The Catholic Church in Ireland is in denial about
vocations to the priesthood, says Fr Brendan Hoban, a founder member of
the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP).
“Ireland’s
priests will have almost disappeared in 20 years,” he said. In his new
book Who Will Break Bread for Us? he points out that in his native
Killala diocese “ for 22 parishes, there are now seven priests under 55.
Spool on for two decades and there will be seven (or thereabouts) under
75.”
The book is dedicated to six priests who
have been silenced or threatened with silence by the Vatican, Fr Brian
D’Arcy, Fr Seán Fagan, Fr Tony Flannery, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Iggy
O’Donovan and Fr Owen O’Sullivan.
Studying for priesthood
Studying for priesthood
Fr
Hoban adds that in seven years Tuam archdiocese will have “50 priests
for 55 parishes and 10 years on from that, in 2030, there will be just
30 Tuam priests, most of them elderly.”
In 1990, he said, “there were
525 students studying for the diocesan priesthood in Ireland; in 2013
there are 70.”
When he entered in 1966 “of the 84 who went
to Maynooth, 20 were from the western dioceses; of the 12 in first year
in Maynooth none is from the west.”
He continues:
“We don’t need to have 20-20 vision to see this particular train coming
down the track. All we need to do is to be able to count . . . Ireland’s
priests will have virtually disappeared in 20 years.”