Saturday, July 14, 2012

Ireland's youngest priest uses Facebook, loves Coldplay -- and is proud to be celibate

He owns an iPhone, has a Facebook account and likes to listen to Coldplay in the car. 

What else would you expect from a 25-year-old Irish male? 

Except this young man goes to work every day wearing a clerical collar.

On Sunday, Fr Ryan McAleer became the youngest priest in Ireland. 

When he was ordained by Cardinal Seán Brady in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, he fulfilled a childhood dream. He cannot remember a moment in his life when he did not long to be a priest.

The Tyrone native, who has just completed his seven-year training for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, was born in 1987, at a time when the church in Ireland could expect more than 150 new recruits every year. 

Today, the numbers have dwindled to single figures. Last year, just six men were ordained as priests.

Fr Ryan also joins the clergy at a time when morale in the profession is at an all-time low. His average colleague is 64 years of age. A growing number are counting down the days to retirement, weary from the wave of abuse scandals that have rocked the church, disillusioned by shrinking congregations, and lonely from the celibate life they are forced to lead.

But on Monday morning, as he prepared to say his first Mass in Cookstown Parish, Tyrone, the former lifeguard who went straight from school into the seminary, couldn't wait to put on his vestments and step on to the altar.

Although he is one of just a sprinkling of new vocations this year, he is representative of a new breed of cleric who is proud to be seen in his collar, has no hang-ups with the Vatican, and believes the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland is rosy. Nor has he any desire to see Rome change its stance on clerical celibacy.

"That sort of attitude comes from a certain generation of priests but it wouldn't be shared by my generation and those of us in the seminary at the moment," he says.

"There is a certain vintage of priest who seems a little disgruntled, perhaps, with the church and discipline. That is not the same attitude the younger generation have. Celibacy might change in the morning. The Pope might get up and decide to relax that discipline, but it wouldn't be the case that every priest would then be dispensed from their celibate commitment. I have already made a life-long commitment to celibacy before God so it would be too late for me. That is part of the faith of the church which the church herself feels she cannot change. I would be horrified if I were to put my own opinions before the teachings of the church. Who am I to question the faith of the church handed down over 2,000 years? Who is the Pope to question that faith? As soon as we start to question that, we betray our founder, Jesus Christ."

Despite growing up in an era when most young people would barely bat an eyelid over same-sex marriage and find it unthinkable that women would be unwelcome in any profession, he is equally unequivocal about homosexuality and women priests.

"The church appreciates where people are at with these sorts of issues but again it's part of the faith," he says.

"Marriage is between a man and a woman -- that's just been unquestioned for centuries. The church is not going to change her position on that. She can't. In God's eyes, they [gay people] are no different and they are no less loved. Living the morality of the church is not easy. That sort of lifestyle is not in keeping with its teachings. It's the same with women. The church is not saying women are not equal to men. It's just acknowledging the fact that women and men are different and they fulfil a different role in life. If you go to Mass in any parish during the week, it will be mostly women. It is the grannies, the mothers up and down the country who are keeping the church going. That is just the reality. But Our Lord did not obey the social expectations of his day. He challenged them."

Privately, some older priests dread the sight of 17-year-olds signing up to seminaries again, believing it is far too young for any young man to make such a life-changing commitment. 

Some urged Fr Ryan to hold back until his 20s when he was more mature to make the decision, but he turned down their advice.

"I know I am young but nothing could have convinced me otherwise that this is what God wants me to do. It is the only thing I can imagine myself doing. Of course, as you grow up, you start to appreciate the full implications of a vocation to the priesthood and what that involves. I realise there is no journey in life that is easy but I wouldn't say celibacy and the priesthood is any more difficult than married life and raising children. I appreciate there are going to be challenges ahead but please God I will have the strength and grace to get through them."

And how does he reconcile giving his life to an institution that has been involved in the cover-up of child abuse, and is still the subject of widespread criticism over its handling of the crisis?

"There are times when I have been just as disillusioned with the church as other people. I've grown up with the scandals. I don't know a church that wasn't involved in scandals. In 1992, when things started to go pear-shaped, I was five years of age. But the church has turned a corner. It is probably the safest place for a child to be today. The insult and opposition I get to my vocation in no way disheartens me, rather it confirms my resolution to serve God, and work to change the negative image that the church seems to have in the world today."