by BILL HEANEY
The dramatic scale of the vocations crisis which faces the Catholic Church in the coming years has been revealed in a new study, and the figures are truly startling.
If current trends are maintained, there will be only eight, according to an archdiocesan spokesperson, priests of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, which includes Dunbartonshire from Clydebank to Rosneath and Arrochar, left in active parish ministry 20 years from now.
These priests will be required to serve a Catholic population of around 200,000.
In the last five years, the number of Archdiocesan priests serving in parishes has fallen by a third largely
due to retirements for age or illness. Currently three quarters of diocesan clergy are aged over 60 and just one is under the age of 45.
In 2026 the Archdiocese will have five seminarians training for the priesthood in Rome. But given that
priestly formation can now take eight or nine years, the numbers being ordained will continue to fall well behind the numbers of men retiring or stepping down through illness.
Currently many parishes are covered by a mix of foreign priests and priests from religious orders. But this supply is unreliable, and immigration changes have led to difficulties.
Brexit means European priests can no longer enter the UK to minister for longer than 90 days, and Religious Orders which currently look after 14 parishes in the Archdiocese are facing major reductions in their own numbers.
The shock new analysis inevitably signals dramatic changes for parishes across Scotland where in some dioceses the majority of parishes are already functioning without a resident priest.
There are almost 90 parishes in the archdiocese. Plans are now being drawn up to reduce that number given the dramatic decline in priests to staff them.
There have been protests against this by parishioners in Our Holy Redeemer’s, Clydebank.
Archbishop William Nolan, right, said: “We have been talking about a vocations crisis for decades, but in the next few years it will hit us hard. The sobering truth is that we cannot continue with almost 90 parishes if, in 20 years, we will have less than a dozen priests to cover them.
“It is physically impossible for such a small number of clergy to cover an area stretching from Dumbarton to Cumbernauld, covering schools, hospitals, prisons and parishes.
“Inevitably that means many parishes will have to close. I don’t underestimate the pain and anguish that
will cause to communities affected, but we have no option. Without priests we cannot continue to operate functioning parishes.
“I would appeal to people to look beyond their natural sense of sorrow and loss and see that we are faced with a serious problem.
“This is not a problem of numbers. It’s a problem of faith. How can we claim to have a vibrant and faith-filled parish if we are not producing vocations to the priesthood?
“Realistically, we are facing a whole new way of being a Church in which the old certainties of a local parish and a resident priest in the community can no longer be provided.
“We are entering the unknown. Like the apostles on their boat in rough seas, we may feel fearful. But we are also people of faith, and we pray as they did … help us, Lord.”
This month will see several long-serving priests retiring from their roles and new postings for other priests across the Archdiocese.
Father Vincent Toal, currently parish priest of Saint Michael’s, Dumbarton, will take over as Parish Priest of Our Lady and Saint George’s, Penilee, and Father Isaac Abba, who is currently assistant priest at Saint Peter’s, Partick, will be the new Administrator of Saint Michael’s, Dumbarton.
Father Joe Boyle will retire as Parish Priest of Our Lady and St George’s and will move to assist at St Andrew’s Cathedral. In Alexandria in West Dunbartonshire.
Father Charles McElwee, who is currently parish priest of Our Lady and Saint Mark’s, Alexandria, will retire, while Father John McGrory, formerly parish priest of Saint Kessog’s, Balloch, has already retired on grounds of ill health.
The Vale of Leven will now be served under a new arrangement. Father Frank McKendry will move from the Cathedral to be part of a new team ministry moderated by Canon Peter McBride.
The priests will have pastoral care for the parishes of Saint Martin’s, Renton, Saint Kessog’s, Balloch, and Our Lady and Saint Mark’s, Alexandria.
Father Douglas Green, who is currently assistant priest at Saint Patrick’s, Dumbarton, will take over as assistant priest at Saint Peter’s, Partick. Father Joseph Okere MSP (Missionary Society of Saint Paul), who is on loan to the Archdiocese, has been named as the new assistant priest in Saint Patrick’s, Dumbarton.
Next month will see the retirement of the longest-serving parish priest in the archdiocese, as Monsignor Gerry Fitzpatrick retires from St Leo the Great at Dumbreck.