The Irish Independent
February 20, 2002
Drop in new recruits but still no place for women
THERE was a time when the Catholic Church
in Ireland sent missionaries around the world.
Now the process is being reversed and, if
the trend continues, parishes of the future
will see significant numbers of priests
from Africa and eastern Europe making up
for the shortage of Irish vocations.
There is another option ... the ordination
of women. Dr Willie Walsh, Bishop of
Killaloe, says he would have no difficulty
with the concept "if the Pope and the
Church generally changed its mind". But
there is little sign of such change.
Over 100 years ago there were 2,980
diocesan priests in the country. By 1950
that figure had risen to 3,450. But by the
year 2000 the figure had dropped back to
2999.
The country's assistant director of
vocations, Father Donal Roche, agreed
yesterday that recruiting from abroad was
a far more likely scenario than the
ordination of women priests becoming a
reality in the future.
Vocations to the priesthood over the past
couple of years are still in decline with
only one ordination in the Dublin diocese
this year.
Last year, there was also a single
ordination in Dublin which brought to seven
the number of ordinations of diocesan
priests since 1998 in a diocese catering to
over one million parishioners spread over
200 parishes.
Coupled with a greying priesthood, the
Church has a job of work to do in covering
an ever increasing workload as the number
of new recruits fail to offset falling
numbers. Figures last year showed that of
the 750 Dublin priests less than 10pc were
under 30.
Fergus Black
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The Irish Independent
February 20, 2002
Women priests alone will not solve the problem
THERE WILL be surprise among the Irish
bishops at remarks made by their Episcopal
colleague, Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe,
which once again raises the extremely
divisive issue of women's ordination.
Some may take the view that his remarks are
courageous in the light of the Vatican's
defining its opposition to women priests as
a settled question which is not open to
debate, and the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith declaration that this
is infallibly taught as part of the
"deposit of faith".
Others however, won't thank Bishop Walsh
for opening up a debate that has raged for
years yielding nothing but two polar
positions and little room for compromise.
The Church's position is well known and is
essentially based on the argument that
Christ chose 12 men as apostles and
successive Popes have upheld that norm
historically. Those opposed to the Church's
argument in favour of a male-only
priesthood says it is not terribly
convincing and from a theological and
scriptural point of view, it is not well
thought out.
The Pope has declared that the Church does
not have the authority to change 2000 years
of a strongly held belief and that the
issue is now closed.
While the Pope is criticised as suppressing
honest debate, the Church's clarification
of Catholic teaching on women priests in
1995 was part of a document called 'To
Defend Faith'; and was a reactive text to
the debate. The Vatican's line is that it
isn't going to change its mind so the
usefulness of continuing to debate this
issue is futile as there is no room for
compromise.
Whatever the Bishops and indeed the Vatican
think of Bishop Walsh's remarks, for those
who want to see real change in the Church,
it is disappointing that one of the more
progressive of the Irish Bishops is still
singing from the old clerical hymn sheet,
which goes, "if we have more priests, all
will be well".
All is far from well and while there is no
doubt there are fewer priests than before,
it does not follow that more priests means
a healthier Church. In fact what existed
before the vocations crisis was a Church
that was heavily clericalised and paid
little attention to lay people.
For Bishops like Willie Walsh who have seen
days when priests were ordained in classes
of fifty or more, it is understandably that
less priests should now seem a "shortage".
On the other hand, lay people who have
grown up in the shadow of the reforming
Vatican II Council, a less clericalised
Church is the best chance of building a
Church that cherishes and includes its
laity, and above all, accedes power and
responsibility to them.
Only this week, Masses have been
discontinued at three Churches on Achill
Island but Bishop Michael Neary of Tuam was
keen to point out that the Masses had been
introduced many years ago as "extras" to
accommodate people who had no transport.
Now, people no longer have to walk miles to
get to Mass, and the modern Church has met
a modern phenomenon, rationalisation. And,
as with any rationalisation plan, less is
always better than more.
The challenge facing the modern Irish
Church therefore is not ordaining new
priests, whether they be more young
celibate men or newly ordained women.
It is of little comfort to lay people if
the priest holding a tight grip on power in
their parish happens to be a woman.
The real position of inequality, which the
Church recognised in Vatican II but has
failed to implement, is that of the laity.
This is the bigger picture that is being
missed by those who believe women's
ordination will be solve the current crisis
in the Church. The crisis stems from the
Church's complete failure to pass on the
Christian tradition to its own members.
The Bishops as modern day apostles are
charged with this duty and have singularly
failed to rise to the challenge. This may
seem harsh, but is it not borne out by the
facts?
Only a Church where laity are educated in
their own faith, are actively involved in
the day to day running and decision making
activities, and can work alongside priests,
can be a healthy church with a true spirit
of equality.
Why sing the clericalism tune any longer,
even if it is dressed up in more inclusive
terms?
Priesthood is essential to the Church but
we must stop this definition of lay
involvement in terms of more priests, the
failed clericalism of the past.
The Church's future rests in the ability of
the Bishops to find imaginative ways of
bringing their often disillusioned or
apathetic flock back into the fold.
When that comes about, a healthier Church
will be mature enough to decide if it needs
and wants more priests, and whether or not
they should be women.
Garry O'Sullivan is a journalist and writer
with The Irish Catholic
Garry O'Sullivan