How is your diocese handling the priest shortage?

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My diocese seems to be in an extreme priest shortage, and I opened up my morning paper to see that 1/3 of the priests are over age 70! As they retire, the rest of the (already overworked) priests are being reshuffled. And I noticed that they’re going to group priests into 2 and 3, and have them serve several parishes. (I’m wondering if they will house them together, as it seems that would save some money).

They said that my parish will be clustered with 5 others, and be served by 2 or 3 priests. (Gosh, I hope it’s 3, because I don’t think 2 priests could handle 6 churches that far apart!!) :eek:

So, I’m curious about how your diocese is handling the priest shortage (or even if you have one)…

Tif =8-)
 
Very good question and concern. In our diocese we have some retired priests helping out, but many older priests nearing retirement. The priest can ask the bishop to stay on until they are 75, if their health can take it. We had one priest ask to stay and recently died at age 71. Many bishops have plans like the one you mentioned to have one priest handle more than one parish. A parish administrator will handle the parish business. This could be a deacon,religious, or lay person. The priest would travel around to say Mass and administer the Sacraments. This is already being done in some places. In our diocese, we are just holding our own. If we have a priest, who becomes ill for some time, we are in trouble. Like wise if a priest passes away. We have 3 new priests to be Ordained this year, but only one each year for the next few years. This will not be enough. From time to time, we do get priests from other countries. In some countries, the seminaries are over crowded. There are some programs being introduced to show the joy of a vocation to the priesthood. This crisis calls for all to step up and do all that they can for their church.

Deacon Tony
 
I am from the Sacrameto , CA Diocese and not real sure how we stand. I know we have many old Irish priests that seem to be hanging on. I go to a fairly small parish where the priest is old and plans on staying until retiring I believe. Although I think the bishop wanted to close our parish down. I’ve been told that the shortage is what’s causing these huge mega parishes to develop. I don’t really like them all that much.
 
Mine is doing really well - and this is for an English diocese too.

Many of the parishes’ have doubled up, so that they split priests between a parish about 15-20 miles away. Most of our priests are middle aged, and are not that close to retirement, but, I think there will be a big shortage in about 10 years time, then there will be some problems.
 
In the Los Angeles area some of the small, older churches have been closed and parishes have been combined. A lot of these churches were in serious need of earthquake retrofits to make them safe. Many of those parishes were in poor neighborhoods where there wasn’t really the income to cover basic operational expenses let-alone costly repairs. (Keep in mind that in California, large suburban parishes have been the norm since long before the priest shortage. Small neighborhood parishes are the exception.

I know of at least one rural parish that has a sister for an administrator. A retired priest drives some 60 miles every Sunday to say Mass.
All the parishes are being told that they can’t expect to have a resident priest in the years to come and are supposed to be planning for that eventuality. Quite a few parishes already have a lay person or deacon as a business manager even if there IS a pastor priest.

While there definitely are not many men lining up to be priests we do have a thriving permenant diaconate program.
 
We have not opened a new parish in my diocese since 1976. Most parishes in the metropolitan area of Baton Rouge have one priest. They are clustering in the rural parishes. The Archdiocese of New Orleans is in far worse shape due to Katrina and the diaspora of the people. They closed seven parishes this weekend including an historic African-American parish. All of us need to pray for vocations.
 
Personally, I think Adoration for Vocations is of prime importance. We simply must be praying.

Here in the Baltimore area many parishes are forming Vocations Committees. Our vocations committee is instituting the Elijah Cup program. Families sign up to take home an unused Chalice and pray for vocations for a week.

We’re also inviting 30 young men from our parish to the VIP program. On the Monday of Holy Week, the diocese sponsors a day long trip to 2 seminaries. The guys end up at the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass and meet personally w/ the Cardinal. They’ll have a follow up dinner w/ the Cardinal about 6 weeks later.

Sadly, my parish has not had a vocation - that we know of - in the 75 years it has been in existence. —KCT
 
Priest shortage? Not in our parish. We’re up to five priests (one, however, is retired and another one is on loan to us for a year) and one full-time deacon.
 
The priest shortage is not universal throughout the US or the world. There are a great many diocese in the US suffering a shortage, and then there are many that are booming with vocations.

Those of us who live in dioceses where there is a shortage are hurting deeply, both for the limited celebration of the sacraments and for the physical toll we see this taking on our dear priests. My own pastor is pastor of two parishes, and the “home parish” of this arrangement is too big for one priest to handle to say nothing of having a second parish to minister to. The home parish really should have a pastor, a parochial vicar, and a deacon to properly serve the needs of the faithful and the physical well-being of the clerics.

Pray for vocations to the priesthood, permanent diaconate, and religious life. Even if your diocese is booming with vocations, please pray for the rest of us too!
 
We should not only pray, but also nuture and encourage boys and men who might be feeling a calling. It used to be a matter of pride to have a priest in the family. I’m not sure that is the case anymore, but it should be.
 
There is an Abbey of monks in our diocese- they help out with a lot of the rural parishes in the area that don’t have pastors. If those parishes are close enough to other parishes, they simply share a priest with another parish. The Society of Precious Blood staffs some parishes in our diocese, so that helps out too. I expect we will see more seminarians, and eventually priests, in the years to come.
 
