The Diocese of Cork and Ross has now fewer priests working in parishes that it did in 1900, and almost a third less than it had just over 25 years ago. And, although the population of the diocese has increased by 21.6 per cent since 1975, the number of its priests has fallen by 23.5 per cent.
And for the first time, there are no new students from the diocese going for the priesthood this year, while just four men studying at Maynooth are from the diocese, an all-time low for Cork and Ross.
Figures for first-year enrolment at Maynooth are not yet available for this year, but it is expected the total number of students at the seminary will be around 60 this year, exactly a tenth of the 600 who attended there 30 years ago and the lowest number at the College since it opened in 1796.
The figures are published in the current issue of the Fold, diocesan magazine of Cork and Ross Diocese. In the editorial Father Tom Hayes asks whether the drop-off in vocations generally is affecting the Irish economy. He wonders if it is coincidence that health and education, now in crisis, are the two areas where religious had their greatest commitment of personnel.
It was evident in both areas "that our culture has moved away from seeing any value in doing something for others without claiming financial reward for it."
This culture of doing nothing for nothing was perhaps "one of the consequences of not appreciating what was done so selflessly in the past", he suggests, while the religious "who did so much more outside of their roster to assist and care for patients, pupils and families, are now often derided for their dedication."
"Yes, a very small fraction of their number committed awful sins against those in their care. But thousands of their number gave remarkable service to their church, their communities and the state as a whole," he writes.
It was also remarkable that so many now at the forefront of the growth of the tiger economy in Ireland were educated by religious. Justice needed to be done "to those who serve now, and those who have served in the past".
