Dioceses in need of priests

[Praying4Love]

I am searching for the dioceses of the English language speaking countries that have a great need of priests, discussing the need of the people and the lack of priests in their parishes. I was told that Ireland in Europe and Australia have decrease of vocations to priesthood and less seminarians that they used to… I am asking this in order to have a global look on the situation. If possible, please come with real examples and not from what you were told.

Thank you all for your answers and God bless you!

 

[PriestVocation]

As far as I know, in Europe there is a big need for priests… France, Holland, Belgium, as examples.

 

[TheresaLS]

As I have read almost all diocese could use a “surge” in vocations. Here in the Pittsburgh Diocese we have seen an increase but no where it needs to be. We are blessed with Bishp Zubik…he is amazing and a great role model for what a happy, effective priest should be.

 

[jpjd]

I have heard Australia and Canada are in dire need.

 

[Lancer]

This first website has data for every diocese by country…1950-2006…some diocese info is only current through 2004/2005…its quite interesting, but can easily give you more than you need.

**Catholic Hierarchy **
This web site is not officially sanctioned or approved by any Catholic Church authority.
Copyright David M. Cheney, 1996-2007. All rights reserved.The contents are purely the responsibility of David M. Cheney.This web site is dedicated to our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, gloriously reigning.
catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/

Here is another good site…not as much data but a little more current.

Jesus Christ instituted the Catholic Church and entrusted the Church to the apostles, headed by Peter. There were only a few followers limited to the Holy Land at the time of Christ’s death, but today the Catholic faith has spread throughout the world with over 1 billion (1Gig) followers.
Giga-Catholic Information is a non-profit website aimed at providing comprehensive and useful information of the Universal Catholic Church for all Catholics in the world. Contents are faithful to the Magisterium.

gcatholic.com/dioceses/

Here is an article re a diocese of Australia…lamenting the priests shortage…1600 Catholics per priest…note: Los Angeles has a ratio @3400 Catholics per priest (2004)…New York City has a ratio @ 1300 Catholics per priest…interestingly… NY City Diocese has @ 900 diocesan priests and @ 900 Religious Order priests…without the Religious Order priests…NY City diocese would be like Los Angeles…or worse!

…“According to the official directory of the Catholic church, there are 3,134 priests in Australia and 89 deacons. This compares with the Catholic population, which is over 5 million, that’s more than 1,600 Catholics for every priest.”…
groundreport.com/World/Father-where-art-thou-Worldwide-Catholic-priest-nu/2864335

This is “off point/subject”…but just looking at some of this data that vividly portrays the shortage of priests…especially in the Western nation-state democracies…it reminds me of Our Lord Jesus’ words to Peter…re: the Church prevailing against the gates of hell (Matt 16:18)…and we know the Church Militant here on earth will last until the end of time…but what Our Lord did not say is that the Church in USA, Canada, England, France, etc. would prevail until the end of time…just look at the seven Churches in the Book of Revelation (Rev 1:11)…none of them exist today. We, in the “first world” nation-state democracies have been given “tons” riches in every aspect of life…and yet we have been committing (to some degree) spiritual suicide for the last 50 years…and are now some of the most spiritually improvised of peoples (on the aggregate whole)…on the face of the earth…the Catholic Church will survive…but will we (our future generations) have a vibrant Catholic Church in the USA…we are using the same “road map of progress” and marching to the same “beat and tune” that Western Europe and Canada have marched to…is it not likely that we will end up in the same swamp as they have? Sometimes I think that my prayer life is getting better…almost pretty good…that I am beginning to improve in my spiritual journey…and then I see some of this type data and most importantly see what we are doing in this USA…the “Road to Perdition” that we are (and have been) traveling…and I realize that my prayer life is really quite anemic…I really need to pray hard just for the grace to make it vibrant and to be capable of praying unceasingly…especially for the good old USA and our people!

Pax Christi

 

[Angel_Bradford]

If you get a chance, check out Alaska.

 

[levimorales170]

halo, good afternoon. i am interested and concerned about the growing and increasing need of priests in many parts of the globe. actually, i am a newly ordained catholic priest here in the philippines. i wish to serve the other parts of the world, specifically those areas that are in dire need of ministers like me. here in our diocese, we have plenty of priests and in fact, there are many of my older brother priests who are seemed to be easy go lucky when it comes to schedules. as I read this issue about the shortage of priests in other dioceses, i began to entertain the idea of serving these places, in as much as my priesthood is universal.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

I have heard Australia and Canada are in dire need.

Yes for Canada. I know Saskatchewan needs priests. The Diocese of Saskatoon is relying on visiting priests from other countries to fill in massive holes. I know they will take seminarians from other countries.

 

[Cloisters]

Diocese of Charlotte, NC:

charlottediocese.org/

Blessings,
Cloisters

 

[Dale_M]

I am not sure of the situation in other English speaking countries, but the Archdiocese for the Military Services (USA ) has lost 46% of its chaplains during the past ten years. In part this is because the military has a mandatory retirement age of 62.

stripes.com/catholics-seek-to-boost-number-of-priests-serving-as-chaplains-1.164918

The ratio of priests to Catholic servicemembers (1:1300) may sound good. But the needs of servicemembers are high, given the stresses of the job.

 

[kiwinme]

ppine communityQUOTE=levimorales170;9553280]halo, good afternoon. i am interested and concerned about the growing and increasing need of priests in many parts of the globe. actually, i am a newly ordained catholic priest here in the philippines. i wish to serve the other parts of the world, specifically those areas that are in dire need of ministers like me. here in our diocese, we have plenty of priests and in fact, there are many of my older brother priests who are seemed to be easy go lucky when it comes to schedules. as I read this issue about the shortage of priests in other dioceses, i began to entertain the idea of serving these places, in as much as my priesthood is universal.

