Irish Examiner view: Obvious answer to shortage of priests

Women have been overlooked by the Church for far too long and it is now time for a more inclusive Catholic Church to reveal itself.

Falling numbers of priests, which this week led to the creation of ‘families’ of parishes in the Cork and Ross diocese, to be overseen by a moderator priest and allow parishioners to receive some form of ministry, indicates that the Catholic Church here needs serious help.

With retirements aplenty and only one ordination taking place in September, the Church is reaching a point — not only in that diocese, but in many others throughout the country — where it needs solutions to obvious problems.

One answer, which the Church has resolutely sought to avoid, is the appointment of women in some form of ministerial capacity. Women have been overlooked by the Church for far too long and it is now time for a more inclusive Catholic Church to reveal itself. Church leaders may cling grimly to the hope that lay leadership and the involvement of deacons will provide some respite, but there is a very obvious answer staring them in the face, if only they could see it.