In Mayo’s Killala diocese, there are currently only 7 priests under the age of 55 for 22 parishes. From 1980 to 2012, the ratio of Catholics per priest increased globally, with the number of Catholics per priest going from 1,895 to 3,126."

In 2015 the figure was 17, 14 in 2014 and 20 in 2013. The number of actively working priests in Ireland is now believed to be as low as 1,900 as official figures for the past decade slide by a massive 514.. The number of diocesan priests in Ireland dropped from 3,203 in 2002 to 2,800 in 2012, a fall of 403 in the decade. O nly five priests were ordained in dioceses in Ireland last year.. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin presided over the ordination to the priesthood of Seamus McEntee, a 48-year-old former car salesman from Rathcoole, Co Dublin. Photograph: David Sleator Eight men have begun this propaedeutic year in locations around Ireland and abroad. Denver, Colo., May 12, 2019 / 04:00 am MT ().-This year, 481 men in the United States will kneel in cathedral churches and be ordained as Catholic priests for Jesus Christ. In 2014, 49,153 parishes in the world had no resident priest pastor.

In 1984 there were 171 ordinations in Ireland compared to the much more recent figure of only 22 in 2006. Between 1970 and 2017, the number of priests declined from 419,728 to 414, There are now just 70 men studying for the priesthood with just 12 in Maynooth.

THERE is a serious shortage of new priests across the country, with just 26 ordained over the last four years. In the years since World War II there has been a substantial reduction in the number of priests per capita in the Catholic Church, a phenomenon considered by many to constitute a "shortage" in the number of priests. Last year 14 men began as seminarians in Maynooth. Catholic Church in Ireland hits historic low of men becoming priests Ireland's national ... year ahead of officially starting seminary formation in 2019. 13 men to be ordained as priests by O’Malley; largest group in nearly 2 decades By Breanne Kovatch Globe Correspondent, May 17, 2019, 2:27 p.m. Email to a Friend