "grew up a lot."

When asked what his goals are for the Archdiocese of Hartford, Coyne said he wants to "evangelize" and went on to discuss falling mass attendance across the US and predicted that more churches will close in the future. 

He admitted that he does see more church closures in the future, explaining: "The problem is not that the Church has abandoned, that the priests have abandoned, or that the archdiocese has abandoned, the people who used to be in the church have left the church.

"Now, part of it is that we were complacent and weren’t kind of concerned about that until, obviously, it became a problem.

"But I think, in many instances, when a church is closed it’s because nobody’s there.

"So who walked away?" 

He said he didn't want to seem like he was "blaming the laity" but added that the church can't be sustained if "the numbers aren't there."

You can watch Archbishop Coadjutor of Hartford, Christopher Coyne's interview with WTNH here: