Vocations need more effort

Dear Editor, What a sad convergence of news Ireland’s faithful faced last week. Hot on the heels of criticism levelled by the former National Coordinator for Diocesan Vocations, Fr Paddy Rushe, (IC 22/5/14) on an apparent lack of Church focus on promoting vocations came news of the closure of All Hallows College after 172 years of proud service in preparing priests for mission, due to falling numbers.

How right Fr Rushe is when he insists that “more needs to be done” to once again foster a culture of vocations in this country. Notably, Fr Rushe makes his call on page 3 of The Irish Catholic opposite the timely and well considered piece by Editor Michael Kelly on ‘Building a culture of vocations’.

With the passing of the  ‘old guard’ of bishops who are part and parcel of the aforementioned lack of focus on vocations, do we now dare to believe that a time is coming when a fresh crop of prelates will seize on Mr Kelly’s words and begin to “think creatively” and reignite the call to religious life?

While not wishing to deliberately end on a negative note, it must be said also that the words of both Mr Kelly and Fr Rushe, in the same edition of The Irish Catholic, are flanked by a front page story on the legacy of clerical abuse (albeit under the positive headline, ‘Ireland can lead the world in “abuse fight”’) and Mary Kenny’s declartion on page 5 that ‘The stigmatisation of religious rolls on’.

Issues to be overcome before the culture of vocations returns?

Yours etc.,

Joseph Farrell,

Phibsboro,

Dublin 7 .