A steep decline in recruits to the Catholic priesthood for a number of decades is pushing up the age profile of the clergy in Ireland and has left the church in the midst of a battle for the survival of its existing model.
Father Brendan Hoban, a priest based in Killala in Co Mayo, has claimed in a new book, Holding Out for a Hero, that the average age of priests is now 70-plus.
At St Patrick’s Pontifical University in Maynooth, Co Kildare, Ireland’s national seminary, there are just 20 seminarians undertaking vocational training, compared with about 600 students at its peak in the 1960s.
Across the entire country, there are 64 seminarians in total today.
Many priests feel overstretched and struggle to juggle responsibilities in their communities, with some senior clerics warning that Masses in a number of areas may be reduced as a result.
To combat the decline, initiatives such as the Take the Risk for Christ have been launched to encourage young men to consider making a commitment to the church.
Last month 36 young men from around the country attended an information weekend in the national seminary to reflect on whether they felt they were being asked to answer a call from God and pursue a career in the church.
There are positive signs: this academic year’s intake has risen 50 per cent, with 15 seminarians embarking on the 2023-24 propaedeutic programme, a preliminary stage of the priestly formation process.
In the diocese of Killaloe, one of Ireland’s largest dioceses, problems created by the shortage of up-and-coming clergy are particularly acute.
The diocese launched its own year-long initiative to promote vocations as a response.
Father Mike Geraghty, who at 39 is Killaloe’s youngest diocesan priest, said he had always been devout and had an awareness of a spiritual calling towards God since he was a child but did not choose to formally commence his vocational training until the age of 25.
In Killaloe, nearly half of all parishes do not have a priest under the age of 75.
Despite being responsible for tasks usually carried out by more senior priests, he said the religious training and mentorship he had received had helped him to cope with the pressures.
“Back in the day, at 39 you probably wouldn’t have been let out of the house too often as a priest and now I have responsibility for one of the biggest parishes in our diocese [Shannon] … it’s still very daunting,” Geraghty said, adding that he was “stretched” every day in carrying out his duties. Those who enter the priesthood must vow to remain celibate and unmarried for the duration of their ministry.
Geraghty said he was unfazed by this pledge and past experiences, such as attending the Technological University of the Shannon for four years and working at a ski resort in France for a winter season, helped him to cope.
“Experience is a huge thing because when you are a priest you have to let go of certain aspects of life and relationships, but you can have a new relationship with Christ,” Geraghty said.
Mark Nestor, 31, a seminarian at Maynooth and a former Fianna Fail councillor, said he had been considering joining the priesthood since his late teens but he was not ready to follow the path into the clergy until last year.
“There’s a notion that, because you can’t get married, the priesthood is a lonely life — but if you’re living your priestly ministry as best you can, I feel you will never be lonely because there will always be somebody to be helped,” he said.
Due to a lack of homegrown priest the church has turned to drafting in pastoral ministry workers from across the world with many arriving from countries in Africa and from India to fill the gap.
Martin Hayes, the bishop of Kilmore, said ensuring a parish priest was available to attend all funerals, baptisms and other community ceremonies was becoming unfeasible.
“[In Kilmore] we have 64 priests with 44 in active ministry, and over one third of them are over 75. More than half are over 70. Two thirds are over 65 and three quarters are over 60. Just over a quarter are under 60 years of age. That’s the reality, and the average of priests is 70. Priests are older and they are stretched … We may not be able to have priests in every parish,” Hayes said, adding that the diocese also had five Nigerian and two Indian priests serving in Kilmore.
However, he was optimistic that current trends could be reversed through a collective approach.
“The future I see is basically ministry teams: lay people and priests working together, so that they [lay people] become identified by people as the key people within their dioceses. They may not be doing it full-time but they will be doing it part-time,” he said.
Father Ignatius McCormack, vocations director in Killaloe, said the diocese’s initiative was already having results.
“About 14 months ago we had no seminarians and now we have three,” he said.