A MAJOR campaign aimed at getting men to sign on to be priests is coming to Limerick, having been launched recently by the Bishop of Killaloe.
The diocese has announced a year-long initiative as part of a national effort by the Catholic Church in Ireland to increase vocations to the diocesan priesthood this year.
The Killaloe diocese promotional campaign is being rolled out in Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, and Laois.
Castleconnell will be one of the first ports of call in a schedule of parish visits starting next week.
With new vocations falling and older clergy taking a step back from active ministry, only one in two parishes are served by a resident priest.
Vocations Director Fr Iggy McCormack said: “Geographically, we are the third largest diocese in the country and is it has become increasingly difficult to maintain full cover across the five counties due to retirements and a lower number of vocations”.
“The idea of young men taking up a vocation has arguably become more countercultural in recent years, but we are very hopeful that we can build on recent progress whereby three men from the diocese will enter the seminary at Maynooth over the next 12 months.”
Fr McCormack said the campaign of parish church visits aim to get people talking about encouraging more people to explore the possibility and get information.
Launching the Year of Vocations, on the theme of ‘Taking the Risk for Christ’, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan said: “A key objective of this Year of Vocations is to start conversations within families, with priests, and in parish communities on the beauty of the vocation of priesthood. Feedback from newly ordained priests indicates a strong correlation between their calling and encouragement received from a priest about their ministry”.
