Staring through the bottom of an empty pint glass has led many to understand their true calling in life. The British Catholic Church has targeted that legendary ‘moment of clarity’ among drinkers as part of a recruitment scheme to tackle a nationwide shortage of priests.

Not content with publicity from TV’s Father Ted, the church is placing adverts appealing for new priests on pub beer mats to get drinkers to swap last orders for Holy Orders. The church says the number of UK priests is falling to a 65-year low and many parishes could be left without a resident priest.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, raised the problem of priest numbers in his own Westminster diocese in a letter read out to congregations.

A recent report found the tally of priests in Westminster has fallen from 850 in 1990 to 600, and is expected to drop to 470 by 2015.