Poland’s Catholic primate has warned his country may no longer be able to send clergy to work abroad, because of a decline in priestly and religious order vocations.
“It’s true vocations are falling, and fewer priests and nuns are already being sent than before,” said Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno. “We’re trying to ensure this doesn’t mean our Church has to close in on itself. But there are problems maintaining the numbers available for countries like Britain and France.”
The 51-year-old archbishop spoke as another drop was reported in summer ordinations at Poland’s 84 diocesan and religious order seminaries. He told The Tablet that his own diocese, Poland’s oldest, hoped to send 30 missionaries abroad annually, following a practice begun under St John Paul II. However, he added that it also expected clergy serving in other countries to come home after five years.
“It would be a great shame if we weren’t able to respond to foreign needs”, the primate said. “But we count on those enriched by … ministering abroad to return with new impulses and strengths to their diocesan church, and help give us a broader vision, rather than just disappearing for good.”
The Polish Church supplies at least a quarter of all Catholic vocations in Europe, and has helped make up clergy shortages in Russia and central Asia, as well as in dioceses around the world. However, while 94 per cent of Poland’s 38.5 million inhabitants described themselves as Catholics in a survey this May, seminary admissions have declined over the last decade, halving the number of priests in training, while recruitment to the country’s 130 female orders has also dropped by half.
Archbishop Polak told The Tablet that Polish communities in Britain and other countries would continue to be served by Polish clergy who understood “their mentality and way of expressing the faith”.
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