They're a group of young people discerning religious vocation. They love comments, but most especially your prayers.
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...]
Being married has not necessarily strengthened Protestant churches. In fact, it has destroyed some congregations. I've heard stories of churches splitting apart over a Pastor and wife getting divorced. That's unscriptural. There are churches that have ministers that have been married twice or more. Neither does marriage bar a pastor from being morally corrupt.
Marriage isn't a drawing factor either lately in getting Protestant ministers. I've read that fewer are signing up to be ministers these days in your churches as well. Some leave over burn out due to stress between laity, their own family, lack of money, etc.
A Protestant friend of mine complained that when they needed their minister desperately one day he was too busy with his family to minister to them. Reminds me of when St. Paul said that a married man was more concerned with how to please his wife, and the unmarried more concerned with how to please the Lord.
I like the fact that our priests aren't married and they devote their entire life to service their parish and they tend to the flock of God.
If people are concerned about the low vocation rate, then parishoners should petition their pastor for perpetual adoration in their parish if it is not done already.
I've heard many people say, that where there is fervent Eucharistic adoration, vocations flower in that area.
Just my 2 cents.
They're a group of young people discerning religious vocation. They love comments, but most especially your prayers.
What's worse is all the abbreviations the kids use when text messaging>>>>>>
Agreed!! I'm sure everyone here knows LOL, ROFL, ROFLMAO, but, try this one I saw here on FR a couple of weeks ago:
ROFLMAOPIMP, the PIMP part stands for peeing in my pants!!
lol
You don't really understand the nature of the ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church. Priesthood is a vocation. It is a calling from God. It is not a role that a man plays or a career that he pursues. Celibacy is the sign of the priest's total consecration to God, a sign of his configuration to Christ, who never married. After all, the priest acts as another Christ and it is, therefore, fitting that priests be celibate just as Christ was.
Yes, it is a sacrifice for priests to be celibate but countless men have joyfully made this sacrifice over the centuries. Watering down the requirements of the priesthood is not the solution to the vocations crisis. Strengthening Catholic families while encouraging young men to be priests is the solution. Catholic couples who practice contraception or who get divorced are not going to inspire their sons to generously give themselves to the Church. After all, if these couples can't remain committed to each other or are too selfish to have more than one or two children, we can't expect their sons to be generous. Indeed, where marriage is not valued, the renunciation of marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of God is not valued either. Finally, it is high time that bishops and priests actively encouraged young men to consider the priesthood. Too many bishops and priests, who bend over backwards to encourage lay ministries, say nothing about vocations and then wonder why so few enter the seminary.
< wink, grin >
That's sort of along the lines of "if English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the schoolchildren of Texas!"
- a faithful but sometimes cranky soldier of Christ Jesus.
If a military officer were to be elected to political office, he is required to resign his commission before he can serve in another office. That is because under our system, there is felt to be an incompatibility between these two forms of service. A marriage is also an office, and the church has long felt that there is some incompatibility between it and the active priesthood.. Certainly a distinction between the Christian and, say. the Talmudic tradition, is the belief that celibacy is a SIGN of a higher calling, or at least a higher aspiration, which Luke alludes to in Chapter 20. Celibacy is not necessary to the office of priesthood, but it sure does elevate it.
OK, maybe grant you that, LOL, but I have'nt seen it that way, which doesn't mean a darn thing, really. I'm too old to be an expert on that stuff. Have to say though I'm getting better at texting because my daughter would rather do that then talk on the cell phone I bought her. I happen to think that's just silliness as well and will never understand the appeal of it
Amen. May God be with you on this journey.
So what do you say the book of first timothy is about without chapter headings?
And what do you think is happening to the Catholic Church when priests are sexually molesting minors? And what do you think is happening to the Catholic Church when all the leadership does is move offending priests around just to do it again in another congregation rather than report it to law enforcement because they believe, unbiblically, they are immune to following local rule, ie., Romans 13:1?
Marajade, do you honestly THINK that marriage prevents homosexuality, LOL! Need I remind you of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson that left his wife for his gay lover? Look on the recent Mennonite thread here on FR where someone confesses that from their church a pastor left his wife for his gay lover.
Shall we start naming Protestant organizations that are guilty of the same sins and are in violation of Romans 13:1? I'm sure there's enough blame to go around if that's the route you want to take.
"Shall we start naming Protestant organizations that are guilty of the same sins and are in violation of Romans 13:1?"
Give it a shot.
My argument isn't that marriage prevents homosexuality. My argument is that Biblically priests should be the husband of but one wife and have children who are also faithful.
The overwhelming majority of the molestations took place many years ago. The church is now proactive in ferreting out these offenders and confining them to monasteries or laicizing them. And BXVI has undertaken a thorough vetting of ALL seminaries to stop these individuals from getting through the system.
Unlike many protestant churches which are still ignoring the problem while pointing fingers at the Catholics.
"The church is now proactive in ferreting out these offenders and confining them to monasteries or laicizing them."
Which is still in direct conflict with Romans 13:1 though right?
I guess St. Paul is roasting in hell then along with all the other good men of God that never met your expectations of following Scripture.
Speaking of which, if you follow the Bible so closely, no offense, why are you pro-abortion and bragged on one thread that you don't have any kids and don't want any. Doesn't that go against Scripture "Thou Shall Not Kill" and go forth and multiply?
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