Posted on 07/22/2006 7:06:59 AM PDT by NYer
Aw dang, Jeff, you caught us red-handed!Trying to Hook More Youths on Priesthood
In this era of Eminem and Britney Spears, of sexy sitcoms and sexier commercials, of high-speed Internet and instant gratification, a life of celibacy devoted to God can be a hard sell to a teenager.
So as the nation's Roman Catholic leaders gathered recently and watched a video called "Fishers of Men," designed to draw young men to the priesthood, they had good reason to worry about the future of their chosen way of life.
Church leaders have long been aware of the statistics. There are now about 43,000 Catholic priests in America, down from more than 58,000 in 1965. As the U.S. Catholic population has risen to about 70 million, more churches have had to share priests.
What receives less attention is that the men who go into the seminary generally don't do so until later in life. The average age of newly ordained priests was 36 last year, up from 28 in the 1960s and 26 in the 1940s.
...
Observers of vocational trends say more effort is needed now because of smaller families, with parents who want grandchildren; a secularized culture wary of lifetime commitment and celibacy; Catholic assimilation in America; and increased family mobility, which detracts from parish loyalties. [More...]
What's worse is all the abbreviations the kids use when text messaging . . .
This is posing communication problems for them once they join the workforce. Many of these youth, despite rigorous education in the English language, have forgotten the rules of proper grammar. Their writing skills are appalling, and most rely upon spell and grammar checkers to correct their mistakes. That's an impossible feat.
The homily was about obeying the laws of the Church, and how they were there not to stifle us but to permit us to live more fully because we would not be injured or have our lives destroyed or derailed by harmful things. He compared it to a mother telling her child not to put his hand in the "pretty fire," even though though it looks so attractive to the child. Then he compared the laws of the Church to a bulwark around the edge of a building to keep people from falling off, not a fence to restrict or limit people, but a protection against harm and death. And of course, he said all this with that really charming accent (I love the way Africans speak English!) and with somewhat more vivid words.
You're right about age not mattering. The newspaper article described his stopping to talk to a four-year-old boy at the Shrine and asking him if he wanted to be a priest. I bet that little boy will remember it years from now when he's not little anymore!
Raymond Arroyo and Fr Newhaus could hardly contain their joy.
It was a joy to behold.
Here is one that I like:
1 THIS is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
(New Testament | 1 Timothy 3:1 - 5)
The Greek of 1 Cor. 9:5 that is rendered in your particular translation as "a believing wife" is rendered as "a woman, a sister" in the Catholic Douay-Rheims translation and as "a sister, a wife" in the King James Version. It isn't clean-cut enough to be definitive.
The recruiting is not as much of a problem in the dioceses that are effective in teaching the faith and encouraging their young people to seek a relationship with God. The problem is not a life of celibate chastity, but rather that most young people are discouraged from a religious vocation by society's influence. This is not a phenomenon that is limited to the Catholic Church either, if I recall correctly. Part of the solution, as NYer has suggested, is asking young people to consider a religious vocation (as a priest, brother, sister, or as a minister for non-Catholic Christians) as something that God may be calling them to.
I am in the beginning stages of discerning a vocation to the priesthood within my diocese. This was something that I never was open to until I started college and by grace was introduced to people who helped me to grow in my relationship with the Lord. The prospect of a celibate life is one that I am approaching with prayerful consideration, but if I come to find that God is not calling me to priesthood, I have my doubts that the rule of celibacy will be the sole deciding factor. I would suspect that many of the young men who are either in the seminary or considering it would feel similarly.
At my parish church, St. Christopher's in East Hartford, there is a temporary priest administrator who was studying to become a priest, left the semminary to get married, has adult children and grandchildren, became a widower and since has become a ordained priest.
Right on target! Too often, catholics rebuff church teachings for those very reasons when in fact, they are truly liberating. By following the teachings (in essence, following the 10 Commandments), we are assured of peace of mind.
As for the 4 year old - you bet he'll remember that question each and every time he sees a priest, bishop or cardinal. He was blessed by one of the great cardinals of our church.
You say, a bishop must be married. If that were the proper interpretation, the logic of Paul's statement implies a bishop must also have children, and all his children must respect him without qualification.
Would a married man without children thus be ineligible for a bishopric? Apparently so. Would a married man with children, one of whom does not respect him fully, be ineligible? Again, yes. And how is one to measure the respect of the children, to determine whether it is "full"? Who's to say? No, all this passage means is that a married man, to be chosen as a bishop, must rule his own household well.
Celibacy may the "the invention of men," but that includes men like Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus. I suggest you reflect on the 20th Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, verses 27-40.
