Ireland's sons turn their backs on the priesthood

[Cato]

Ireland's sons turn their backs on the priesthood - Home News, UK - The Independent

The number of priestly ordinations in Ireland has dipped below England and Wales for the first time in living memory, new figures reveal.

The recruitment crisis is a clear indication of how low the church has sunk in a country that once used to export Catholic missionaries to all corners of the globe and often provided Britain with a significant proportion of its priests.
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According to new figures released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ireland, just 16 men are due to start training for the priesthood this autumn, less than half the 39 that signed up for the priesthood last year. In the 1980s Ireland would regularly draw more than 150 new recruits to the priesthood every year.

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According to The Tablet, which obtained the new figures, there are just 99 men training for priesthood in Irish seminaries compared with 150 in England and Wales.

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Unless Ireland finds a way to begin recruiting young men, the number of priests is expected to fall from 4,700 to just 1,500 by 2028.

The biggest problem the church faces is the lack of new recruits to replace older priests that die or retire. The average age for a priest in Ireland in currently 63 whilst clergymen over the age of 70 currently outnumber those under 40 by ten to one.

What are the consequences of this major change to Irish society going to be? Let's face it, like it or loath it, priests have been a major part of Irish society for some time. What are the consequences going to be for the Catholic church and for individual parishes? The bishops have done little to prepare for this crisis. They agreed to appoint permanent deacons and have agreed the norms for formation of same, but have not done anything beyond that.

When I went into the seminary in Maynooth in 1993 there were 48 men in my year. The next year the number dropped to 26 and the year after that it fell below 20. It has hovered around that mark since then. Less then half of those who go in make it through the full six/seven years to ordination.

[dresden8]

African priests.

[Cato]

African priests.

Yes, because the average Irish person really is that open minded.

[dresden8]

Yes, because the average Irish person really is that open minded.

Religious nutjobs can handle paedophiles, they can handle blacks.

[Radix]

Are you a priest yourself Cato?

[SideysGhost]

I'm not sure this really matters.....the elderly priests are dying off at the same rate as the elderly Believers. There simply won't be very much demand for priests in Ireland in 20, 25 years time so the few going through the seminaries should suffice to cater to their dwindling flock.

[Cato]

Religious nutjobs can handle paedophiles, they can handle blacks.

You have me there...

What effect do you think this coming manpower crisis will have on Irish society?

[Cato]

Are you a priest yourself Cato?

No. I'm a former seminarian, but I am now an atheist, married and with two kids.

[Outlander]

What effect do you think this coming manpower crisis will have on Irish society?

Some improvement perhaps?

[White Horse]

African priests.

Indeed, foreign priests from Africa, South America, and the Philippines will become common place.

In addition, parishes are being merged.

It will be a change, though not as disasterous as the anti-Catholics claim.