Vocations crisis needs more than ‘paper pushers’

PROMOTING vocations must be more than mere “paper pushing’, priests at a conference in Maynooth were told last weekend, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

Fr Stephen Langridge, the chairman of the Conference of Diocesan Directors of Vocations in England and Wales, told a gathering of his Irish counterparts and bishops that they are “exercising an important ecclesial ministry”. He also stressed the need for discernment and vigilance in the screening of candidates.

Ireland is grappling with a declining number of vocations both to the priesthood and to religious life, with the number of seminarians starting at Maynooth in September this year one of the lowest ever.

Among those who attended the vocations directors’ conference was the Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran.

Bishop Doran said the capacity to engage with young adults had “declined enormously” in Irish Catholic culture in recent years and he urged parish communities to find new ways to minister more effectively to young people.