Thirteen seminarians have begun training for the Catholic priesthood and later service in Irish dioceses, the Catholic Communications Office has said.
The intake brings to 77 the number of men being trained for the Catholic priesthood in Ireland.
The 13 seminarians starting this year marks a drop on last year’s 21 and the 15 who began in 2023, but represents an increase on the figures for 2021 and 2022, when there were nine and 10 respectively.
There have only been two occasions since 2010 when 20 or more Catholic seminarians entered training for the priesthood.
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This year’s seminarians are undertaking their Propaedeutic Year at various locations: including the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Dundalk, Co Louth; the Royal English College in Valladolid, Spain; the Royal Scots College in Salamanca, Spain and the International Seminary of Ars in France.
The Propaedeutic Year is the first of four mandatory stages in seminary formation: (i) Propaedeutic; (ii) Discipleship (Philosophical Studies); (iii) Configuration (Theological Studies); (iv) Vocational Synthesis.
On completion of the Propaedeutic Year, a seminarian, with the support of his bishop, then applies to a seminary to continue his formation for an Irish diocese.
Welcoming the new seminarians, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Alphonsus Cullinan, chairman of the Bishops’ Council for Vocations, said it was “really heartening that 13 men have started as seminarians in various locations to study on propaedeutic courses”.
“We need more priests and we must continue to do what we can to promote priestly vocations in families and in our parishes,” he said.
Fr Willie Purcell, the Catholic Church’s National Diocesan Vocations Co-ordinator, said “the Church and the faithful need priests” and the 13 men demonstrated “to the world that God never ceases to call men to diocesan priesthood”.
