Posted on 05/27/2007 7:17:23 PM PDT by Gamecock
The numbers tell the story.
Time magazine wanted to talk theology with Mel Gibson recently on the set of The Passion, his new movie depicting the last hours of Christ. Asked what he thought about the effects of the Second Vatican Council on the Catholic Church, the Braveheart of Catholic traditionalists said, "Look at the main fruits: dwindling numbers and pedophilia."
Gibson's post Vatican II ergo propter Vatican II argument would be enough to drive any high school logic teacher crazy. Is the Council responsible for all the Church's ills, including the priestly sex-abuse crisis, that have arisen since the Council closed in 1965? After all, many of the abuse allegations pre-dated the Council, and some of the most notorious offenders--like John Geoghan and Paul Shanley--were trained in the pre-Vatican II seminaries. Too many factors come into play to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Council caused the pedophile priest phenomenon.
But Gibson comes closer to the mark when blaming the Second Vatican Council for the "dwindling numbers . In fact he is being generous, because "plummeting would be a more accurate term than "dwindling" to describe of the incredibly shrinking Catholic Church since 1965. In every area that is statistically measurable--such as the number of priests, seminarians, priestless parishes and nuns--the deterioration is obvious, and is the exact opposite of the trends before the Council.
EMPTY SEMINARIES
Beyond a vague understanding of a need for "more vocations," most Catholics are perhaps unaware of the disaster facing the American priesthood. After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States dropped to 45,000 in 2002. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests--and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70, according to a study conducted by Dr. James R. Lothian of Fordham University.
The shortage of priests has created a problem previously unknown to modern Catholics: the priestless parish. Only 3 percent of the parishes in the US--a total of 549--were without a priest in 1965. In 2002 there were 2,928 priestless parishes, about 15 percent of all US parishes. By 2020, a quarter of all parishes, 4,656, will have no priest.
As one would expect, the priest dearth has been fueled by a collapse in the seminarian population. There were 16,300 seminarians in 1930 and 49,000 in 1965. By 2002 the number had plunged to 4,700: a 90 percent decrease. Without any students, countless seminaries across the country have been sold or shuttered. There were 596 seminaries in 1965, and only 200 in 2002.
And empty seminaries result in declining ordinations. While there were 1,575 ordinations to the priesthood in 1965, in 2002 there were 450, a decrease of 350 percent. Taking into account ordinations, deaths and departures, in 1965 there was a net gain of 725 priests. In 1998, there was a net loss of 810.
RELIGIOUS ORDERS DISAPPEARING
The tragedy of the convents has been perhaps even more startling. A host of 138,000 sisters ran the Catholic education and health systems in 1945; their numbers swelled to 180,000 by 1965. In 2002, there were 75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68. By 2020, the number of sisters will drop to 40,000--and of these, only 21,000 will be age 70 or under. One does not have to be Chicken Little to predict that within a generation there will be no nuns.
The same is true for the once-proud religious orders of men. For example, in 1965 there were 5,277 Jesuit priests and 3,559 seminarians; in 2000 there were 3,172 priests and 389 seminarians. There were 2,534 OFM Franciscan priests and 2,251 seminarians in 1965; in 2000 there were 1,492 priests and 60 seminarians. There were 2,434 Christian Brothers in 1965 and 912 seminarians; in 2000 there were 959 Brothers and 7 seminarians. It does not require special training in statistics to conclude that by 2050, if these trends continue, the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Christian Brothers, will be the virtually extinct in the US.
Other statistics on the life of the Catholic Church in America tell the same story. At the time of the Council there were 4.5 million students in US parochial schools; now there are 2 million. Before the Council there were less than 400 marriages annulled by Catholic diocesan tribunals in an average year; now there are 50,000. Before the Council 3 out of 4 Catholics attended Mass each week; now the figure is 1 in 4.
Given these alarming facts, one wonders how a movie star like Mel Gibson can sense a Church in extremis, but the American bishops cannot. They know the statistics (which are published by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops), yet take no action to counter the catastrophe.
The bishops do not have a good track record when it comes to responding to crisis. Just as they showed no interest in the sexual abuse of minors--in fact they were sometimes complicit--it is a good bet that the bishops will neglect the emergency that threatens the very existence of the Church in the America.
