Article: Sad Decline in Priestly Vocations

[commenter]

I agree with most of what you wrote, but some, I have no information to support or refute you. The info in released Court documents represents a very tiny percentage of the experience of hundred of thousands of men who had seminary life. May be typical, maybe not. Best to avoid generations.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

An adult having sexual relations with a young teenager is pedophilia…no matter the sexes or tendencies.

No it’s not.

Pedophilia by definition is an adult having sex with a pre-pubescent child.

The majority of cases by priests, were with a post-pubescent young teen.

Jim

 

[jack63]

Ok, I agree, I looked up the definition and yes pedophilia is having sex with a pre-pubescent child.

These aren’t fun subjects

I’ll have to think about this.

 

[MP_Kid]

Truth be told, most men do not want to become priests because it requires celibacy. Most men do not want to go through life deprived of sex.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

You mean men who have a desire don’t want to forgo intimacy and having a family.

Sex isn’t the driving force for men who seek to get married, except for dysfunctional individuals.

Jim

 

[jack63]

Fact is the studies from people like Dr Philip Jenkins. showed that the majority of sex abuses cases committed by priests, were not pedophilia by definition, but homosexual males having affairs with young teenage boys, many who were exploring their own homosexual tendencies.

Any links to these statistics?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

You can google Dr Philip Jenkins and find a ton of stuff.

He’s a professor at Penn State, and is not a Catholic

His study of sexual abuse by priests goes back 20 years ago.

Here’s one link

"The Myth of the Pedophile Priest" - ZENIT - English

A Researcher Puts Scandals in Context

zenit.org

Jim

 

[Augustinian]

Truth be told, most men do not want to become priests because it requires celibacy. Most men do not want to go through life deprived of sex.

I’m sure that’s the case with some men, but “most”? I don’t think so. Most men aren’t capable and/or motivated to go through the studying required. Most men don’t like to do public speaking, and might rather dig ditches, unclog drains or perform proctology instead. Or a thousand other jobs.

 

[MP_Kid]

Lol Penn State. The place where people get drugged and rapped everyday and the school is okay with it. Penn State is a cult.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Zenit is a Catholic Media outlet

Try reading the article before you judge the man because of where he works.

Jim

 

[anikins]

I feel like I have seen a handful of articles over the past month about this. Some saying vocations are on the decline, others saying they are on the rise.

I would be curious to see how these statistics coincide with the Vatican’s suggestion (post Boston Globe) for gay men to not join seminaries.

 

[jack63]

Ok…thank you…I’ve never heard this perspective before. It is helpful.

There is one heck of a power differential between a priest and a teenager though.

 

[jack63]

This is worth reading…

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/06/11/pope-jesus-does-not-send-us-with-an-entrepreneurial-attitude/

I think the Catholic church should strive for the ideal of evangelization that is given gratuitously. It is extremely difficult for a young man starting a family to do this.

Perhaps not as difficult for older settled married men.

 

[commenter]

I feel like I have seen a handful of articles over the past month about this. Some saying vocations are on the decline, others saying they are on the rise.

There is no one answer. It varies widely from place to place. In some places, like Western Europe and most English speaking countries, it is in severe decline. In some places, like Africa and Asia, vocations are doing well. Large, liberal religious orders of men are doing horrible. Jesuits and Franciscans are merging provinces. Conservative religious orders are growing, but they are still getting established - they don’t yet have institutional supports that the older, larger, and now fading religious orders have. Permanent deacons are spreading to new lands.

The biggest declines are in the religious orders of women. Yes, there are a few growing convents, probably all conservative, but these are exceptions to the rule.

 

[KJW5551]

Which countries are doing well in Asia? I ask because I only know about the situation in the Philippines, which is abysmal.

 

[commenter]

According to an article by the Cardinal Newman center, the Jesuits are doing well in “South Asia”.

 

[HeDa]

All statistics depend upon which years are compared and which data is used. If the starting year is the “all time high year” then all vocations after that are fewer. If there are a lot more children born than average for a number of years then that is likely going to show up in the statistics some 20-35 years later with more vocations. Statistics based upon a percentage of all men in the diocese who were born in the same year and ordained as priests might be more true than other ways of collecting and comparing data.

Some very basic statistics from the school where I worked just looking at the number of children starting school in the same year. There were between 35-60 children in the age groups and most of the time around 44-50 children on average. Usually 1-3 more boys than girls but one year it was 70% boys and the next year it turned out to be 65% girls.