+34
Ireland facing spiritual ‘famine’ because of lack of priests, says priest
Catholic Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin has said he is “very much open” to calls for a softening on the church’s clerical celibacy rules to cope with the declining number of priests.declined to deal with the issue in an eagerly awaited apostolic exhortation, the Archbishop of Armagh said the pontiff was not ruling it out but leaving it open for more discussion.
RTÉ“I’m very much open to the idea of this and I think Pope Francis is too. He doesn’t shut the idea down, he leaves it open for further discussion within the church.”, the pope did not refer to recommendations by Amazonian bishops to consider the ordination of married men and women deacons. Instead, the pontiff urged bishops to pray for more priestly vocations and send missionaries to the region. The vast majority of villages in the Amazon are unable to celebrate Mass every week because of the shortage of priests. Some villages see a priest just once a year, it is estimated. Last year a synod of 184 bishops on the future of the church in the Amazon concluded “respected” older, married men should be allowed to become priests. Archbishop Martin played down suggestions that Ireland is facing priest shortages as dramatic as the Amazon. “I think it is considerably further than where the Amazon is now,” he said. “Although I wouldn’t be blind to the fact that we have a very major decline in vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.” Archbishop Martin said if Ireland is to heed Pope Francis’ call, it needs to officially recognise the role of lay people and the role of women in the church. It is not “simply about ordination to the priesthood”, he said, but about lay men and women organising and administering parishes, making decisions up to diocesan level and “even exercising the pastoral care that in the past priests would have done.”“I know that we think we are very short of priests but I think a church which loses it missionary spirit and its missionary zeal is a church which is dying,” he said. “And I think that is what Pope Francis is saying to us. Stay missionary, get out there, go and help these people.”
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Dublin is to get another hotel and this one will be right next to Croke ParkPlanning permission for the new Maldron Hotel is 'due to be secured' this year, with the hotel scheduled to open in the second half of 2023.
Read more »