Four students from the Pontifical Irish College in Rome will be ordained to the Catholic priesthood this year. The rector of the Irish College, Msgr Liam Bergin, said there had been a recent rise in interest in the priesthood in Ireland and other countries.
Fr Kevin Doran, national co-ordinator of vocations for the church in Ireland, recently confirmed the Dublin diocese had received a significant number of inquiries from people interested in vocations. He said interest in the church had been concentrated in the events surrounding Pope John Paul II's death and the election of a new pope.
But he added that it was crucial for parents and teachers to ask young people to consider the priesthood as an option.
Msgr Bergin confirmed that Liam McKinney would be ordained a priest for the Armagh diocese, as would Patrick McCarthy for Cloyne, Shane Crombie for Meath and Giovanni La Rosa for Acireale in Sicily.
Total ordinations from Irish seminaries for 2005 stands at 12 - with eight from St Patrick's College in Maynooth and four from Rome.
- (PA)