(Catholic) Seminarians Double In 25 Years

Thanks to Growth of Vocations in Asia and Africa

For so many years, we shipped our young priests over to Africa or down to South America. Here is the fruit of their prayers and labor.

I'll be back after a book study I am leading. BTW, Scott Hahn's book, "The Lamb's Supper" is excellent. Go to his website and get it at a discount. Retail -- $19.95

On his website -- $14.00

Plus an outline for study!

http://www.salvationhistory.com/online/beginner/begcourse2_home.cfm

BTW, Scott Hahn's book, "The Lamb's Supper" is excellent.

Agreed!

Scott Hahn’s The Lamb's Supper - The Mass as Heaven on Earth.
Foreword by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.
Part One - The Gift of the Mass

Hahn begins by describing the first mass he ever attended.

"There I stood, a man incognito, a Protestant minister in plainclothers, slipping into the back of a Catholic chapel in Milwaukee to witness my first Mass. Curiosity had driven me there, and I still didn't feel sure that it was healthy curiosity. Studying the writings of the earliest Christians, I'd found countless references to "the liturgy," "the Eucharist," "the sacrifice." For those first Christians, the Bible - the book I loved above all - was incomprehensible apart from the event that today's Catholics called "the Mass."

"I wanted to understand the early Christians; yet I'd had no experience of liturgy. So I persuaded myself to go and see, as a sort of academic exercise, but vowing all along that I would neither kneel nor take part in idolatry."

I took my seat in the shadows, in a pew at the very back of that basement chapel. Before me were a goodly number of worshipers, men and women of all ages. Their genuflections impressed me, as did their apparent concentration in prayer. Then a bell rang, and they all stood as the priest emerged from a door beside the altar.

Unsure of myself, I remained seated. For years, as an evangelical Calvinist, I'd been trained to believe that the Mass was the ultimate sacrilege a human could commit. The Mass, I had been taught, was a ritual that purported to "resacrifice Jesus Christ." So I would remain an observer. I would stay seated, with my Bible open beside me.

As the Mass moved on, however, something hit me. My Bible wasn't just beside me. It was before me - in the words of the Mass! One line was from Isaiah, another from Psalms, another from Paul. The experience was overwhelming. I wanted to stop everything and shout, "Hey, can I explain what's happening from Scripture? This is great!" Still, I maintained my observer status. I remained on the sidelines until I heard the priest pronounce the words of consecration: "This is My body . . . This is the cup of My blood."

Then I felt all my doubt drain away. As I saw the priest raise that white host, I felt a prayer surge from my heart in a whisper: "My Lord and my God. That's really you!"

I was what you might call a basket case from that point. I couldn't imagine a greater excitement than what those words had worked upon me. Yet the experience was intensified just a moment later, when I heard the congregation recite: "Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God," and the priest respond, "This is the Lamb of God . . ." as he raised the host. In less than a minute, the phrase "Lamb of God" had rung out four times. From long years of studying the Bible, I immediately knew where I was. I was in the Book of Revelation, where Jesus is called the Lamb no less than twenty-eight times in twenty-two chapters. I was at the marriage feast that John describes at the end of that very last book of the Bible. I was before the throne of heaven, where Jesus is hailed forever as the Lamb. I wasn't ready for this, though - I was at Mass!

Particularly worrying is the European situation

Europe is going to hell, and fast.

Salvation, I have to tell you I picked up The Lamb's Supper upon your recommendation. I have never been so profoundly moved and affected by a book as I have by this one. It has really filled in the boulder-size gaps in my Catholic education. Thank you so much for that!

I thought there was a crisis which could be solved only by an immediate switch to ordaining married men?

These data make it plain that crises are local and are rooted in things other than a requirement for celibacy.

The fundamental truth is we need less priests today. I know we hate to hear that, but it is true. Prior to the 1960s, nearly 80% of Catholics attended Mass and the other Sacraments regularly (confession). Today that number hovers a little above 20%. That is a 75% decrease in the number of faithful who regularly participate. It would follow that as a result you need less priests to serve the community and less bishops (I can think of a few cuts). The same goes with parish consolidation, you no longer need the Italian, German, Polish, and Irish Parish in the same small community.