Remarks by a Nigerian priest in Ireland linking gay marriage to the works of the devil are seen by some as symptomatic of the problems of importing clergy to address the country’s need. But the practice does have its defenders Once a stronghold of Catholicism, the Irish Church used to have well stocked seminaries that could afford to send diocesan priests abroad to serve in dioceses where clerics were not as plentiful. But the decline in vocations of recent decades has provoked some to predict that in less than 20 years Ireland will be “effectively priestless”. In a bid to counter the collapse in the numbers of priests, Irish bishops are currently spearheading a drive to cluster parishes together, while many priests are staying on well past retirement age. In the Archdi