Irish churches desperately look for priests

Ireland's Catholic churches may soon be left without sufficient priests to run their routine affairs, the Time magazine writes.

Earlier this month, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, had made a grim prediction about the future of the church in Ireland: "If more young priests aren't found quickly, the country's parishes may soon not have enough clergy to survive," Archbishop Martin said.

The archbishop told the congregation at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin that his diocese had 46 priests ages 80 or older but only two under 35.

It is a similar story all over the island. According to a 2007 study of Catholic dioceses in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, about half of all priests are aged between 55 and 74.

The ordination of a family member was once regarded as a moment of great prestige, especially in rural areas.

Even as recently as 1990, over 80% of Irish people said they attended Mass at least once a week. But the country's relationship with the church began to change dramatically in the mid-1990s, when Ireland's economy began to take off, ushering in years of unprecedented growth.

Soon, disaffection replaced devotion among Ireland's newly rich younger generation. Most devastating of all, however, were the sex-abuse scandals involving pedophile priests that surfaced around the same time.

But more was still to come. Last May, the government published the findings of a nine-year inquiry into child abuse at church-run schools, orphanages and hospitals from the 1930s to the 1990s.

The report, which described "endemic sexual abuse" at boys' schools and the "daily terror" of physical abuse at other institutions, shook Ireland to its core and left the reputation of the church and the religious orders that ran its schools in tatters.

Then, this week, another government inquiry found that the church and police colluded to cover up numerous cases of child sex abuse by priests in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004, prompting the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, to apologize to the Irish people.

"No one is above the law in this country," he said. There are now calls for similar inquiries to be held in every diocese in Ireland.

Vincent Cushnahan, 29, the youngest serving priest in Ireland, says the church needs to carry out structural reforms, such as cutting the number of parishes (and, therefore, the number of priests required to fill them) and giving greater responsibilities to laypeople.

In some Irish parishes, for example, non-ordained church members are now responsible for roles like youth ministry.

Cushnahan knows how hard it is for the church to recruit young men these days and he himself had to face the challenging decision. "I had to forsake married life, my own house and money," he says.

"[Being a priest] can be more isolating and countercultural than it has been in the past. It's more challenging, but also more rewarding because of that."