Posted on 10/29/2003 8:59:36 AM PST by american colleen
LOL! There were, maybe, 12 minor seminaries in the United States?
The average age of priests will be 60 in 2005!
The clock is ticking.
I know. I read it. It is the same information that he provided in the initial link.
We all know the numbers and we all know that there is a dearth of priests in some areas. But this does not address why there is NOT a dearth of priests in the more orthodox dioceses and why there IS a dearth of priests in the progressive dioceses - which is the topic of this thread.
That's fine, nothing you can do about that. Shouldn't really be a problem with approx. 30% of Catholics attending Mass once a week. Like I said, I would rather drive for an hour and have an orthodox priest say Mass even if I have to stand the whole time in the back of the Church then have 20 local progressive or apathetic priests who, in trying to be "relevant" are prisoners of the latest spiritual psycobabble or the newest fads.
And plenty of priests.
Uh, no.
I went to one in Dallas in 1965, for a year, and we had 20 students, and three priests tied up teaching us.
At the same time, the Southern Baptists have created about 17 new Churches in these areas during this time frame. Ain't that a kick?
But my real concern is that you find yourself in the company of liberal,modernist,progressive Amchurchians. See, Colleen's comment on the "Rent-a-Priest" founder and compadre of the writer of one of your articles.
Read the article and do some research on minor seminaries - they were as large as regular Catholic high schools, student wise.
The VAST MAJORITY of the men I know who've left the priesthood were in minor seminaries at one time.
I only debunked your citation of "12 minor seminaries" and showed you that at one time there were 122 minor seminaries. I didn't comment on them beyond that.
IMO they are a bad idea but that has nothing to do with this topic.
LOL! ANYBODY who disagrees with YOU is an "Amchurchian."
Dean Hoge has studied the decline in the number of priests for years, and is quoted in the CARA research above. The number of priests is less, the number of seminarians is less, and the replacement numbers are not enough to cover those priests who die and retire.
Canon Law allows each bishop control of priests who study for his diocese, so Bruskewitz is not likely to farm out priests to Mahoney.
Lots of farm boys entering seminaries, as in Rockford and Lincoln and Fargo, and Omaha.
Oklahoma City and Tulsa both have very "orthodox" bishops, yet their numbers are down. Is the bishop in Arlington "orthodox"? Seems to me I've read an article here where he was trying to kick a priest out of his diocese who was squealing on a priest who broke up a long-time marriage.
Anyway, perhaps Dean Hoge will explore these dioceses and draw a statistical correlation.
And, it's interesting that the Pope seems not to want to move any of these "orthodox" bishops into the larger sees. He's had a couple of shots with Bruskewitz (Boston, Milwaukee), yet Bishop Fabian is still on the plains.
It could have to do with how well these men will be received by the priests in place.
O'Malley, your own archbishop, for all the jumping up and down here, seems to have already fallen out of favor.
If FReepers were in charge of screening seminary candidates, the number of priests would dwindle to a handful.
Communion in the hand was a common practice as can be see in reading the Early Church Fathers and the History of the Roman Rite. Folks even used to bring the Eucharist home with them.
All this stuff about kneeling vs. standing, communion in the hand vs on the tongue, receiving kneeling vs standing ect is all so much piffle. The posture of Christians at Mass has changed over time and so has the manner of receiving the Eucharist.
Who is the one so Holy or with sufficient authority as to object to what Holy Mother Church approves for us?
I dare say the early Christians, who fasted twice weekly, and were daily in danger of being martyred for even going to The Eucharist and took the Eucharist in their hands were no less Christian than we holy, enlightened ones alive today.
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