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

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

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Euronews [Lyon, France]

November 27, 2023

By Rory Elliott Armstrong

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In what was one of Europe’s most religious countries, mass attendance has dropped severely, Irish priests find themselves working far past retirement age, and only a small number of apprentices are committing themselves to the church.

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.

This, among other reasons, is leading these men of God to work well past retirement age while still trying to cover the work of churches all over the country.

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…