If we are serious about the priest shortage then we should think about doing the following things:

improve our liturgies from banal to sublime
encourage boys to become altar boys
teach the radical fullness of the Truth the Church has to offer
preach from the pulpit the evils of contraception which is destroying families in the US (good priestly vocations often times come from good families)
each of us do our own part in growing in holiness, praying for vocations (especially the Rosary and Adoration), and encouraging young men and boys to consider the priesthood
 
:amen:

Also, stop allowing altar girls- boys at that age don’t want to do it when girls do it too.

We need families to respect their parish priests- invite them over for dinner- let the priests be like another member of the family.

We need, most of all, priests to celebrate the Mass with reverence and love- and for them to talk about their vocations, how much the priesthood means to them. We need priests to console the suffering in confession and bring to them God’s healing grace. Priests need to be holy themselves to do this.
 
They don’t seem to have one. The Novus Ordo Parish has three full time Priests as well as three deacons. The Indult Mass now has a permanent Priest from the diocese, one retired priest who helps with the distribution of Holy Communion, and anywhere from three to four other priests, Norbertines, who come down to assist as needed. They also have another retired priest who helps out at the High Mass and for confessions.

Both groups have a good number of altar servers. At the Novus Ordo it seems pretty much evenly split between the boys and girls
 
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jpjd:
We should not only pray, but also nuture and encourage boys and men who might be feeling a calling. It used to be a matter of pride to have a priest in the family. I’m not sure that is the case anymore, but it should be.
Click to expand...
I agree. With many families only having 2 kids, parents don’t want one to become a priest; they want grandchildren. The families I know who have sons in formation for the priesthood consider it a great grace for the whole family. —KCT
 
The last US diocese I was a major east coast city (not New York or Philadelphia), and it still had enough priests so that the Catholic school at which I taught could have a full-time chaplain who was a priest. On the other hand, when I vacationed with my mother in the Adirondack region of New York, the nearest town, which was not a mere hamlet and had a Catholic church of long standing, had a religious sister as the main boss (she did not of course say Mass).

When I was young I considered a vocation. I was enthusiastic for a while, and what drew me most was the possibility of being a figure in something as beautiful as the celebration of the sacraments. As it gradually dawned on me that guitar strumming, bulletins that did nor provide an order of service but did provide a full page of advertising, providing ongoing commentary during the “celebration,” and priests making up the words as they went along were going to be the norm, that was the end of that. I wonder how many candidates the church has lost because it has lost all sense of beauty in worship.
 
I am of the opinion that we, as a church, get exactly the number and quality of priests that we deserve. In places where Catholics are more committed, faithful, and obedient to the teachings of the church, they probably have a good number of quality priests. In places where Catholics are luke warm, cafeteria “pick and choose” types in what they will obey and what they will not, there is probably a bad shortage of priests or a larger number of lousy priests. They don’t get vocations because they don’t encourage vocations with thorough, quality faith formation for both children and adults. I believe that if we will do these things and be obedient to all the teachings of the church, we will get vocations from within our own parishes. Until then, the shortage will continue and even worsen.
 
Diocese of Peoria has no priest shortage. They have at least 50 seminarians.

Diocese of Joliet doesn’t seem to be doing much, nor does Belleville. I don’t pay enough attention to Springfield, although I suppose I should. The eparchies (we have two) are not complaining about a priest shortage.

The Archdiocese has a web site, TV campaign, sends priests out to soft-peddle at Catholic high schools, and puts out paper ads. It incardates with background checks when it can.

The Diocese of Rockford has a high profile vocations campaign for both boys and girls that includes giving kids and young adults the opportunity to meet and greet religious and priests in their “natural habitat”. It includes a sports, a day of discernment, and a summer camp component. It has ads, including billboard campaigns. They have at least 40 seminarians. It also has a well-publicized no-tolerance policy for abuse of children by clergy, any type. Finally, it incardates to meet current requirements from dioceses elsewhere in the world that have more than their fair share of priests, with background checks and an americanization program.
 
The previous bishop seemed content to let the number of priests dwindle down.

Oh, by the way, he was strongly in favor of ordaining female priests, and said so every opportunity (I witnessed one such). And, he promptly shut down the permanent diaconate program, although we seem to have some deacons out there.

My non-scientific estimate is that all the DRE’s are women, and all of the pastoral administrators (where there is no priest) are women, and that 85-90% of the lay ministers are women.

Also, it was common until just a couple weeks ago, to have lay people preaching in the parishes, even when a priest was physically present. The late bishop was, in my opinion, actually anti-clerical. He specified that at his funeral, using a loophole in Canon Law, that lay peope distribute communion, even in the presence of an overwhelming number of priests and bishops.

Priests were referred to as sacramental administrators.

The new bishop has been in the saddle for just a year, and things are beginning to change. He designated himself as the vocations director, and managed to send off a group of seminarians in unprecendented numbers, with a goal of having 50 seminarians iin training at all times.

We have fewer than 70 priests for 113 parishes. That’s the absolute picture, Personally, I think we have relative problems, with priests who’d rather be Lutheran or something else, or who have already become Lutheran in-place.
 
there is priests in good numbers.

Where there is heterodoxy there is a dramitc shrotage. I read a book a few years back called call to action:call to apostacy. The book used usccb statistics to point out “condervative” dioceses were producing considerable vocations as opposed to “liberal” dioceses have shortages. The more conservative the larger the number of seminarians…the more liberal the worse it got.

Gee perhaps there is such a thing as grace!
 
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