Overseas Priests to Revive Catholicism in Ireland

Ireland, the once-mighty Roman Catholic country, has been said to be in need of a great revival. A recent report by Reuters showed that the number of priests in Dublin has fallen by 25 percent over the last decade. More than half are aged over 60, and only a handful are under 30.

Father Kevin Doran, Director of vocations of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin said to Reuters, "There are a lot of priests from Eastern Europe studying in Ireland. The church in Eastern Europe, which was once oppressed, has become free and enjoyed significant growth."

Ireland was one of the greatest Catholic mission countries, which had sent thousands of priests and nuns to spread Christianity abroad. Now those whom they evangelised a century ago are looking to come back to Ireland to revive the country. Not only overseas priest and nuns from Eastern Europe are increasing, but also those from Africa and South America are very passionate to re-evangelise this land.

"Ireland welcomes priests and nuns who have come from countries originally evangelised by Irish missionaries. We have much to gain from them being here," Father Doran continued.

Garry O'Sullivan, editor of the Irish Catholic, a weekly newspaper was quoted by Reuters, "The seed was sown abroad and has come back. They have come full circle as the bishop who founded their order was an Irishman."

Many may try to speculate on the reasons behind the declining trend. It is believed that secularism, prosperity and sexual abuse scandals are weakening the Church's influence, just as the case of many other predominantly Catholic countries in the world, especially those in Europe.

Regarding child sexual abuse scandals, Father Doran said, "It is not as high profile as it was. But of course it is there in the background and always has the potential to hit the headlines when a case comes up." Ireland's Catholic Church was shaken to its foundations by a string of scandals involving the sexual abuse of children by priests.

According to an interview by Latimes with Cardinal Desmond Connell, retired archbishop of Dublin last month, he said, "Ireland has become part of the Western European scene. We have been moving in a secularising direction. But the pace of all this has been accelerated by the extraordinary leap forward in our country's prosperity."

"There's a lot of surplus cash around, and people are enjoying it. I have no trouble with that, but when they enjoy the immediate, they forget the ultimate."

Latimes also reported that 15 men were ordained as Catholic priests for the entire island, with 5.6 million people (4.2 million of them Catholic). In the Anglican-linked Church of Ireland, a fraction of the Catholic Church's size, 19 were ordained, including several women.

Father Doran warned against people making the assumption that the "future needs can or should be met simply by importing priests and nuns from overseas." He insisted that new challenges, however, have to be met.