Some questions make no sense

On Tuesday in 'The Rite and Reason' column of The Irish Times, Fr David Keating, chaplain at Waterford IT argues that there is no need for concern over a shortfall of priests in Ireland.

The Letters to the Editor page of The Irish Times today carries a number of letters on the topic.

Is there a shortage of accountants, solicitors, engineers in Ireland at present? The engineering industry has been saying that there is a worry re the number of young people studying honours maths and physics in our schools.

Is there a shortage of poets, novelists, writers in Ireland today?

Even the question makes little sense. Maybe if we compare Ireland to the 1950s and 1960s when priests had to be exported, there is a shortage. But to that comparison we should be most grateful.

Back in the 1960s it was impossible to walk down Dublin's O'Connell Street without bumping into a bevvy of roman collars. It was a madness.

Sacramental priesthood can never be a numbers game. But anything that helps dismantle clericalism has to be a gift from God.

I have spent many years teaching at post-primary level. Last year and this year is my first occasion teaching in a post-primary school that is not managed by the Irish ecclesiastical church and where the principal is not a priest or a sister. I don't miss the absence of priest or sister.

My school principal is a good man and a good principal. Indeed, I would put him in the list of best principals, with whom I have worked. And what is most striking is that there is none of the terms such as 'Christian ethos' or 'Catholic school', which I heard so much about in other schools but never really understood and maybe seldom saw.

He and a Jesuit school-principal are top of my list.

What is always needed is a presence of good and moral people.