These figures were contained in this year’s edition of the Irish Catholic Directory, which revealed 388 priests and nuns died in 2007.

This has prompted the Irish Catholic newspaper to demand the Church call a crisis synod of bishops, priests and lay people to discuss solutions to the problem.

Its editor, Garry O’Sullivan, said priests had been left in an impossible situation with less support at a local level and the need for them to work until they are 75 years old.

He said the Church needed to trust its parishioners to take responsibilities from the clergy because priests and nuns no longer have the numbers to deal with the situation on their own.

“You look at pastoral councils, yes they are in place in some parishes but the chairman is the parish priest and many lay people feel they are just left to discuss small details.

“There are people in society that can contribute an awful lot to parish life but in Ireland you get the sense the bishops want to just keep running the whole show,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

The paper estimated by 2028 the number of priests would fall from 4,752 to 1,500 and in its editorial described the situation as “a disaster no matter which way you look at it”.

Vocations Ireland, the umbrella body for religious orders, said the situation is not be as bleak the paper suggested.

Its officer, Frances Dignan, said while vocations had been in steady decline the trend was beginning to change.

Last year, it received little more than 20 inquiries from people interested in pursuing religious life.

Ms Dignan said this year already 14 men and women had approached the office.

“Religious life has been around for a long, long time and if you look at the high points like the 1930s and told somebody then that we would have had the fall-off we have today they would not have believed you.

“So you do not know how it will transpire going forward. I know it is changing and there are different programmes available to suit different types of people and I think in general people are optimistic,” she said.

Her views were supported by Sr Attracta at the Carmelite Monastery in Dublin.

She said the order is seeing more inquiries from women in their late 30s and 40s. St Attracta said this reflects a change in wider society and should be welcomed because women are going out to get an education and experience before taking up a vocation.

Last year, the Irish bishops’ conference launched a framework document on pastoral planning to encourage parishes to involve more lay people in local organisation.

Mr O’Sullivan said these ideas go back four decades to the Vatican II conference and should have been acted upon earlier. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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