The Catholic Church in Ireland now has a “priest app.” Read on:
Want to be a priest? There’s an app for that
By Peter Taggart, for CNN Belief Blog
The Catholic Church in Ireland is going high-tech in a bid to reverse a dramatic decline in the number of priests.
An establishment viewed as a bastion of tradition is turning to a new app to encourage more “applications.” The app, says the church, is “designed to promote vocations to the priesthood.”
It is being hailed as a “world first” by the church in Ireland.
“The app is an original approach to assist current and future generations seeking to investigate and find information on vocations to the diocesan priesthood in Ireland,” a statement issued ahead of the launch said.
The number of new recruits to the priesthood has fallen sharply in the recent decades – and as Ireland has become engulfed in a series of child sex abuse scandals over the past few years.