A number of Irish bishops believe that Irish people have become “pagan”, a report by the Association of 
Catholic Priests (ACP) has said.
In a summary of ACP meetings with Priests’ Councils in a number of dioceses, their leadership team said many priests agreed with them that priests who had left to get married should be brought back to address the growing shortage of priests.
However, they said that a “a substantial number of bishops, and some priests” believe that many of the current problems with the Church were “caused by a lack of faith” among the people.
They wrote: “The people, they told us, have bought into the evils of materialism and consumerism, and don’t have time or interest in faith any more.
“They have, to all intents and purposes, become pagan.
“And they believe that ‘evangelisation’ is the answer. It is a convenient belief, in that the blame lies elsewhere than among ourselves.
“But, apart from stating their understanding of the problem, there didn’t seem to us to be any practical ideas, or indeed energy, around how this evangelisation could be progressed.
“One bishop told us bluntly that he totally disagreed with our analysis, and another felt that dialogue with us would be very difficult while we held such unacceptable views about priesthood.
The report also mentioned that the leadership team had “highlighted the fact that there are now sufficient numbers of false allegations against priest to cause concern”.