Only 13 men have started studying to becomes priests at the national seminary in Maynooth this year amid a ‘dramatic decline’ in interest for the vocation. 

Once, Ireland exported its priests to the world; now, the country’s priests are increasingly elderly - with few young men volunteering to replace them. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, Fr Paddy Byrne, parish priest of Abbeyleix in County Laois, said the low number of seminarians is a consequence of Ireland’s changing attitudes to the Catholic Church. 

“Over the last 30 years, the number of men entering into formation for priesthood has absolutely dramatically declined,” he explained. 

“If you think about it, 35 years ago, over 70 would go in for their first year experience and that’s the sum total where we find ourselves to be. 

“As a consequence, I’m not here to lament here necessarily at all that there is an opportunity; we have to be pragmatic and realise that in the last 25 years, we have gone through a tsunami when it comes to the scandals, when it comes to often a very toxic image that priests are [associated] with the abuse that happened, that people suffered from and continue to feel the effects of. 

“In a growing western, secular culture - in Ireland in particular - we are in a very different place.” 

Priests in Ardoyne, Belfast, at a funeral. Picture by: Dermot Blackburn / Alamy Stock Photo. 

Fr Byrne described this looming shortage of priests as a “huge challenge” but it might not be the “worst place” for the Church to be in. 

“To be honest with you, I think we’re in a better place than we were 25 years ago,” he said.

“There’s honesty, I think the truth has been revealed; I think there’s a greater focus… in reaching out to our wonderful lay people, who work with us, who have remained, by and large, supporters. 

“I think there’s a freshness - even in spirituality - a focus far more on the person of Jesus Christ than on the institution. 

“A reverence for integrity, as opposed to just rank or collar.” 

For those young men at Maynooth studying to become priests, Fr Byrne said he wished “good luck to them”, but predicted most would not leave the college wearing a dog collar. 

“If 13 guys go into that process, I think you’d be doing very well that three or four would come out as clergy at the end of it,” he said.

Main image: A priest saying mass. Picture by: Robert Harding / Alamy.com.