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piperspop
Guest
1.147 billion. Great.
Did it happen to give the average Sunday attendance?
Did it happen to give the average Sunday attendance?
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JReducation
Guest
This number only represents adults, because children were not polled or factored into the equation.
If you count children and many indigenous people of Asia, Australia, Africa and South America who live outside the mainstream of urbanization, there are more Catholics. Catholics in Communist and Muslim countries are difficult to count, because they are usually anonymous for political reasons.
JR
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OnlyAmbrose
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stbruno
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There was an article in our secular newspaper to indicate that increasing trend as well. To God give the praise and the glory.
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Tigg
Guest
This is, indeed, wonderful news. Now we have to hope and pray that these new priests are well educated and will be able to courageously defend the truth as upheld by the Church.
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manualman
Guest
Not to be a wet blanket, but has the trend towards an ever older median age in the priesthood also reversed? If not, it’s a temporary reprieve.
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buffalo
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Dale_M
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In 1999, the average age for US priests was 60 years. Unfortunately, no studies have been done since then. However, Mary Gautier, senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, thinks the average age is even higher now (August, 2008).
tcpalm.com/news/2008/aug/11/national-shortage-catholic-priests-forcing-many-wo/
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bpcatholic
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:clapping:
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JReducation
Guest
As umbelieveable as it may seem, another reason that the number of priests is rising in a very different pattern from pre-Vatican II days is the number of men who are entering religious orders of Brothers.
There are many new religious communities of Brothers today. Many men are attracted to them, because they are attracted to the life of fraternity, contemplation, and service to the poorest of the poor. These men do not want to tie themselves down to parishes or be parish priests.
I know that in my Franciscan family we have picked up almost 23,000 brothers and about 16,000 priests around the world. Our superiors are focussing on the formation of brothers, because the focus of the order is changing from parish ministry to urban ministry, missions, the sick, poor, elderly, youth, pro-life issues and community life.
We were in desperate need for men who wanted to be Franciscans, period, without the second vocation to the priesthood, because we were losing our Franciscan identity.
Other communities such as the Missionaries of Charity, the Missionaries of the Poor and several new Benedictine abbeys have returned to the religious life without the emphasis on priesthood. This is not to say that the priesthood is a bad thing or that we do not need priests. But we need male religious who live the traditional religious life.
The slope is going to look different with the birth of new religous communities of men and the recovery of the roots of the older orders. As long as the laity keeps its hands out of religous life, it will all be good for the Church.
Religious men and secular priests bring wonderful gifts to the Church and we should welcome them all.
Fraternally,
JR
There are many new religious communities of Brothers today. Many men are attracted to them, because they are attracted to the life of fraternity, contemplation, and service to the poorest of the poor. These men do not want to tie themselves down to parishes or be parish priests.
I know that in my Franciscan family we have picked up almost 23,000 brothers and about 16,000 priests around the world. Our superiors are focussing on the formation of brothers, because the focus of the order is changing from parish ministry to urban ministry, missions, the sick, poor, elderly, youth, pro-life issues and community life.
We were in desperate need for men who wanted to be Franciscans, period, without the second vocation to the priesthood, because we were losing our Franciscan identity.
Other communities such as the Missionaries of Charity, the Missionaries of the Poor and several new Benedictine abbeys have returned to the religious life without the emphasis on priesthood. This is not to say that the priesthood is a bad thing or that we do not need priests. But we need male religious who live the traditional religious life.
The slope is going to look different with the birth of new religous communities of men and the recovery of the roots of the older orders. As long as the laity keeps its hands out of religous life, it will all be good for the Church.
Religious men and secular priests bring wonderful gifts to the Church and we should welcome them all.
Fraternally,
JR
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AveSantaMaria
Guest
Great post, JR
One of my favorite things about St. Therese of Liseux and St. Maximilian Kolbe is that they both came from extremely religious parents.
Blessed Louis Martin (her father) wanted to be a monk, but was rejected due to his lack of knowledge of Latin and decided to be a watchmaker. He fell in love with Blessed Marie-Azelie Guerin, a lacemaker who wanted to be a nun but could not because she was too sickly. They had nine children, but only five daughters survived infancy. All the daughters became nuns.
St. Maximilian Kolbe came from a family of third order Franciscan parents. So, even an emphasis on brothers may produce devout priests, devout brothers, and devout sisters.
