RITE AND REASON:Without priests, Ireland will be just fine, writes David Keating
SO HERE'S the bad news. You've heard it already. The number of priests in active ministry in Ireland is falling and has been for some time now. Vocations to the priesthood and religious life are at an all-time low.
Apocalyptic predictions as to what the future church in Ireland will be like are now in vogue, and words such as "crisis" and "catastrophe" are being used regularly to describe the present and future situations.
The result of unrelenting bad news about vocations is a predisposition to negativity, which is wearisome. It is tedious to the active Catholic faith community, and drains morale and enthusiasm from priests who are currently working and who should be forgiven for feeling like an endangered species travelling on the Titanic. Such woe and foreboding, even the occasional whinge, are an affront to God's presence in the world and an insult to the gospel.
But, now for the good news.
Without priests, Ireland will be just fine. And here's why.
Firstly; God does not abandon his people. The greatest love story for humanity is found in the gospels, a story still unsurpassed in the modern world.
Secondly; Christian Catholicism is far more comprehensive, adaptive, resilient and, above all, colourful than we perceive.
It has been elaborated on for centuries and, even with the fall in vocations, this elaboration is by no means over.
The history of Catholicism is not a claustrophobic story of clericalism, but a communion of traditions of which diocesan priesthood is just one.
Equal traditions or narratives within Catholicism include a missionary tradition - still alive and well - a vibrant educational and literary tradition, and the ever-more-sought-after traditions of spirituality, art and music.
By spirituality I do not mean the tinsel and silliness of the catalogue of pseudo-spiritualities that exist today, but rather those spiritualities with a pedigree of thousands of years and which are not fake.
Museums across the world remind us that so much of the Christian narrative was made visible through art, especially the artists of the Renaissance.
Go see Rembrandt's Flight into Egyptin Dublin's National Gallery, and stand and gaze at how Christianity's child began life in exile and as a survivor of one of the world's first known genocides - Herod's massacre of Bethlehem's children.
New music will come and go, but Bach and Mozart will stay. One hundred years from now, Gregorian chant will still haunt. A poignant rendition of Pie Jesuor Ave Mariawill forever bring even the most devout atheist to momentarily suspend their disbelief.
By focusing too much on the diminishing number of priests we forget that many things are important to the faith journey, not just vocations.
While faith can be advanced in cathedrals and churches, it is the Christus figures we meet on the road we travel, and how we respond, that are perhaps of more lasting importance.
Chance encounters, such as the disciples on the road to Emmaus, can be completely life-altering. Such encounters as with the woman at the well (a truly radical encounter for its time and circumstance), and in the story of the Good Samaritan (a story of humanity at its finest), caused paradigm shifts in Christian belief and behaviour.
The future will have similar chance encounters. But let me be clear. I am neither pre-empting a future Ireland without priests, nor diminishing the work and reflection of those seeking to prevent one.
I am suggesting that if it comes to pass that Ireland, or any other country, no longer has male, celibate, diocesan priests, that maybe, just maybe, it is the will of God. And that Catholicism's present clerical tradition, which has been primarily custodial and compulsory, could well be a precursor to a future that is new and vibrant and possibly Catholicism's most compelling and spirit-filled yet.
Even without priests, God will still work in hidden ways and diverse manners to renew the face of the Earth. The narrative of Christian Catholicism is not in eclipse but continues to grow and elaborate. What a future narrative humbly asks of us is our grace and our maturity to allow it to emerge.
• Fr David Keating is chaplain to the Waterford Institute of Technology. dkeating@wit.ie