Posts Tagged ‘Priestly vocations’

Priest shortage – Spain considers options

Monday, March 18th, 2024
priest shortage

An ongoing rural ministry priest shortage in the Spanish region of Castile has bishops, vicars and deans looking for new ways to serve. The problem is urgent, as what worked in the past when there were plenty of priests doesn’t work today. “We cannot expect things to change if we always do the same thing” Read more

Not ‘yesterday once more’ for diocesan Catholic priests

Thursday, October 12th, 2023
NZ catholic priests

At the week-long National Assembly of Diocesan Catholic Priests in Rotorua, Brisbane’s Archbishop Mark Coleridge dropped a rock in the pond. Coleridge told the Catholic priests that changes were happening, that there would be more of them and that it was important to be prepared. Coleridge suggested that ministry as a Catholic priest was not Read more

Boy who crashed WYD security to embrace Pope Francis now a seminarian

Thursday, July 13th, 2023
Seminarian

The boy who bypassed papal security in 2013 to embrace Pope Francis is now a seminarian. It was at Rio de Janeiro’s World Youth Day (WYD) that nine-year old Nathan de Brito came to fame. He’s the boy who ran to hug the pope and said he wanted to be a priest. “At that moment Read more

After 9 years together a couple split up to become a nun and priest

Monday, May 22nd, 2023

Angelo and Paolo were in a relationship for almost ten years, starting when he was 16 and she was 15. They were planning to be married; however, before their wedding, Maria decided that God was intervening and asked her to become a nun. So she left him and joined the Monastery of Carmelo at Ponti Read more

Irish Catholic Church launches priest recruitment drive

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

The Catholic Church in Ireland has launched a Year for Vocations as it battles a huge drop in the number of men going to seminaries. Where once every large family in the country expected one son to join the priesthood, the scandals that have rocked the Church in the last two decades have meant the Read more

Record intake at Sydney seminary

Monday, February 27th, 2023
Record intake at Sydney seminary

The Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Sydney has broken a record, with 17 men joining this year’s intake, the largest number in the history of the Homebush seminary. The last time so many men entered a seminary in Sydney was 40 years ago when 17 entered Good Shepherd’s predecessor seminary, St Patrick’s College at Read more

South Korean Church records decline in priestly vocation

Thursday, February 23rd, 2023

Church officials in South Korea have asked for research and education plans as Catholics in the country experience a drop in priestly ordinations amid decreasing birth rate and religiosity. The number of newly ordained priests dropped to 87 in 2023 from 131 in 2011, a decrease of 35 percent, according to the Statistics of the Read more

Dutch cardinal defends plan to end Sunday celebrations without priests

Monday, February 20th, 2023

A Dutch cardinal has said that he is pressing ahead with a plan to phase out Sunday Word and Communion services in the absence of a priest within his territory. Cardinal Willem Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht, said in a Feb 14 letter that he was committed to eliminating the priestless Sunday celebrations over the Read more

Parishes to share mobile priests

Thursday, August 4th, 2022
parishes and priests

Parishes and priests will have to be more flexible as change is inevitable, says the Bishop of Cork and Ross Fitan Gavin (pictured). He says there will have to be changes in how priests minister to parishes with more lay people taking on great responsibilities. Priests will share parishes, he says. Right now the Catholic Read more

A film director and a soccer player to be ordained by Pope

Thursday, April 22nd, 2021

Pope Francis will ordain nine deacons to the priesthood at St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, 25 April. Among those who are to be ordained are Samuel Piermarini, who gave up a promising football career and Riccardo Cendamo, a former film director. Read more