Posted on 07/21/2009 8:01:45 PM PDT by kellynla
The morning sun has barely crept above the horizon when 13 beginning seminarians emerge from dormitory rooms and wander into the chapel of their religious compound.
"God our Father . . . let not temptation ever quench the fire that your love has kindled within us," they recite from their liturgy books.
Inside the Junipero Serra House of Formation, at the base of a rock-strewn mountain 60 miles east of Los Angeles, these men -- the youngest just 19 -- are getting their first taste of the priesthood, devoting themselves to prayer, obedience and celibacy.
They are a precious commodity in the U.S. Catholic Church, which faces a critical shortage of priests that is magnified in fast-growing regions such as the Inland Empire.
This corner of Southern California has one diocesan priest for every 13,000 Catholics. Nationally, the figure is roughly one for every 3,500.
If there is a solution, at least in the Diocese of San Bernardino, it may lie at Serra House, a Mission-style complex where recruitment is handled by a gregarious nun in earrings, and religious guidance is left to two priests in sandals and short sleeves.
It is one of about a dozen formation houses across the country that give would-be priests an opportunity to test their resolve before they enter traditional seminaries.
But there are no miracles in this priestly incubator, only the beginning of a long, painstaking journey.
This year, the diocese has ordained just two priests. Last year, it produced a bumper crop -- six. In the 24 years since Serra House opened, it has contributed 45 priests to a diocese that stretches hundreds of miles from the cities of Riverside and San Bernardino through desert towns to the Arizona and Nevada borders.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
ping
The critical flaw that will sink Serra House. No wonder the diocese produces so few priests. They have a secularized woman in charge.
Well, all we can do is to continue to pray to God for his help & for more vocations.
***The critical flaw that will sink Serra House. No wonder the diocese produces so few priests. They have a secularized woman in charge.***
An aggressive lesbian, rather. The fruits that they are known by, right?
Conservative dioceses yield an abundance of priests. Liberal fruity dioceses yield little.
“gregarious nun in earrings”
There should be a canonical law against this kind of priestly formation.
There must be a moral in there somewhere if only we could figure it out.
Three or four times a year, the local commie Congressman, George Brown D Colton, would have his picture taken with the local Bishop.
On several occasions, while walking the precincts for "R" candidates, I was told, "The Blessed Mother will understand if I vote for an abortionist, she ran a household too".
I don't know who is the Bishop now, but hopefully their closer to the doctrine that abortion is murder of an innocent.
What people will do for free cheese :^(
I think the way to get more priests is the way we have always gotten them— imported from other countries. The cities had Irish and Italian ones. My ancestors in Kansas had priests from Germany. Now, there are plenty of priests from Nigeria, Philippinnes, Poland, Viet Nam, Korea. We just need to hire them. A Nigerian requires a fraction of the money to train and house that an American at Serra House will require. And he has a charming accent, to boot.
We just had a Vietnamese associate who was very eloquent about the Eucharist, and very earnestly dedicated to his vocation. I’ll take a few more like him.
The sad thing about having imports will not be getting used to a different accent and culture. It will be that a lot of American men are not getting a fair chance to respond to their calling.
Blessed Junípero Serra 1713 - 1784 (Mission Chronology, Biography, etc.)
The Significance Of Blessed Junipero Serra (pictures of Missions)
The moral is, I think, that the Church must, as it always has, produce a clergy steeped in the teachings of Christ.
***The moral is, I think, that the Church must, as it always has, produce a clergy steeped in the teachings of Christ.***
Not a bad way to put it.
***”Conservative dioceses yield an abundance of priests. Liberal fruity dioceses yield little”
Three or four times a year, the local commie Congressman, George Brown D Colton, would have his picture taken with the local Bishop.
On several occasions, while walking the precincts for “R” candidates, I was told, “The Blessed Mother will understand if I vote for an abortionist, she ran a household too”.***
My darling wife runs a household as well as my sainted mother did. Neither of them would do anything more than run in horror from an abortionist. Well, perhaps my wife would do more. I trained her in the use of her own Ruger .357 and given certain incentives, she can shoot truer than I do.
***I don’t know who is the Bishop now, but hopefully their closer to the doctrine that abortion is murder of an innocent.***
BXVI is playing the bishop’s chess game in the US with the greatest of skill. The last 50 years of USCCB misbehaviour gives evidence to the old Orthodox saying that the floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.
In the words of Robert Heinlein: TANSTAAFL.
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch...
I can still see his mug, chatting with some Prottie lads "Now don't you lads worry about me and the ladies... Part of my job is to see you go home to your sweethearts without the filthy, life threatening diseases which are out there. Now go enjoy your weekend".
***I glad no one tried to make my comments into an anto-Catholic statement.***
Hmm, that’d really be stretching it. I don’t see how anybody reasonable could take them as anti Catholic. It’s definitely been true in a number of places; my wife’s side of the family is full of diehard Catholic Democrats who accept things like abortion, divorce, clemency for murderers, birth control at puberty, etc etc. with as much thought as they do to such matters as blinking their eyes or taking a breath.
Love your anecdote; I’ve known a few ordained Catlicks who were perfect parish priests, some that were perfect bishops, some that were perfect monks; and most of them were darn near perfect people. :)
However many people do not or can not separate the Faith from those who proclaim to believe. One is not the other.
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