Senior priest warns district cannot sustain number of masses

Senior priest warns district cannot sustain number of masses

11 June 2014

THE priesthood was in a very different place when Canon Sean Rogan was ordained in the early 1960s.

With almost twice as many priests serving the wider Downpatrick area than there are today, he recalls being sent home for a time shortly after his ordination because there was no space for him.

Priests, he remembers, were in such plentiful supply they were sent to England or further afield. While one of his predecessors, Monsignor Joseph Maguire had four curates to share his workload, Canon Rogan, who is 75, has just two, one of whom is 90 and the other over 60.

Although he believes the increasingly material world may be deterring men from joining the priesthood, Canon Rogan says he is otherwise perplexed as to why numbers have become so critically low.

It is a problem, he admits, that preoccupies him, and one which he predicts will lead to sweeping changes across the district as part of the current Diocesan Living Church Review.

“We have less clergy and as a result the workload is much much bigger,” he says.

“When I get up in the morning, I wonder what I will not do that day rather than what I will do. The population has increased, while our numbers have ped. This is symptomatic all over Ireland and we need to change to address it.”

Canon Rogan says there are half as many priests in the district as there were when he first joined 52 years ago with a just one ordination anticipated in the diocese this year.

“It is not that young people are not enthused, because they do have tremendous zeal and integrity,” he said.

“I can never quite put my finger on why numbers are so low but I believe it is more due to material things than spiritual.”

Although he candidly admits that he has missed marrying and having a family, Canon Rogan does not believe there would be more ordinations if priests were allowed to marry.

“I have missed marrying and I miss not having children. Everybody is human and that has been difficult at times.

“However, I do not think it would make a big difference if priests could marry as there is a weakening across many churches in the ministerial form of proclaiming Christ.

“The Bishop has asked us to pray to encourage young people and not so young people to come forward for the ministry.

“Although it has been a difficult life, I have found it the happiest life and I would not change it for anything.

It has been a gift, very often tinged with anxieties, but that is life.”

Canon Rogan said many people were concerned about potential changes ahead as a result of the review, but said all options needed to be considered.

“Things have changed and it cannot continue,” he said. “There are 16 churches within a 10-mile radius of Downpatrick. We cannot sustain the number of masses and the attention that has been given in the past.

“People do not like change but life is about change. We appreciate people are anxious but this is about seeing how we can provide people with the proper service to which they are entitled.

“Rationalisation has to happen. Priests cannot do everything, it is the duty of everybody baptised.”