Bishops here opt not to send seminarians to Irish College in Rome
THE Catholic bishops have announced that no Irish seminarians will be sent to study at the Irish Church’s oldest seminary this autumn.
The decision not to send any seminarians to the Pontifical Irish College in Rome for the coming academic year was announced by the Irish Bishops’ Conference yesterday following its online summer general meeting.
The move follows a discussion on the future of seminary provision by the Roman college’s trustees – the four archbishops, Eamon Martin, Diarmuid Martin, Michael Neary and Kieran O’Reilly.
The trustees have committed themselves to exploring new ways that the seminary can be of service to the Church in Ireland. A report on the college, which was founded in 1628, by the acting rector, Fr Paul Finnerty, was instrumental in the decision to scale down seminary formation.
Instead the college is set to become a place of ongoing formation for priests as well as deacons, parish catechists and pastoral workers.
Welcoming the bishops’ decision, Fr Paul Finnerty said in Rome yesterday the Irish College “is ready to play a key role in the renewal and revitalisation of the Irish mission”.
He said as part of the overall renewal of priestly formation, the trustees of the Irish College had decided to review the question of initial formation for the priesthood and that therefore no Irish seminarians will study there for the year 2020-21.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Fr Finnerty said: “I am very positive about the decision taken by the trustees.” He said over the past year, more than 30 priests from across the globe, including Ireland, had been in residence at the college.
However, the number of Irish seminarians studying in Rome has sharply declined in recent years. There are currently just five seminarians from Irish dioceses in formation at the college.
In 2016, the college opened its doors to American seminarians and there were 16 non-Irish seminarians at the college last year.
In his statement, Fr Finnerty paid tribute to the spirit of collaboration between the Irish College in Rome and the national seminary in Maynooth.
A spokesman for the Irish bishops said there are 33 resident seminarians and 16 non-resident seminarians in formation at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Asked if the decision was the first step in winding the Irish College down as a seminary, the bishops’ spokesperson said “no, this is not the case”.