A spokesman for a priests’ association in Ireland has warned that bringing overseas priests in to plug vocations gaps could empty Irish churches.
Fr Brendan Hoban of the Association of Catholic Priests said that there is a risk that old fashioned pastoral approaches by overseas priests could empty some Irish parishes in a decade.
Two Nigerian priests have recently started ministering in Kilmore diocese.
Two more are scheduled to start work in Clonfert diocese and there are plans to bring Indian priests to Waterford diocese.
“Priests are not like footballers who can be transferred for a given fee from Real Madrid to Manchester United and hardly notice the change, as what they do and how and where they do is exactly the same,” Fr Hoban said.
“Priesting is different. Language matters. Culture matters. Tradition matters. History matters.
“Understanding is about more than knowing the words.
“Appreciating the weave and waft of Irish society is essential to ministering to people’s needs at parish level,” he said.
Fr Hoban noted the history of Irish priests going on mission to other nations, but said that missioning in Ireland now is completely different to past practices.
He expressed concern over the pastoral styles African and Indian priests might bring to Ireland, trying to replicate those from their homelands
If priests “are used to not allowing laity to be involved in worship, how long will they survive in an Irish parish?”, Fr Hoban asked.
“If priests are used to not allowing women to be involved in parish life, except in a peripheral and patronising way, how long will they survive in an Irish parish?
“Or more to the point how long will an Irish parish survive them? They could empty our emptying churches in a decade,” he said.
Last year, the ACP asked Ireland’s bishops to forward a request to Rome that proven married men be ordained as priests.
Sources