Yes, this began a while back, here in Albany. For one year, we had a newly ordained priest to assist our new pastor. They were like Frick & Frack (actually more like Adam and Steve). After a year and half of on the job training, he was shipped up north to a cluster parish. He now serves 3 parishes.
Someone on another thread noted that in the not too distant past, it was not uncommon for catholics to have large families. This produced a steady stream of candidates to the priesthood. Thanks to planned parenthood, the women's liberation movement and similar "consciousness raising" groups, families have shriveled up in size. This has also contributed to the slump in vocations.
Personally, I trust that God is in control here and not the bishops or the VOTF. We will survive this storm. In the meantime, we need to pray for the Holy Father who is at the helm.
This is a very good point. Pope Pius XII in his "Address to Large Families" pointed out that large families are the cradles of vocations.
Absolutely. I was just saying this the other day to a room full of CATHOLICS who then looked at me like I had two heads (or at least looked at me in an odder way than they usually do).
HOWEVER.... I can only go by my own experience, so I will ;-) ... I wonder sometimes, just taking Boston as an example, if a lot of those priests were encouraged to be a priest by their moms, regardless of what the kid really wanted. Back then, they had a lot of those early seminaries for boys in HS - the entering freshman seminary class was sooo painfully young! I mean, look at the (large) list of names of abusing priests out of Boston. Mostly Irish names. Most from big families. Most had very devout mothers (I remember those days!) who were thrilled and honored and the envy of the neighborhood if Seamus went into the priesthood. Being of Irish descent, it was a HUGE thing if your son became a priest. Probably with the Italians, too. Remember that scene in "Saturday Night Fever" when the brother of John Travolta, who was a priest, told his mom he was leaving? She was devistated and wondered what she would tell her friends and the rest of the family. Something about that rings true.