20/02/02
Ireland: Priest shortage and women's
ordination
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