The myth of too few priests

The international Catholic press has given much attention to the German bishops' ad limina visit to Rome.

The usual suspects - decline in numbers attending the Sacraments, shortage of priests, fall-off in priestly vocations - are the topics of discussion.

The shortage of priests is also a topic in the Irish Catholic press.

Of course there are hard-working, efficient priests, who do outstanding work. But like everything else in the Catholic Church, time and work practices are simply poorly and badly managed.

The managers of the hierarchical Catholic Church would be well advised to employ a company to carry out an audit of work practice within the organisation.