Irish priests will disappear

The answer for true Catholics( and in my opinion there are no better people in all the world) is to gird themselves to live the teachings of Christ with added vigour and purity in love for each other and show the world that it is not all about sex. I think with the growing influence of Psychology and Psychiatry....there has to be changes made. However there is no need to do away with a central authority I think that is good.Also you cannot take the mystique out of religion.We do not want a Church of social workers and Psychologists dissecting us we want a Philosophy of Christ's teaching of love that underlies our personal right to dignity and respect , that pulls us together not pulls us apart like some specimen on a disecting table..

I think the idea of celibacy was embraced by fervent young men believing they could rise to higher spiritual heights and a holy life without being encumbered by the costs and many responsibilities of a wife and family with all the emotional baggage and responsibility that entails.Lets be honest here the Church saw it as a very economical way to be able to transport their priests to any place in the world.The boys enclave closed ranks.It gave them a definite advantage over the Protestants. We all know the flaws that have shown up now with the discontent of Nuns,and priests the unnatural sexual outlets ( in some ).But what has struck me in recent times is the loneliness as some priests grow old and alone,sometimes in remote country towns. They become disillusioned and even take to the drink ect. I have even seen half a Parish turn against one Priest over a Parish dispute re the rebuilding of a new school or refurbishing an old one. Which was awful.As the Priest a once brilliant man was then ill and weakened, and had been sent to a quiet place where he could be at peace. He had to pit all his intelligence to finally build the new school he wanted.Sadly he died soon after.

Perhaps Rome can give out free vouchers to a knocking shop for all new conscripts this might actually attract some of the right kind of people instead of the usual bunch of Pedeoligests that they have attracted in the past

In the end God will Provide!O ye of little faith.

The way forward will be to have priests, married and with family for the most part, who are closer to the laity and will share with them in a healthy new Church planting based on a renewed evangelism. They will have to forsake many of the benefits of the Clerical Caste System.

Fr Hoban's attitude is most certainly not going to encourage vocations.One wonders what Killala diocese is actively doing to promote vocations-having a few words on the diocesan website is not enough:it simply is not as easy as it once was to get people to say "yes" to God & to religious life.9 out of Ireland's 26 dioceses did not have a single entrant to Maynooth this year-Killala was one of them. Vocations depend so much on the HOLINESS of our priests.In the U.S. it is obvious that dioceses which are faithful to the Church attract most vocations (Lincoln,Nebraska has about 50 seminarians for a Catholic population of about 85,000),while most dissenting (liberal) dioceses could count the number of seminarians on one hand.Worldwide,however,vocations are booming.I don't believe VatII itself is to blame-if anything, it's MISINTERPRETATION of VatII decrees & documents.

Vatican II is the problem, it has hobbled the Faith.

The author of this article confuses administration (ie Priests and Bishops) with organization (ie Laity). Laity are the church. Acting as the Body of Christ, Laity in early Christianity ordained priests, elected bishops, and appointed or deposed popes as needed. If the entire Rotten Hierarchy of the RCC disappeared overnight, Christianity would still go on. What is needed today is a Second Council of Constance to reinstate democracy in the church, and either reform or abolish both the Papacy and the Holy See. Let's get rid of Orthodoxy, Magic and Mystery...which were hallmarks of the neurotic world of pre Vatican II Catholicism and reinvent Christianity for a society on the dawn of a World Civilization and exploration of Space. We need to reconcile with the Protestants. For the new to be born, the old must die. Don't mourn the passing of the old faith, rather embrace a belief in God that is forever new, vibrant, and beautiful.

Perhaps it needs to crash and burn to become what it needs to be. These stats are nothing new. Just attend a biblical institute during the summer sponsored by a Catholic college (US) and it looks like you're visiting a convalescent/nursing home.

In the United States, new priests are entering only conservative seminaries. There is a return to orthodoxy. The liberal seminaries are empty. New priests are also coming from Poland and Africa. I expect the same will happen in Ireland.

Good

THIS IS HARDLY SURPRISING. SEMINARIES HAVE BEEN CLOSING EVERY YEAR SINCE THE 1980'S POVERTY AND IGNORANCE FORCED MANY PARENTS INTO SENDING THEIR CHILDREN TO THE CHURCH EITHER AS NUNS, PRIESTS OR BROTHERS. THE PAIN SUFFERED BY SOME OF MY FRIENDS IS DIABOLICAL. 'HOLY IRELAND' - MY ASS!