[AUTHOR ID] Kenneth C Jones of St. Louis is the author of Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church since Vatican II, published by Oriens Publishing Co.
amen
Agree perfectly with you here. I still don't think they should go to Protestant churches though, they should not have the opportunity to spread their heresies in any forum among those who profess to be follow Christ.
Where are you?? That sounds fabulous!!
Has it changed in 4 years?
Yes.
Lots of those old priests have died and not been replaced.
That’s funny, my RCIA class had 97 this Easter vigil, including converts, and not counting the slew of teenagers along with over 120 first communicants (With 3 masses of different languages on 4 Sundays in May with first communions, it’s a task... along with all the baptisms in between).
the catholic church is not the USA church, it is universal. There are about 60 million catholics in the USA, only a fraction of the 1.1billion catholic population. The church is booming everywhere except the secularist west. in mexico for example there are almost as many seminarians as there are priests, in brazil the number of seminarians has increased 10 fold since the 70’s, africa, south and east asia it is booming. All IS well in the church, just wait a few years and things will come right again in the West. It’s a generational thing; young people will return to the church, and they are, you’ll be swamped by them in a decade or two.
Wags, let them keep trying to chip away... I offer it back up for them.
This year in the NY Archdiocese seven of my friends were ordained, two were also ordained in Rome. Last year three, the year before four, the year before that four; I know 20 that have taken the veil... that’s only the friars and i’m in the Bronx.
I have many friends that are postulants and looking for the community with the charism they’re called to.
The JPII generation is on fire... and we need it.
For all of us:
In case some haven’t noticed... we face times when our armor is best on. Our time would be well spent in prayer for all, instead of nitpicking at others who love the Lord.
You are blessed to have such a traditional Church. Our new priest (tep. thank God) has a gold earring!!!!
Not to pick a fight, but the Catholic Church is not a denomination. If anything, it's the opposite.
Sorry to burst your bubble...
http://ncregister.com/site/article/1733
18 vocations in MEMPHIS, TN! And only two are older vocations. The Spirit moves where He will!
ASIA IS CHURCH’S HOPE FOR VOCATIONS
Largest Number of Seminarians in India
VATICAN CITY, APR 20 (ZENIT).- Next Sunday, April 25, is the “World Day of Prayer for Priestly and Religious Vocations.” According to the latest estimates in the Holy See’s Statistical Yearbook, there are 404,208 priests in the world today, 140,687 of whom are religious clergy.
In his message for this day of prayer, the Holy Father has linked Vocations Day with the Jubilee. “Humanity needs holy priests and consecrated souls who live daily the total gift of self to God and to their neighbor,” he writes.
According to the latest estimates, there are 58,210 men religious (not priests), and 819,287 women religious, including cloistered nuns. The members of secular institutes total 31,197, almost all of whom are women (30,534 to be precise). There are at present 24,407 permanent deacons, of which 548 are religious.
The Holy See’s Statistical Yearbook reveals an impressive increase in the number of priestly vocations in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America between 1978 and 1997.
At present, there are 18,156 candidates for the priesthood in Africa, both religious and diocesan. In North America there are 5,413; in Central America, 9,589; in South America, 18,041; in Asia, 25,169; in Europe, 28, 641; and in Oceania, 861.
The increase of the number of candidates for the priesthood, including Eastern Europe, is significant. North America, however, is undergoing a serious crisis in vocations, and no let up is in sight.
The greatest surprise is that Asia has become the “vocational hope” of the Catholic Church. It has virtually the same number of seminarians as Europe and Latin America, in spite of the fact that in Asia the number of Catholics is only 4.5% of the total population.
India has become the country with the largest number of vocations in the world, specifically, some 10,000 seminarians, ahead of traditionally Catholic countries like Poland (6,954), Mexico (6,849), Brazil (6,805), Italy (6,299), Colombia (3,923), Spain (3,010), Argentina (2,046), and France (1,628).
The United States has 4,785 seminarians.
Other promising vocations in Asia include the Philippines, with 6,941 candidates to the priesthood; Indonesia, with 2,637; Korea, with 1,812; and Vietnam, with 1,412.
ZE99042003
And you don't think that Elohim, YHvH, who created this time-space continuum,
b'shem Yah'shua
that we call the universe, did not know that from before the foundations of the universe?
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