The Director of the National Office for Vocation, Fr Christopher Jamison, assures us that the decline in vocations has been arrested (The Tablet, 17 May).
For the secular clergy 44 men entered seminaries last year. As there are 22 dioceses in England and Wales that figure translates into an average of two candidates per diocese. Experience shows that some candidates always depart before ordination. This means that at the completion of their studies there will be , on average, less than two new priests for each diocese in the region.
Other figures given in the same article state that in 2010 there were 56 entrants to the seminaries, in 2011 the figure was 46, and then 44 in 2013. To me the picture looks like steady decline.
In the 1960s large dioceses like Liverpool and Westminster would sometimes ordain as many as 20 priests in any given year. I fail to see how the present intakes can stem the shortfall. For the foreseeable future, deaths will outnumber ordinations, and parishes will continue to be amalgamated (i.e. closed).
Clearly a different method of selection must be adopted. The answer is obvious: since married ex-Anglican clergy receive ordination, why should this not be extended to married cradle Catholics?
Dr Michael M. Winter, London N19
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