The Last Priests and Nuns in Ireland

But the numbers tracked in both documentaries are stark. Half a century ago, there were more than 14,000 women religious in Ireland. Today that number stands closer to 4,000, with an average age that is over 80. New vocations are, in Ms. McDonald’s words, “vanishingly rare.” The national seminary at Maynooth was once home to as many as 500 seminarians. Today there are just 20. Neither Ms. McDonald nor Mr. O’Hanlon conclude that the church in Ireland will actually die out. In fact, both shows give plenty of space for Christian leaders to articulate how they see the state of the contemporary church not so much as suffering a decline but a kind of “fulfillment,” experiencing a change in the seasons, a period of hibernation before a new spring for the Catholic Church in Ireland emerges at the right time.