What are we to make of the condition of the Irish clergy as seen in an analysis by the Association of Catholic Priests in their annual meeting in Athlone last week? Their report shows that 547 priests of the 2,100 working priests in the Irish Church are aged between 61 and 75 and nearly 300 or 15 per cent of working priests are aged 75 or over. They serve in 1,355 parishes and 2,652 churches or mass centres.
In all the 26 Irish dioceses, 52 priests, or fewer than 2.5 per cent of working priests, are younger than 40. There are just 47 seminarians in Maynooth. There are 464 working priests aged between 40-60, while 45 priests are out of ministry.
