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Ireland’s Catholic Church down to one priest per parish

By
DONAL THORNTON,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, November 16, 2009, 8:07 AM
Updated Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 12:14 PM

 

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There is only one priest per parish in Ireland
There is only one priest per parish in Ireland

There are barely enough priests to preach in Dublin's 199 parishes.

According to Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who spoke about the challenges the Church faces at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral on Saturday, “We have 46 priests over 80 and only two less than 35 years of age. In a very short time we will just have the bare number of priests required to have one active priest for each of our 199 parishes."

Highlighting that an aging clergy was the biggest challenge the Church faced, he said that priests over 70 years of age outnumbered priests under 40 by 10 to one.

Several members of the clergy have voiced their concerns about the declining number of priests in recent months.

Father Brendan Hoban, parish priest at St. Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, County Mayo, said there will be only eight priests out of the current 34 with only two or three of them under the age of 60.

"The difficult truth is that priests will have effectively disappeared in Ireland in two to three decades," Hoban said.

Martin also hinted at having to ration Masses if the problem worsens.

“The future will require different structures and different planning,” he said. “Parishes will have to work more closely with each other and share facilities. The number of Masses will have to be rationed. Some of these changes will cause pain.”

Ireland was renowned for having a massive priest population, but since the 1980s there has been a marked decline in those wishing to join the priesthood. The revelations of child abuse and the issue of celibacy have contributed to a lack of interest in the priesthood and a declining congregation.

Acknowledging that the child abuse scandals have had a detrimental effect on the Church's congregation, Martin says the Church has “to repent for the failings of its own members who betrayed their mission of shepherd.

“Shepherds have failed through a sheer lukewarmness, through negligence, through lack of real commitment to Jesus and His message. The abuse of children is a heinous crime, especially when it was perpetrated by those entrusted with the mission of the Good Shepherd.

“The Church and its institutions must repent, but that repentance must result in renewal, and in a renewal which may not produce conformity and symbioses with the thought patterns of the day,” he said.