Our diocese of St. Jean-Longueuil in Quebec Canada is looking for an english priest. The parish is made up of almost a 70% Philippine community.Our current priest is relocating to London Ontario leaving this position open as of August 1, 2013. Our Bishop Msgr. Lionel Gedron, P.S.S. would be your contact. www.dsjl.org

 

[L_Marshall]

The Diocese of Worcester in Massachusetts, USA has taken some in years past. Mostly from Columbia, Brazil, Africa, and Asia.

 

[Catholic4Jesus]

Is it possible that a bishop/archbishop can transfer one or more of his diocesan priests to a different diocese or perhaps even a different country?

 

[L_Marshall]

Is it possible that a bishop/archbishop can transfer one or more of his diocesan priests to a different diocese or perhaps even a different country?

A prelate can transfer one of his priests to another locale (any local: diocese, state, country, continent, planet), as long as the prelate of the place the priest is being transferred to approves it, and is incardinated in that diocese afterwards.

 

[Catholic4Jesus]

A prelate can transfer one of his priests to another locale (any local: diocese, state, country, continent, planet), as long as the prelate of the place the priest is being transferred to approves it, and is incardinated in that diocese afterwards.

Is it very common or not?

 

[L_Marshall]

Is it very common or not?

It happens via need. If there is a large population of one ethnicity immigrating to an area, the local bishop may ask another bishop to incardinate one of the migrant people’s priest temporarily, to minister to these people while the bishop has one of his own priest educated in the language and culture.
Sometimes there are permanent moves, but when someone is already ordained it’s rare.

Do you have a specific situation you can give so that all of us here on the forums may weigh in on it a little better, since things like this are often case-by-case?

 

[AdvanceAlways]

Don’t you usually have to be active in a diocese to discern a vocation with a particular diocese? Or could an American from the Archdiocese of New York, for example, discern and apply with a Diocese in Alaska, or even out of the country like a Diocese in Australia?

 

[L_Marshall]

Don’t you usually have to be active in a diocese to discern a vocation with a particular diocese? Or could an American from the Archdiocese of New York, for example, discern and apply with a Diocese in Alaska, or even out of the country like a Diocese in Australia?

It varies depending on the locale. Ultimately, it’s decided by the Bishop, and some are more willing than others. Generally if you’re from outside the Diocese they are a little more hesitant though.

 

[hwriggles4]

LMarshall:

Sometimes, vocation directors will take candidates from outside the diocese, but it varies. I think it is a case-by-case basis, and some dioceses will not take men over a certain age. I knew a few people (mostly later vocations) that did the pre-theologate at Ave Maria University in Florida or paid their own way for pre-theology at Holy Apostles in Connecticut and were picked up by a diocese before going to major seminary.

Most dioceses do want a candidate to live in the diocese for a little while beforehand. I’ve heard that the Archdiocese of Washington DC is an exception, because Washington DC does not have a lot of long-term residents (i.e. people migrate to DC for work or school, and may stay there a few years before moving to another place for another job).

I know several dioceses are in need of priests. Fortunately, some dioces have really come up in vocations due to the efforts of a newer bishop. Cleveland, Fort Worth, Dallas, Saginaw, Houston (in my opinion anyway), Charlotte, Charleston (thank you Bishop Baker), and Raleigh are all good examples of this within the last 10 years (since 2004). I also know that Bishop Kelleher of the Archdiocese of Kansas City between 1993 and 2003 increased vocations from 3 to 21 during his tenure, and many of these men were “home grown”.

While I still think Peoria, Rockford, and Lincoln are still saying “what priest shortage?” I know Arlington (Virginia) has not had as many seminarians as it had when Bishop Keating was the local ordinary (Keating died in 1999) and Fr. James Gould was the vocations director.

As far as incardination, that is fairly common. I don’t know the details of how that all works, but in recent years, a few priests I know have left the Legionaires of Christ and been incardinated (or are working on being incardinated) into a diocese. One is Fr. Jonathan Morris (who is on Fox News frequently), who has been incardinated into the Archdiocese of New York. There is also a priest from the LC who is in the process of being incardinated into my diocese. I also know of personally a few former Jesuits who left the order and have been incardinated into a diocese, such as Austin, and I am familiar with at least two Vincentians (now deceased) who were incardinated into the Dallas Diocese.

Thanks for asking these questions. They are good ones.

 

[Cloisters]

I was in the diocese of Kansas city -St Joseph when there were only 3 in the seminary in 1995-96. One had dropped out when he said he had a revelation of God telling him he didn’t have a vocation. It was a very discouraging time, but the vocations director got everyone together and said we either sink or swim. I had (and still have) the ministry of promoting the cloisters, and he was elated that I had called him.

I started the vocations committee at our parish, and 10 young men responded to our ‘telemarketing’ of a vocations retreat. The increase in vocations was due to the shoe leather hitting the street, so to say. The parish priests have to encourage it, or the young men won’t pay any attention to the possibility of their having a call. And then they have to get involved in parish life.

I had also planned a monastic tour of St Louis, but hubby got a job in NC and the tour was cancelled. We had reserved the monastic cells and chapel in Kendrick Seminary; the bus; the meals; ending at St Phillipine’s shrine; and the nuns had been notified, but the funds needed to be raised. Oh, well. Perhaps someone out there can take the idea and run with it.

Blessings,
Cloisters