Catholic Priest Recruitment Program Launched [Fishers of Men]

FoxNewsChannel.com ^ | October 14, 2005 | AP

[Salvation]

Catholic Priest Recruitment Program Launched

 

American bishops, aiming to rebuild the dwindling ranks of Roman Catholic () priests, started a new campaign Friday encouraging clergy to invite young men into the priesthood.

 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops () said the "Fishers of Men" program () is a response to research that found nearly 80 percent of seminarians ordained in 2003 had been asked by a priest to consider the vocation. In another survey, less than one-third of Catholic clergy said they had specifically suggested that young men enroll in seminary.

 

As part of the campaign, priests in each diocese will be interviewed about what they find most rewarding in their ministries, then will meet to discuss their responses and develop a strategy to convey those thoughts to promising priest-candidates.

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The program launch comes at a difficult time in the church, as the clergy sex abuse crisis has demoralized many priests and Catholics await a Vatican () document on whether gays should be ordained. A Vatican-directed inspection of all U.S. seminaries is under way in response to the abuse scandal that began in 2002.

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Bishop Blase Cupich, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Vocations, said church leaders are aware of these challenges, but believe the program can still be effective. "Fishers of Men" has already been used successfully in five dioceses, he said.

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Since 1965, the number of annual ordinations has dropped by more than half to 454 this year.

The number of American priests has decreased in the same period from 58,632 to 42,528.

[hispanichoosier]

Archbishop Bruskewitz in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska started getting LOTS of young men entering the Seminary in his Diocese. When asked why he thought they were willing to consider the priesthood, he replied "Because I asked them".

It's great to hear about a bishop who cares more about preaching the Gospel & the truth of the faith instead of honing his administrative skills.

I think our archbishop here in Indianapolis was somewhat gunshy when he was first appointed ten years ago. In the last 2 or 3 years, however, he has done a marvelous job of preaching and writing.

[SuziQ]

What a cool poster!

[SuziQ]

This new crop of Bishops, in the last five years or so, has done great work in turning back a lot of the abuses perpetrated in the name of the "Spirit of Vatican II".

[Coleus]

The K of C supports Vocations

http://www.kofc.org/un/about/activities/church/vocations/index.cfm

http://www.kofc.org/un/about/charities/index.cfm

http://www.kofc.org/un/about/contact/inquiries.cfm

[Clemenza]

Wishing the Church the best of luck in this endeavor.

Would also like to see more aggressive Evangelizing in the US.

[Clemenza]

The biggest mistake that the Vatican can do, is to allow gays into the priesthood

Too late...

[Homer_J_Simpson]

When you have a secularized priesthood, an ignorant populace and an uninspiring liturgical life, what do you expect?

It might help if the Church would encourage Catholic parents to seek alternatives to the secular humanist seminaries also known as public schools. Many people consider homeschooling and Catholic schools impractical or too expensive. I don't understand that reasoning. It reminds me of parents who call talk shows to tell about the latest outrage perpetrated by their child's school. My question to them is, why do you continue sending your child to a place where his well-being is threatened on a regular basis?