Jesus, talking to his followers, said (Matt 16)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.
Furhter, He had this exchange with one who wished to be His disciple (Mark 10)
17 And when he had gone forth into the way, a certain man, running up and kneeling before him, asked him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? 18 And Jesus said to him: Why do you call me good? None is good but one, that is God. 19 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, bear not false witness, do no fraud, honour your father and mother. 20 But he answering, said to him: Master, all these things I have observed from my youth. 21 And Jesus, looking on him, loved him and said to him: One thing is wanting unto you. Go, sell whatsoever you have and give to the poor: and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. 22 Who being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
How often do we really hear those verses expounded upon in regards to ourselves? The modern American Church (AMCHURCH™) prefers to teach and preach Alinskyite community organizing rather than shedding materialism and gaining true freedom.
If you look at it, though, those passages above explain precisely why we have a vocations crisis in the developed world and why they have a vocations explosion in the developing world. The short answer is that it's a lot easier to give everything up, pick up one's cross, and follow Him when one has next to nothing to start off with. Combine that with the materialism of our sophisticated, advanced, enlightened society </sarc>, and it becomes apparent, likewise, that we would have a lot of people who would go away sorrowful: for he they had great possessions. AMCHURCH™'s teachings are just slightly different than St. Francis' idea of complete freedom.
Father Longenecker is a wonderful guy. But the idea of compromising to the materialistic world by ordaining former Presbyterians or Baptists to the priesthood is not the answer. Actually preaching and living the full gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. Authentic vocations will follow.
There seems to be a perception that the celibate pastoral vocation is hard, while the married vocation is easy. I don’t know where that comes from ... certainly not from most people who’ve been married and made a real effort at it! Take it from me (or from my husband ;-), being married is hard. I know sometimes I wish I’d tried “old maid with cats” instead.
Another issue is the perception that, in addition to “married” or “celibate,” there a vocation of “single and screwing around” available, and that it’s really the ideal, while any other way of life is second best, at best.
It is true that to speak of a clergy shortage when our Lord at one time was down to 11 may betray a lack of confidence in God's ability to multiply yields even more than a hundred-fold.
In the Diocese of Richmond, beset as it is with liberals, one fear was that if they ordained me one wing would be horrified to have a priest who had intimate knowledge of where babies come from and another side would be all outraged that SOME priests can be married, while others can't.
IN any event, any wife of a Catholic priest had better understand that widowhood would probably (a)be easier and (b) probably not decrease the amount of time she got to talk and pray with her husband.
And there's the poverty factor. Episcopal clergy are generally pretty comfortable. I don't see married Catholic clergy in the US being as comfortable.
Vague inchoate thoughts while waiting for the caffeine to reach the cerebral cortex.