The Scottish Church has seen a surge in ordinations, with 12 priests ordained this year, the largest number in two decades.
Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, president of Priests for Scotland, said his office had also noticed a rise in enquiries and interest in vocations.
“It is great news to see the biggest number of ordinations to the priesthood for over two decades,” he said.
Since 1997 there has been an average of five ordinations a year, and in 2008 there were none. Last autumn there were 30 students in seminaries.
“On top of that there seems to be a general rise in the number of men approaching our vocations directors to apply for seminary,” he said.
In addition the Church is hearing from “growing numbers of women with new interest in the religious life to provide for the many needs of the marginalised or excluded in our society”.
Bishop Keenan credited the Church’s vocations directors for its “fresh ideas” and use of social media “to help identify and accompany those who feel God calling them. We can see this good work beginning to pay off.”
Professor Stephen Bullivant, director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society, told the Scottish Catholic Observer that the increase
may be down to the “Benedict bounce”.
He said: “These young men would have entered seminary just after the papal visit in 2010, so one possibility is that the pool of young men discerning their vocation was ‘tipped out’ by the visit,” he said. “I do think the fact we’re starting to see vocations rise again from almost nothing is part of a wider, quiet revival.”
Pro-lifers alarmed at call to use abortion as birth control
More than half of women who seek abortions were using contraception at the time they conceived, an abortion provider has disclosed.
Data collected by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) found that 51.2 per cent of 60,592 women who went for abortions at its clinics had been using at least one form of contraception. The charity said that about nine in 100 women using the Pill would become pregnant each year.
BPAS is using its evidence to make the case for late-term abortions, arguing that abortion is a necessary part of birth control. Ann Furedi, the chief executive, said: “When you encourage women to use contraception, you give them the sense that they can control their fertility – but if you do not provide safe abortion services when that contraception fails you are doing them a great disservice.”
Conservative MP Maria Caulfield criticised BPAS’s argument, saying: “When a foetus is viable after 20 weeks it cannot be right that they can be aborted so easily.”
Mark Bhagwandin, spokesman for the charity Life, said the idea of abortion as contraception was “morally repugnant”.
Ex-footballer ordained a priest
A former Manchester United footballer has been ordained as a Dominican priest.
Fr Philip Mulryne, who earned 27 caps for Northern Ireland, was ordained at St Saviour’s Church in Dublin by Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, assistant secretary at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Fr Mulryne, who also played for Norwich City, began his studies a year after retiring from football.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.