Decline of religion

[Fake Messiah]

Only 20 seminarians are studying to become Catholic priests in all of Ireland

A Catholic crisis: why priests in Ireland are fading into history and not being replaced

In Ireland, where religion has played such a big place in its past, for better or for worse, fewer and fewer people are attending mass on Sunday, and even less are willing to commit themselves to the sanctified life of a priest.

According to a survey conducted by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) last year, 15% of priests are over 75 and still working, over 25% are aged between 60–75, and just 2.5% of serving Catholic priests in Ireland, meanwhile, are under 40.

“What we see now is priests in their mid to late seventies trying to run three parishes”, Father Tony Flannery, a now 76-year-old retired priest from county Galway and founding member of the ACP tells Euronews.

“And there is nobody coming after them”, he adds. The amount of clergymen retiring is surpassing the number of young people committing to the priesthood.

This year, only 20 seminarians are studying to become Catholic priests for Ireland’s 26 dioceses at the national seminary in Maynooth. Weekly Mass attendance, which stood at 91% in 1975, was down to 36% in 2016 according to figures from the Irish census.

In parish priest Father Joe Deegan's opinion, the biggest problem for the church is the fall-off in the number of people practicing their faith.

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/a-c...r-AA1kzERO