I’ve noticed that a great many of the extremely religious people that I meet in life, especially young adults, come from extremely devout families. Like devout Catholicism can be passed down from generation to generation.
One of my favorite things about St. Therese of Liseux and St. Maximilian Kolbe is that they both came from extremely religious parents.
Blessed Louis Martin (her father) wanted to be a monk, but was rejected due to his lack of knowledge of Latin and decided to be a watchmaker. He fell in love with Blessed Marie-Azelie Guerin, a lacemaker who wanted to be a nun but could not because she was too sickly. They had nine children, but only five daughters survived infancy. All the daughters became nuns.
St. Maximilian Kolbe came from a family of third order Franciscan parents. So, even an emphasis on brothers may produce devout priests, devout brothers, and devout sisters.
I’ve noticed that a great many of the extremely religious people that I meet in life, especially young adults, come from extremely devout families. Like devout Catholicism can be passed down from generation to generation.
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manualman
Guest
What does this mean? Is it your contention that the laity have in the past screwed up religious orders??
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JReducation
Guest
Did you know that the Martins were professed Secular Franciscans? They are among more than 20 Secular Franciscans waiting for canonization.Great post, JR
One of my favorite things about St. Therese of Liseux and St. Maximilian Kolbe is that they both came from extremely religious parents.
Blessed Louis Martin (her father) wanted to be a monk, but was rejected due to his lack of knowledge of Latin and decided to be a watchmaker. He fell in love with Blessed Marie-Azelie Guerin, a lacemaker who wanted to be a nun but could not because she was too sickly. They had nine children, but only five daughters survived infancy. All the daughters became nuns.
St. Maximilian Kolbe came from a family of third order Franciscan parents. So, even an emphasis on brothers may produce devout priests, devout brothers, and devout sisters.
I’ve noticed that a great many of the extremely religious people that I meet in life, especially young adults, come from extremely devout families. Like devout Catholicism can be passed down from generation to generation.
Fraternally,
JR
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kristie_m
Guest
And so…let us continue to pray for vocations. It would seem God is answering that prayer! 
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JReducation
Guest
Church history shows that every time the laity becomes involved in the internal affairs or the financial affairs of religious communities great damage is done. This goes back to before the Middle Ages. It is one of the many reasons for reforms among religious orders such as the Benedictines, Franciscans, Cistercians and Carmelites.What does this mean? Is it your contention that the laity have in the past screwed up religious orders??
Often, well meaning people wanted to become sponsors of religious houses and religious orders. They did a great deal to promote the cause of the religious communities, but they were followed by others who abused their relationship and their financial contributions to exert control over the religious.
Today, there are many who would like to see religious life operate according to their vision. I’ll give examples. When our friars began the change from a clerical structure to a lay structure, many lay people in our parishes, schools, hospitals and other ministries would not accept the fact that a Lay Brother was named superior at a parish house or that the Lay Brothers took up many ministries that were performed by our clerical brothers in the past such as spiritual direction, financial administration of the parish, school or other, professors of theology at the seminary or hospital chaplains.
Some people complained because they did not like the fact that every one changed their title to Friar or Brother. They did not want to let go of Father. Some people still resist that change, even though the friars have explained that in the Franciscan family there was only one Father, Francis of Assisi and he was not a priest.
When the friars began to reduce the number of ordinations, some people have been very critical, even though it has been explained that in an order a man enters to be a friar or a monk. That one sign of a vocation to the priesthood is the approval of the other brothers. If there is no such approval, then it is taken to mean that there is not a vocation to the priesthood. Friars and monks must pass a scrutiny by their brothers. The result of that scrutiny is sent to the Major Superior or Abbot who alone can give permission for the ordination to take place, otherwise it is illicit.
Some religious communities such as the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance will not serve in parishes, hospitals, schools or any Catholic institution. They opt to live the Franciscan life in brotherhood between them and others. Their ministry is on the streets. There are those who admire their poverty and obedience, but criticize them for not filling in for the lack of parish priests. Even though it has been explained that all friars and monks were not meant to be parish priests.
Now, some monastic and mendicant religious are no longer accepting new parishes. Those who are in parishes are reducing the number of hours per day that they are available. There are people who want the religious to be available more than four to six hours per day. But the religious have to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in community five times per day. They have to eat meals together. They have to meditate together. They have to recreate together every day. They have to cook, clean, do laundry, do shopping for groceries, and other domestic chores. Some people are saying that if they had left the lay brothers as servants, the priests would not have to do these things and would be more available. If it were up to these people, the religious orders would maintain the status quo, which is contrary to the founders’ directives and spirit.
