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Hi Herman.

Articles like this intrigue me and I have cited them numerous times on FR. A discussion ensued regarding this subject on one of the blogspots last year (Mark Shea or Amy Welborn... I forget which). Anyway, there was much debate (few facts, mostly personal opinions) from the commenters until a priest (generally known as being orthodox) posted his opinion on orthodox vs. progressive ordinations and the number of seminarians in both.

He said that people widely cite Bruskewicz' diocese as one with many seminarians because it is very orthodox BUT it is because seminarians leave their own diocese to escape the progressive seminaries and attend in Lincoln or Omaha --- in other words, those men are not really from Lincoln or Omaha and so vocations are not any higher there than they are in the progressive dioceses.

I hope I explained that correctly.

He also said that the number of seminarians shouldn't be a factor because so many drop out - you should look at the number of men who are actually ordained and then see where they originated from. So... his thesis is basically that men are called from all over the place but tend (at the moment) to go to seminary in the more orthodox dioceses.

Boy, I wish I could write better!

While this is probably true:

He said that people widely cite Bruskewicz' diocese as one with many seminarians because it is very orthodox BUT it is because seminarians leave their own diocese to escape the progressive seminaries and attend in Lincoln or Omaha --- in other words, those men are not really from Lincoln or Omaha and so vocations are not any higher there than they are in the progressive dioceses.

Isn't is also true that these men who attend seminaries in Lincoln or Omaha become diocesian priests within Bruskewicz's diocese? In other words, regardless of where these men came from they are becoming priests and will we assigned to parishes in Nebraska. The question to ask is: would these same men have become priests if they were required to attend a seminary in their more progressive diocese? I suspect the answer is NO and, therefore, the premise that orthodox diocese lead to more vocations is still true.

What you write is correct. The Philadelphia (St. Charles Borromeo) and Baltimore (Mt. St. Michael) seminaries are full, not just with local men, and men sent from other diocese, but men who have left places like Rockville Circus to study for a real Catholic Diocese.

Orthodoxy attracts, and heterodoxy repels.

The number of vocations probably does not differ that greatly, although individual parishes can be exceptions, as ThomasMore can tell you (and I can tell you too - the two indult parishes I've belonged to - St. Boniface in Pittsburgh and Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, NJ both have 3 or 4 men in the seminary).