Two west of Ireland dioceses have warned that the number of working clergy is now lower than at any time in the past century. Fr. Ian O’Neill, who is secretary to the bishop of Galway, has revealed that the number of active priests in that diocese has fallen by almost half in the last decade.
There are now 54 clergy servicing 39 parishes in the Galway diocese, compared with 82 active priests ten years ago
Fr O’Neill said the clustering of parishes has streamlined Masses and mitigated the drop in clerical manpower.
Meanwhile, the rising age profile of clergy has reduced the complement of priests in fully active ministry in the archdiocese of Tuam to 88, with 29 more living in full or partial retirement.
The crisis is masked in part by the provision by many priests of varying levels of contribution to pastoral work well beyond their retirement date.
The Tuam diocese has 55 parishes so there is still a minimum of one priest per parish but this will change within a decade unless the collapse of new vocations is reversed.
By then, more than sixty priests in the two dioceses will have retired.
Tuam diocesan secretary Fr. Fintan Monaghan, said that a clustering scheme there had also resulted in priests saying Masses in neighbouring parishes as well as their own.
But, he pointed out, while the age profile of Tuam clergy continues to rise, this is offset somewhat by the decline in the number of practising Catholics, which has reduced the level of service required from the Church.
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