Posted on 12/04/2017 6:21:54 PM PST by marshmallow
I recently came across an interesting datum about the priest shortage in this country, especially in the large archdioceses. It seems that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles ordained only seven men in 2017 for well over 4 million Catholics. That reminded me of the kind of vocation data that have plagued the large archdioceses of South America for centuries. So I looked into our other large archdioceses, and I must say the picture is rather stunning.
Take the five largest: Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York, and Houston. In 2017, these five ordained a total of 33 men to serve a combined population of 12.5 million Catholics. (Again, like what we have long seen in South America where the vocations were so few that most priests come from outside that continent.) Here too, a significant number of those being ordained were born outside the United States. Indeed, in one of these local churches not a single ordained priest was born in the United States. A half-century ago those 33 ordained would have been fairly common in a single large archdiocese. Obviously, those days are gone.
Just for comparison, I looked up a couple of small dioceses that have been far more successful in recruiting. In Wichita, ten men were ordained in 2017; in Lincoln Nebraska, there were five. Now Wichita serves approximately 120,000 Catholics, Lincoln about 95,000. So, two small dioceses with a combined population of 215,000 produced almost half as many ordinations as five major archdioceses with a combined population of 12.5 million! How is this possible? How can two small dioceses have no vocation crisis while the largest archdioceses in the country have a tremendous problem?
There is no simple answer to these questions. Nonetheless, you would think that the USCCB might be jarred to look into the......
(Excerpt) Read more at thecatholicthing.org ...
I would think many men would aspire to the priesthood and the church would have to limit how many it could let in, educate, use effectively. Only 7 in the entire Los Angeles area in a whole year is — pitiful. Should have been thousands applying at least — the essay is very well written but maybe there’s a much larger problem — maybe there’s almost no faith left in especially those under 30? You’d think if faith were still alive that many would seek to serve as clerics? Has the church “lost it” in America as it reportedly has in Europe, alas!— or what’s really happening? (Note that even if there were very little faith left, you’d think many more men than a mere seven out of a county of nine millions would still be interested in the priesthood in purely non- religious or career terms alone. )
This revives the debate over celibacy, among other subjects.
fine on celibacy debate BUT STILL AND ALL....only 7 interested in a county of nearly 10 million people?
there’s something bigger going on .... imho....
far bigger, i think,...
has to be...
We’re a long way from medieval days when the clergy was a huge chunk of the population. It just isn’t a sexy..so to speak, occupation these days even in the places where you don’t have to be celibate. Of course celibacy doesn’t exactly help the numbers.
Yup, the root problem is far deeper than just a recruitment crisis. The way we do modern society is inherently secularizing. You can blame the churches and they shoulder a bit of blame. Most have gone left and exist only to apologize a few have gone plain nutty and are more concerned about attacking other denominations then battling secularity. And generally they have no effective earthly leadership or clue about how to handle this new world. But by and large it is a cultural shift that extends much farther than clergy as we see every day here.
Yes. What I’m thinking is — the LA diocese is the largest in America with over 5 million Catholics. If only 7 want to become priests, there’s something really really really going on. Not just secular culture even. LA has a huge Latin American catholic immigrant population. They usually are reliable priest producers. Even if all 5 million Catholics gave up on faith, you’d still think far more then seven guys would apply for the priesthood / even as a “job” — the living standards of a California priest are still better than in many other lines of work — —� I’m not saying the priesthood SHOULD be looked at as just another “job” - but even at that rudimentary level of snakydud it sure beats hundreds of other jobs ourmt there! Not back- breaking labor, no toxic chemicals, no assembly lines being sped up on You, better housing than some, etc. as a pure job the priesthood has its pluses and minuses - but it certainly still is better then a lot of jobs out there! And yet, only 7 out of five million! ??? The sevularized society is we agree a big part of the problem yes indeed. But - imho - even that can’t explain the almost complete rejection of the church that we are witnessing
It seems at least a contributing factor that it would be very difficult to rise in the priesthood for someone who knows that homosexuality is not normal.
The church makes little effort to identify and recruit suitable young men for the priesthood. The attitude has always seemed to be that the Lord will provide enough vocations.
I speak from a measure of personal experience here. I was a very studious young man, but at the same time not without decent social skills.
These qualities served me well during my ultimate career as a newspaper reporter and editor.
But I have to wonder if the talents God gave me couldn’t have been put to a higher and better use. I was fairly tight with the Catholic chaplains on my post during my Army service — lectored at mass, and so on.
What I never heard was “Lt. Nothingburger, you’re a good Catholic young man, you’re not planning to make the Army a career — have you ever considered the seminary as your next step?”
From the standpoint of 59 years, I have to wonder if I could have made a success in the priesthood. All I needed was a little push.
The celibacy thing wouldn’t have mattered much. While in no way deformed or demented, I’ve never exactly been a hit with the ladies — too scholarly, too much a gentleman of the old school, and generally uncool.
I’ve never been married, and have always been a bit of a loner — although this was a quality that helped a lot in the news business, where you need to be personable without getting emotionally involved in your stories.
Leadership always requires a degree of emotional detachment, and I believe this applies to the clergy as well. This doesn’t mean being cold or unapproachable, just that you have to maintain your objectivity about people’s problems.
>>Yup, the root problem is far deeper than just a recruitment crisis.<<
The root problem? The VC-II debacle, orchestrated by and anti-Catholic cabal of leftists, many of whom were homosexuals and pedophiles, and the female wanna-be priestesses in the religious orders who supported them, have been (and still are) the root of the problem. These conspirators undermined all of the institutions of the Catholic Church, destroyed the sanctity of the Tridentine Mass, and replaced it with a cheap parody of non-Catholic religious services. Legions of once devout Catholics quietly slipped out of the pews never to return. Sad.
“From the standpoint of 59 years, I have to wonder if I could have made a success in the priesthood. All I needed was a little push.”
Well - maybe this article was the push? Although I’m guessing you wouldn’t want to move to L.A. But I imagine it is similar in other parts of the country too. I suppose there is a relatively long process of education as well.
A friend of mine was a corporate lawyer but always involved in the church (disclaimer - we are both Protestants). I think he was about 55 when he started seminary school while continuing to work, and just this past Spring was ordained, and after a few months is now the pastor at a small church in another state and close to relatives.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a traditional Catholic order, has its North American seminary in Lincoln, Nebraska. As of the fall of 2017 they had more than 75 seminarians there.
Another traditional order, the Society of Pius X, has so many vocations that they were turning young men away. They outgrew their seminary in Minnesota and built a massive new one in Virginia to accommodate them all. They average 40 or more new seminarians every year.
If you want to know why real Catholic men have no interest in signing up for a lifelong commitment in the modern Catholic Church, look no further than a typical address by Pope Francis on any given subject. You'll hear all kinds of nonsense about the dangers of climate change and admonishments for everyone to accept Muslim refugees from sh!t-holes all over the world, but you never hear him even mention God in these silly, vapid public statements.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. -- Matthew 7:15-20
Hi!
very interesting, thanks!
yes, i considered similarly, did not receive any push like you ... had a secular career instead like you
think in my case maybe would not have been all that good as a cleric, there’s a need for empathy... i have empathy but it grows a bit weary after a person won’t try, at least, to fix their problems... i don’t expect them to do any miracles but sometimes they won’t even try anything, expecting everyone else to solve everything for them ... i’ve seen others who are better with the empathy thing, smile smile smile
perhaps you might find some sort of good, helpful volunteering activity now that you might enjoy?
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