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Irish Catholic missionary numbers in developing countries drop below 2,000
Sunday, October 19, 2008 By John Burke
The number of Irish Catholic missionaries working in the developing world has fallen below 2,000, according to a new census being finalised by the Irish Missionary Union (IMU).

At the peak of Ireland’s role in overseas missions in the 1960s,ther e were more than 7,000 Irish priests, brothers and nuns working around the world. By time of the last IMU survey in 2006, however, that figure had fallen to 2,184 missionaries in 83 countries.

Of those,1,329 were in African countries,4 25 were based in Asia-Oceania,3 91 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 39 in eastern Europe and the Middle East. The finalised numbers for 2008 are expected to show that there are now about 1,100 in Africa.

Fr Eamon Aylward, executive secretary of the IMU, said the decline in the number of Irish missionary workers had affected morale among some older missionaries. However, Aylward, who spent 14 years as a missionary priest in Mozambique, said that the increase in the number of native Africans entering the seminaries was part of an ‘‘organic and natural’’ succession.

‘‘It is a mistake to see mission as something that is, in essence, inherently Irish. If you say it is, then is it diminished when there are fewer Irish men and women to play a leading part?” said Aylward, speaking ahead of World Mission Day today.

The 2006 Irish government White Paper on Aid described the Irish missions as ‘‘pioneers’’ in development assistance, an d said that the state overseas development programme - which has a budget of €900 million - had ‘‘followed that lead’’.

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