"Springtime of The Church" my ass
From The Times of London. The headline says it all; (Emphasis mine)
Ireland is running out of priests at such a rate that their numbers will have dropped by two thirds in the next 20 years
David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent
Ireland, a country that used to export its Catholic clergy around the world, is running out of priests at such a rate that their numbers will have dropped by two thirds in the next 20 years, leaving parishes up and down the land vacant.
The decline of Catholic Ireland, for decades the Pope’s favourite bastion of faith in Europe, has been regularly predicted, as the economic successes of the Celtic Tiger brought growing secularisation. But new figures have starkly set out the fate of the Irish priesthood if action is not taken by the Church to reverse the trend.
One-hundred and sixty priests died last year but only nine were ordained. Figures for nuns were even more dramatic, with the deaths of 228 nuns and only two taking final vows for service in religious life. (Two... TWO!!??)
Based upon these figures The Irish Catholic newspaper predicts that the number of priests will drop from the current 4,752 to about 1,500 by 2028.
All we can do is wait, watch, and pray (that the MP will be implemented swiftly) ... err, I mean that for some mysterious reason men will be drawn to the Church again.
ReplyDeleteWill I see you Sunday, by the way?
Yep! We'll be heading that way this Sunday. See ya then!!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, it's springtime for the Church in Ireland......Not! I wonder if these statistics have got any chancery wheels turning, maybe that's too much to hope for.
ReplyDeletePaul
Despite its long history as a Catholic country, Ireland has not been immune from the effects of Vatican 2 and worldly secularism.
ReplyDeleteI had an Irish pastor (until I fled and took refuge at an Eastern Rite church) who was a Vat2 product. He ignored the GIRM, improvised with the Mass every Sunday, and was totally into "horizontal" worship.
In ages past, the Irish had large families and at least one child ended up a priest or Sister. A desire for worldy goods and birth control have put an end to large families.