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15 Comments

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Posted by vincentruane on Nov 24, 2009, 07:36 PM EST
Your lack of knowledge plasticpaddy or your pretend lack of knowledge of the Catholic Church's contribution to world history and to Irish history raises sincere questions about one,your knowledge base, or two:your integrity. It was the Catholic Church more than any other organization that held the Irish nation and the Irish people together for the last 1500 years or more.
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Posted by plasticpaddy on Nov 24, 2009, 06:19 PM EST
Replace one illusion with another no thanks Ulster1, the Catholic church is bad enough, no need to bring in organisations who allowed for and actively encouraged the murder and starvation of millions of innocent Irish men and women over the last 900 years. Also Vincent the Catholic Church has doen nothing but hold the country back physically and mentally on an individual and societal basis.
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Posted by vincentruane on Nov 22, 2009, 05:04 PM EST
My God: How quickly you rush to deny the Catholic Faith that done so much to shape the character of Ireland or Europe for over 1500 years or more.It is interesting that only one of you even briefly refers to the Bible. Your display of ignorance of the Catholic Faiths contribution to the Irish people is an enlightening light on where your true interests lie. I have no doubt your anti-Catholic views would have brought a smile to the face of Cromwell. It is time for all of you to be getting your Rosary beads and to start reading about the coming warning at Garabandal.
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Posted by Ulster1 on Nov 19, 2009, 03:58 PM EST
It's time to reform this Roman church to become protestant and Christian. It has happened recently in Guatemala,where 40% of the people are now Protestant.
Report abuse
Posted by DwaineOD on Nov 19, 2009, 10:36 AM EST
Its high time priests were allowed to get married. Ordaining women is long past due also.
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Posted by Watereskhill on Nov 17, 2009, 11:15 PM EST
All this schlock and syrup about 'shepherds' in this report. Martin saying that the Church 'needs to repent' I don't see or hear of any of them asking forgiveness? Since children and retarded people in Catholic Institutions(rent the movies The Magdaleen Sisters and Song For a Raggie Boy) are protected by these days by alert parents and guardians--they are probably on the hillsides shaggin' sheep. This 'Celibacy' crap has wreaked more havoc than divorce, contraception, or any gay boy shocking his family that he wants to marry his best buddy at school.'Catholic' Ireland and it's granite monuments are destined for the guide-books in my opinion. Like the ancient stone Maya temples in South America. And God knows there was enough slaughter of innocents an 'holy sacracifices' offered there. Whimpering here that there will only be one priest to a parish if that? The number of Masses 'rationed' and such changes will bring pain? Then the exquisite tour-de-force "A renewal that will not bring conformity and symbioses with the thought patterns of the day". They still want to sit in their ivory towers of mysticism and power--that have collapsed. Slainte.
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Posted by McNamara31 on Nov 16, 2009, 07:17 PM EST
Well said Rebelforce but I hope Catholics will now read the history of our church and try to get closer to the basics of what Christ established on earth. The original catholic church reflected a church family rather than a huge vatican organization that has allowed the horrors that were inflicted on our children. The original church prior to the schism, contained a majority of married priests and popes and I think a good portion of catholics today feel that total forced celebacy evolved the church in an unhealthy direction. Now the vatican allows Anglican clergy to convert to catholicism and remain married catholic priests. But still no option for the regular priests. Just think about the amount of priests Ireland has given to the world. No country gave more. There was a time when almost every family gave at least one to the vocations, yet not one Irish pope. How could that be?
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Posted by olovely on Nov 16, 2009, 06:56 PM EST
I see the trusty old "it was just a few bad apples" rationale is still popular among those with no desire to look reality square in the face.
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Posted by ciarrai on Nov 16, 2009, 06:45 PM EST
Hello, Catholic Church. You've molested and menaced the populace of the Emerald Isle. You still have a shot at staying alive. Ready? Here it is (drumroll)...(more drumroll) ...LET PRIESTS GET MARRIED!!!!! I can't believe I thought of that. Homosexuality is a sin (the Church, the Bible)and 70% of the men in the seminary are gay. What? So, solve two problems with one move. More priests, less gay priests (assuming that gay priests are something you don't want). Aren't I smart? Now, I will move on to the editorial page of the New York Times and free up some space there by pushing out Bono and his drivel and huge ego. That was so cool.
Report abuse
Posted by Rebelforce on Nov 16, 2009, 05:18 PM EST
People have been predicting the imminent demise of the Roman Catholic Church for the past 200 centuries. It still hasn't happened ofcourse. The Catholic Church can be found in every far flung corner of the world. You want to know why? Because 2,000 years ago a man named Jesus of Nazareth told Peter, "You are the rock upon which I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell WILL NOT prevail against it." There will always be individual members of the church who will fall and fail. They are only mortal men afterall. Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ to his enemies, and Peter denied even knowing Jesus 3 times. But every Catholic knows---or should know---that our Faith does not ultimately rest in any pope, bishop or priest, but rather in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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Posted by plasticpaddy on Nov 16, 2009, 12:08 PM EST
May they now also abandon religion and truly free thier minds
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Posted by olovely on Nov 16, 2009, 11:09 AM EST
If only the thousands of Irish men and women bullied, abused, menaced and marked by the Irish Catholic Church could have known this day would come. The organization that was once so powerful and so blatantly abusive of that power has sown what it reaped.
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Posted by Portia777 on Nov 16, 2009, 10:28 AM EST
As my daughter said the other day- why would we pay men in frocks to talk to "God" when we can do it ourselves for free. The days of priests and gurus are over. We are evolved enough to know what is right and wrong.
Report abuse
Posted by Portia777 on Nov 16, 2009, 10:26 AM EST
Brilliant. No more preaching lies ad nonsense then to innocent gullible people.
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Posted by joeustace on Nov 16, 2009, 10:11 AM EST
How sad. But, there is always a price to pay for wrondoing by an organization, whether the Church or otherwise. Speerate and apart from the individual sins, the Church itself participated in the sins, for its own misguided self interest. In my business, it's called conspiracy.
 


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