An article in The Sunday Times from August 4 brings up a sad observation: the seminary of the Archdiocese of Dublin, in which 1.6 million people live, more than 60% of whom claim to be Catholic, has only received a single seminarian for the coming year.
“There are almost a million Catholics and 197 parishes in Dublin in total, two of which were forced to merge last week owing to a lack of priests.,” The Sunday Times notes.
“Father Séamus McEntee, vocations director for the archdiocese of Dublin,” the article says, “confirmed that the stark number was indicative of a broader ‘crisis of faith’ in the capital.” The priest adds: “There was a stage when I think it was seen to be a crisis when the number fell below a hundred.”
Other figures cause the same feeling of vertigo, as if before an abyss: the Irish Diocese of Achonry has not ordained a priest since 2013 and has no seminarians.
Over the last five years, one in five priests has died in Ireland.
But this state of affairs, which has multiple causes, does not seem to elicit a reaction in the right direction: “we must adapt,” is the usual response.
Or again: “vocations are fewer, but better,” which is a way of criticizing generations of good priests, and above all, consoling oneself with empty words.
It is high time to wake up and seek real remedies.
But for that, it would require first correctly diagnosing the disease that afflicts the Church.