In the case of the Secular Orders, there are people who still do not recognize them as valid religious orders and do not want them in positions that were held by priests from the 1800s to the late 1900s: spiritual directors, retreat masters, parish administrators, theologians, pro life ministries, and other ministries. These men and women ran hospitals, schools, religious education, orphanages, missions, and other ministries when they were founded until the 1800s. The first Secular Orders were the Secular Franciscans founded in 1221 and the Lay Dominicans about 10 years later. They were very active in the Church or were contemplatives.
When I say that the laity can do damage by interfering, these are examples of what I mean. I’m not saying that the laity is evil or that it does damage intentionally. I believe much damage is done because people do not understand and they resist what they do not understand. Some people have trouble transitioning from the only model of religious life that they have known to one that is a new paradigm to them.
In fact, this paradigm is not new to the Church. It was lost during the 1700s because of other needs and because of external forces such as wealthy people and monarchs using religious for their own ends and religious being afraid to protest.
Do you get what I mean?
Fraternally,
JR
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AveSantaMaria
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No, I did not previously know that!Did you know that the Martins were professed Secular Franciscans? They are among more than 20 Secular Franciscans waiting for canonization.
Fraternally,
JR
Wow, that knowledge contributes greatly to my appreciation of the Secular Franciscan life. Do you know of any of the relative strengths and differences between Opus Dei and Secular Franciscans? 
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manualman
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Thanks, that’s a better explanation. Just be careful how you state it. The original post sounded an awful lot like scapegoating…
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JReducation
Guest
I apologize if it sounded that way. I guess that I have been on CAF too long. Maybe it’s time to retire from CAF. As a religious we too have feelings and we get very hurt by the disrespect and accusations that are thrown at us every day by some posters on CAF.
Many of the self-proclaimed traditionalists are not very traditional when it comes to the manner in which they speak to religious, deacons and priests on these threads. I do remember the so called good old days. I would never have challenged religious or clerics and questioned their way of life or made demands that they accommodate to my perception of what the Church should be and what their role should be. This gets old fast.
As a human being, speaking for myself, I sometimes have a knee-jerk reaction, “Oh here is another lay person telling me how to live my vocation without knowing all of the intricacies of religious life and what we go through daily with our own brothers or sisters trying to pull together as a family.”
Sometimes it is easy to look from the outside and forget that the people in the religious life or the priesthood are human beings and they are not always going to agree. They have to make compromises. This is part of being a brotherhood of religious or a diocese of secular priests. If you don’t have compromise, you have resentment. Sometimes even with compromise you have resentment. We are not saints. We are travelers on that road.
The larger the religious family, the more diverse the opinions and needs of the members. Our own Franciscan family has 1,700,000 members in 114 countries. You can carve out a piece of the earth and we can form our own little country, that’s how much we have grown in 800 years. We don’t all have the same perception on how to implement the Rule of St. Francis, because the rule did not address every possible situation in the future. When we write our constitutions, which are the official interpretation and guide to living the rule, there are going to be long discussions and many compromises.
When you get lay people on thee forums telling you that you do not know how to be a religious or that you are wrong, you want to pull your hair out, because you wonder if they realize how much dialogue, how much patience, and how much sacrifice went into reaching some kind of consensus.
I apologize for any offense.
Fraternally,
JR
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manualman
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None taken, I just like to understand posts and ask for clarification when I get flummoxed. 
I hear you on the pontificating on how others ought to live their vocations. I am helping a religious order convert their property to a senior housing community right now. The neighbors don’t like the proposal for more buildings and roads and are grasping for reasons to oppose the permits. You should hear the comments. The provincial himself was accused of violating his vow of poverty because retired members of the order will also live there and they aren’t exactly hermitages…
Mind you, the objector lived on adjacent property which means their OWN property is worth at least a million! Some people…
I hear you on the pontificating on how others ought to live their vocations. I am helping a religious order convert their property to a senior housing community right now. The neighbors don’t like the proposal for more buildings and roads and are grasping for reasons to oppose the permits. You should hear the comments. The provincial himself was accused of violating his vow of poverty because retired members of the order will also live there and they aren’t exactly hermitages…
Mind you, the objector lived on adjacent property which means their OWN property is worth at least a million! Some people…
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