Sir, – As to whether women should be admitted to the priesthood or whether priests should be allowed to marry, I humbly concede that my opinion means nothing and I submit to the magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church, which has responsibility for making decisions on matters of church doctrine.
What I do know is that the current alleged shortage of priests in Dublin has nothing to do with their sex or marital status.
A priest I know recently informed me that 2015 was the first year ever in the archdiocese of Dublin that no man came forward to be admitted into priestly formation. That an archdiocese the size of Dublin cannot produce one new vocation in a given year is truly shocking.
The crisis in vocations in Ireland as in other western countries is actually a crisis of faith. Whether married or single, male or female, ordained or lay, we are all called in some way to help in spreading the Gospel. When we solve the crisis of faith, vocations will follow. – Yours, etc,
JUSTIN EGAN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.