Priesthood: a calling of which few respond

Priesthood: a calling of which few respond

GARETH EDWARDS gedwards@scotsman.com

IN THE fading Spanish sunlight, Michael John Galbraith knelt before the simple cross hanging on the wall and bowed his head in prayer. For the young trainee priest, it had been another difficult day at the Royal Scots College, on the outskirts of Salamanca, which had again left him full of doubts. After a day of study in the nearby city, he had returned to his room wondering whether he could make it through the next six years.

Since arriving at the seminary, in the heart of the small, vibrant Spanish city near the western border with Portugal, he had been beset with doubts and concerns about his chosen path, his faith repeatedly tested. Problems with the language and adapting to a different culture only made things harder to bear, and once again he found himself back in his small, sparsely furnished room asking God for help. "Every day I thought about leaving, about giving it up," he admits. "I wondered if being a priest was the right thing to do, and for most of the people there it was a constant question at the back of their minds." Finding strength through prayer, he made it through seminary and, now 29, Father Galbraith has been a Roman Catholic priest at St John the Baptist church in Corstorphine for over two years. "I think that is why you are given such a long period of time at seminary, to mature in your faith and discover whether that really is the path God wants you to follow," he says. Father Galbraith is the youngest priest in Edinburgh, and as such is one of the steadily dwindling number of people in Scotland who have decided to make the lifelong commitment to the Catholic Church. This shortage of new recruits to the priesthood is of such concern that Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, recently announced plans to establish five super-parishes across the city, after estimates suggested the Capital's complement of priests will fall from 14 to just eight in the next nine years. One of the main problems for the church is that to choose the life of a Catholic priest requires sacrifices which few people in modern society are willing to make. "People now are reluctant to make the kind of commitment the Catholic Church demands, and to agree to the disciplines you are asked to follow," says Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland. "In today's society people value personal freedom, they value financial wealth and they want sexual freedom. These are the things which are seen as most important by people today, and yet being a Catholic priest means choosing to live a life that is the exact opposite of these things. "When you first join you take a vow of obedience to the Bishop, and so you are essentially a servant of the church. Priests must take a vow of celibacy, and as far as money is concerned, they won't have any. So it is totally counter-cultural. "It is really a testament to the people who do join that they are willing to go so against the ideas of modern society and have the faith to make that commitment." Originally from Livingston, Father Galbraith joined the seminary straight after completing his degree in Theology and Philosophy at Glasgow University in 1998. Like the majority of priests he had a fairly religious up- bringing in the Catholic faith, although it was not until later in life that he decided to become a priest. "It is something you only come to after a lot of prayer and a lot of thought," he says. "Even though I was brought up in the faith I never really wanted to be a priest when I was younger. I'm not sure what I wanted to be, and certainly when I went to university I didn't really have any set plan as to what I would do with my life. "When I finally decided to be a priest a lot of my friends were surprised at the choice I had made. Others wondered why it had taken me so long to make up my mind though, which I must admit was something I was quite surprised by, as I had found it such a difficult decision to make." During his time in Spain he would rise early for mass and prayer, before spending the remainder of the day studying the history and practices of the church. At night the priests were given time for personal study or prayer. While freely admitting the difficulty of making it through seminary, he says the vibrant Catholicism of Spain was something he greatly enjoyed. "It was very exciting, and you feel that people there are really involved with the church and their faith, from the fiestas and ceremonies through to daily life in the churches," he says. When pressed on what it was that made him decide to become a priest, Father Galbraith says it came about partly as a result of watching other priests at work - although he admits to feeling a divine influence over his actions. "It was what God wanted me to do," he says. "From speaking to other priests that is generally how they feel as well - you are inspired to become a priest. You are chosen." At the historic church in Corstorphine, Father Galbraith regularly has crowds of 400 people of all ages attending Sunday services, and he says he has never regretted his decision to become a priest. "What I get most enjoyment from are the Sacraments, mass and confession, as they are all helping to bring people closer to God," he says. "For me it is not just about helping people in the social sense, although we do a lot of that. As priests our job is to act in the place of God, so in the Sacraments for example, we are quite literally bringing God to the people." But while he would like to encourage and inspire the younger members of the congregation towards a life in the church, he feels it is something which is out of his hands. "I'd be delighted if I could encourage young people to consider becoming a priest," he says. "All I can do is open up the possibility to them and try to engage as many people as possible in the faith. Ultimately it is God's decision." Which is perhaps where the Catholic Church's problem lies. There can be no Army-style recruitment campaign to get young men to sign up if they have to wait to be chosen. "There is no pressure on anyone to enter the priesthood," agrees Kearney. "People do it of their own volition and really it has to be a personal choice. So we can't really run a recruiting campaign. It wouldn't work, as being a priest is not a career. It is a deep personal commitment. The people who take up the challenge are called by God, and they generally feel unfulfilled in what they are doing and look to a religious vocation to change their lives. "In terms of encouraging more people to become priests, really all we can do is pray that more people will decide that is the path they want to take." While prayer may be the answer, not all agree that the shortage of recruits is simply down to the change in society's attitude towards religion. Father Richard Reid, 34, has been a priest for eight years, and took his vows after spending eight years at seminaries in Plymouth and Canterbury. He has been a priest at St Patrick's Parish Church in the Cowgate for the last five-and-a-half years and has a congregation of more than 800 people attending every Sunday. While he realises there is a shortage of new priests coming through in Edinburgh, he feels it is part of a much wider problem. "It seems to me that it is the same reason we don't have enough nurses or enough teachers or enough policemen - we don't have enough young people to fill these vacancies," he says. Raised in a Catholic family in Greenock, he says he was "a Catholic from birth" and unlike Father Galbraith never had any doubt about what he wanted to do. "Being a priest was always my ambition," he says. "It struck me as being something very exciting and challenging, the idea of constantly working with people and helping other people. I found seminary hard work, but it was just before I was set to take my vows that I really felt unsettled. "Taking the vows is a lifelong commitment, and I think that was something that caused me to think. "But I greatly enjoy being a priest, as it is really is a job where you don't know what the next day will bring." He also feels that while there may be a shortage of priests at the moment, the calling is not something that young people today dismiss out of hand. "I saw it as an exciting job, and I think that is still the case," he says. "I have actually spoken to a lot of young people about it, and I got some sixth year students to fill out a questionnaire on the subject. "What surprised me was that a very high number of them admitted they had considered becoming a priest, and while I am not expecting a flurry of applications, it shows it is still something young people consider."

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