They saw his fidelity

A priest for every 800 Catholics, average age 61; a growth in the number of vocations that has been constant over the last four years, and is concentrated in important cities like London; and 150 seminarians preparing to become priests today: that, in brief, is the situation of vocations in England and Wales. Father PAUL EMBERY , director of the National Office for Vocations of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has explained, in an interview with SIR, who becomes a priest today. Does there exist in England and Wales, as in other countries, a crisis due to the shortage of priests? “A priest for every 800 faithful is a very generous ratio for these times, if we think that in Latin America there is only one priest for every 7-8-9000 inhabitants. In other European countries there are far less priests than here. The problem is the future, the next twenty or thirty years, because there aren’t enough new vocations to replace the priests who are now retiring. At the present time some priests have to serve two parishes and they manage admirably to do so, but when they have to care for three or four parishes their energies begin to flag. Last year twenty priests were ordained in England and Wales, a number insufficient to replace those who died. In a typical diocese 2-3 priests retire or die each year and only one new one is ordained. In the 1950s and 1960s there were far more vocations, but in 2003 the low point was reached with only 24 new entrants into seminaries. Last year, by contrast, there were 44 new priests, an increase that is a strong sign of hope”. To what is this revival due? “It’s difficult to identify the causes; each personal story is different. The death of John Paul II in April 2005 generated a lot of interest in the Catholic Church. In April, May, June and July of that year we had a threefold increase in the number of vocations and today the number of vocations is higher than it was three years ago”. What has happened? “The young saw the fidelity that the Pope had for his vocation and were attracted by his faith”. Can you draw the profile of a typical aspirant priest in England today? “Over the last twenty years the average age of new priests in England and Wales has risen. Once it was 25; now it is 31. A typical candidate to the priesthood today is a thirty-year-old graduate, English or Welsh. There are few aspirant priests from non-white ethnic minorities. Although there are many coloured or Asian immigrants, especially in London, these communities tend not to produce Catholic priests, and this represents a problem for us because we are conscious that a priest should reflect the communities from which he comes. Even the strong Polish immigration to England over the last two or three years has not produced many new vocations. I think, though, that the situation will change in future and the problem will be overcome”. What are the reasons for the fall in vocations since the war? “Attendance at mass has declined. Today only 25-30% of Catholics regularly go to mass and the percentage is even lower among the young. In childhood, with First Communion and Confirmation, and in adolescence with its youth clubs, the Catholic Church offers a structure of catechesis and manages to reach youngsters under the age of eighteen. After this age, with arrival at university, there is the impact of a highly secularised society. In Great Britain the Catholic movements are not so strong as they are in the rest of Europe and young university students must be highly motivated if they want to continue to go to church. That’s why new vocations to the priesthood are more highly motivated than before, because aspirant priests must be very conscious of the reasons that motivate their work and be able to justify it to non-believers”. So new priests who are older than they were in the past are more highly motivated and better prepared? “In England and Wales there’s a gap in structures for the formation of priests under the age of eighteen. There’s no longer a seminary for this age group because in recent years the idea has spread among educators, priests and parents that it was better for those who had a vocation first to be exposed to the real world. That’s why it was then decided to privilege mature vocations. But today we are realizing that there exists at this level a lack of pastoral work not only for those who want to become priests, but also more generally for those who want to reflect on their own vocation”. Is it to reach a younger age group that in your latest campaign for vocations you used animated Japanese Manga cartoons? “Many priests and religious confirm they had thought of their own vocation for the first time when they were little more than ten years old, sometimes even earlier. So we thought these cartoons, which speak of real vocations, were the best way to communicate with children who aspire to become priest