I am in the beginning stages of discerning a vocation to the priesthood within my diocese. This was something that I never was open to until I started college and by grace was introduced to people who helped me to grow in my relationship with the Lord.
Rest assured of my prayers as you continue to discern this calling in your life. I recently attended the ordination of a young seminarian to the deaconate. He was filled with so much joy! Next year we will celebrate his ordination to the priesthood.
I hope you will hang around this forum and join in some of these discussions. I maintain a list of catholic members who wish to be notified of articles posted on catholic topics. Please freepmail me (one of the response options), should you wish to join the list. We have a wonderful time here learning about and growing in our catholic faith. We even have non-catholic christians who are somewhere along their journey into the church, as well as converts.
May our Lord bless you and may our Blessed Mother guide you to her Son!
I recall reading that beautiful story. In fact, it was posted as a thread to the Religion Forum. What an awe inspiring vocation.
I said no such thing, The scriptures say it! You can argue with them! :~)
--The original issues pertain to recruiting for the priesthood...
(I would also add the corollary issues of retention/attrition)
--Careful with the context please.
I think your response has assisted my proposition...
1. Those to whom the Lord's grace is given are truly enabled by the Lord to remain chaste... (Let's look at the plain intent -- Chaste/Celibate means unmarried -- as any intimate gratification outside the covenant of marriage is known as fornication... or worse!)
2. Those who aspire to the Catholic priesthood without the recognition and affirmation of this gift of grace...
...These usually fall into grievous compromise;
...Thereby bringing reproach upon the Lord's Name and the church.
3. The "menu" of disciplines cited in the catechism above affirms the founding of these traditions of men... As God's blessings upon the ministry of those married remains plainly evident.
4. Finding Catholicism as a branch of the church that happily celebrates the apostolic heritage of Peter, who was married and took his wife with him.... AND
If the Lord's highest will was accomplished in Peter's life -- then why shouldn't all of His servants in the church be permitted to marry and continue to serve -- including recognition at the strategic levels of leadership?...
May i inquire?!?
Are not those priests who later choose to marry expected to resign the priesthood in order to do so?
Don't you find these disciplines incongruent with the Lord's heart??
Even among the Eleven -- many our apostolic fathers were happily married and were not weakened in their mission of spreading the Gospel.
They served at the earliest, most strategic levels of our faith -- and the large majority made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of Christ?
IMPORTANT:
I would take nothing away from those given the grace to make this choice and live this life. May the Lord be with them and bless them beyond their expectations ---
But I pray for the sake of the Body of Christ -- that all of the church would embrace the Lord's heart -- that Godly marriage and faithfulness therein is NOT a disqualifying mark on a man's life...
Therefore those who have chosen the priesthood in chaste singleness and are later led to marry --- should not be disqualified or required to resign their ordination or position...
Neither even should a man faithfully married, be denied the pathway to a full and ordained ministry as the Lord might bestow upon his heart's calling later in life ----
(Not everyone knows or discerns their gifts in the years of their youth -- Yet God graciously continues to call us to mature spirituality, spiritual fruition and prosperity -- and align with His holy and ultimate plans for their life.
... for the kingdom of heaven's sake
CONCLUSION: It remains my prayerful submission for your kind consideration that in today's world, the Catholic expression of Christian faith would be strengthened -- not weakened:
By permitting the Lord's heart to be expressed and embraced by men called to live in service to the faith in every case where grace is so released:
God's grace to the single, chaste and celibate for life... and
God's grace given to the married -- to preach pray and prophesy as the Spirit leads and moves them glorify the Name of the Lord, and His Son Jesus Christ.
God's calling rests on the hearts of many young men -- and some who are older-but-wiser now... Yet it seems the door has more than a high threshold -- in their minds it remains closed --
If these young men knew the Catholic church would celebrate God's grace whether single-for-life, married, or single-and-married later; thence to affirm them in their callings -- then neither recruiting, nor retention, would not be a problem, and the only attrition would be those who have chosen to disregard God's grace and subsequently disqualified themselved through overt moral failure!
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. --Romans 11:29
May the Lord's enabling Holy Spirit and grace be with all who trust Jesus Christ for eternal salvation!
See #33 below...
See #33 above... Thanks!
The Catholic Church has always recruited young men -- I see nothing "sneaky" about it.
Perhaps it is that the young men and women are more enthusiastic and sure of their choices right now!
God bless them all!
Musn't forget Heiress Piltdown.
Check these out.
Mt 19:12; 1 Cor 7:32-33, 1 Tim 4:11-12 ... celibacy.
And what is the Chapter heading in the book of First Timothy? Its entitled as being qualifications for being a bishop right?
Please see my subsequent --#33 -- Celibacy remains quite biblical -- for those given the gift of grace to remain so... no argument there...
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