Uh ... professor .... women will NEVER be ordained to the Catholic Church. The pope has spoken infallibly on this. It is finished.
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You'd think this guy would get that point, but hey, maybe he just doesn't want to see it.
What a dolt!
The reason there is a shortage of priests is because this is what people want from their church.
He is right in one thing. If priests were allowed to marry and women priests were allowed, the people would stop coming and there would be no more shortage.
In defense of Professor Hoge, he is a professor of SOCIOLOGY, not THEOLOGY. Thus, his perspective is that of a SOCIOLOGIST, and his conclusions may thus be quite valid (although I disagree with his conclusions on their actual sociological merits).
If also irrelevant.
As well, if I recall correctly, Professor Hoge is not a Catholic. Thus, as a non-Catholic SOCIOLOGIST, I don't believe he is under any obligation to reflect Catholic doctrine concerning women's ordination in the Catholic Church.
Gee whiz. Dr. Hoge didn't mention the lack of prayer for vocations as a problem.
I laugh (instead of crying) when people loudly lament the vocation shortage and then seem perplexed when I suggest praying for an increase in vocations.
Didn't we have 'World Day of Prayer for Vocations' a few weeks ago? We got a rather feeble stab at it during the Prayers of the Faithful at my parish. If we want an increase in vocations ( Long hours! Lousy pay! ) I think we need to pray for it.
The immigration problems are not problems except to snub the American Catholics of the priests we need from overseas. Americans failed to produce families of sufficient size to offer God the clergy Jesus' Bride deserves. We must outsource Holy Orders. With social security being what it has become, sending a child to vows of celibacy will hurt the secular and not the Faithful.
The Faithful will endure on bended knee. Our Church will not marry its clergy nor ordain women. God's Spirit will provide and the message will speak of His presence. His numbers will grow in spite of hardship and maybe even because of hardship.
Simple solution already at work. Communities that grow priests get priests. Priests don't fall like manna from the skies. They come from good orthodox praying families. If it takes a generation or two to turn it around, all the more will good priests be appreciated and all the more priests will there be. In the mean time, those families and communities that preach women priests and married priests as the solution will grow none. It's self-correcting.
Why oh why does everyone hop on this same sad bandwagon. EVERY thing 'wrong' with anything has to do with (let's face it) "sex." Or "gender." But mostly "sex."
NOT TRUE. First of all, men who are called and appointed by God don't have a problem with a lifetime commitment to The Church. Does Pope Benedict XVI have a problem? Did Pope John Paul II have a problem? Did Pope John Paul I? Did Pope Paul VI? Did Pope John XXIII? WHERE does anyone get this idea? Who is going around saying that the "problem" of the Priesthood has to do with "sex" and/or "gender?" It's certainly NOT the men I mentioned. Or thousands of others who join them gladly in a life of total commitment to Christ and His Church.
Personally, our Society has become so degraded, debauched, and debilitated that it constantly attacks the few (very few) absolutes that are presented to it. There is something fundamentally "sick" about a Society which cannot accept "NO, not now, not ever" for an answer.
The seminaries in South American, India and Africa are oveflowing. If the Bishops in the US really want more priests, then they need to do what the Bishops are doing in these other countries.
LOL