Lack of faith with clergy

[debraran]

I was wondering, do you think the lack of faith in clergy, mainly priests, (but it could extend to others) is that at some point, they don’t really believe they have the power to turn bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus? I know a few priests doubt it from the beginning, but I’m talking of the majority. What draw of the secular world would match the removal of sins and giving Jesus to the masses?
Is sin just so overwhelming and insidious, it chips away at any beliefs until it wins? OR is it because they feel no one else does and what they do is not necessary?
I think although sex, etc. is given a lot of priority, no one mentions the whole belief system which holds the vocation together.

 

[blessedstar]

I don’t know what you mean because the Priests in my Diocese firmly believe in The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and they often speak about it to confirm and encourage our faith.

I wonder why you think that Priests don’t believe in the Real Presence of Jesus. Have you read something somewhere? Can you show me some information from some site or other that has evidence of this lack of faith.

I’m not saying I don’t believe you because why would anyone state such a thing unless they had come across something, but I am astonished to hear that Priests don’t believe in the Real Presence so I am asking you to show me where this information is to be found. Having doubts is not the same as lacking faith. Doubts can assail a soul and may be part of the Spiritual Journey and nothing to do with lacking faith; I hope this is what you mean.

In the Living Prayer of my life

 

[debraran]

What I meant was that some priests leave the priesthood and in part say they lost faith, they didn’t feel like they were doing anything. These weren’t the ones that left to get married and still wished they could be priests.
Mainly I meant the ones that leave the priesthood in dispair…if they really believed in it, it would be hard to leave. As one priest, who was really reverent said, "Where else can I do God’s work, feed his sheep, give them his body and blood? "
You have to admit, there are priests that hate confession, I’ve heard and seen that, so they can’t really believe in it fully or the need for it. That might start to bleed into other things.Priests also talk about other priests losing faith, not always in God, but in what they are doing, and praying for them. I remember Fr. Groechel saying he wants to do violence sometimes when he hears a priest say, “it’s only a symbol”. (I don’t blame him)

I’m glad you have a reverent church, so do I (Dominican) and I love it, but I have been in others that were very different.

 

[kentuckyliz]

I am not aware of any priests in my personal life that have faithlessness regarding the Eucharist and confession. Thanks be to God.

We must pray very much for priests. Satan desires to sift them like wheat!

 

[debraran]

Yes, Satan loves doubt and dispair. You have to be taught well and have the gift of grace to keep going sometimes. Even a “saint” like Mother Theresa had bad days where she wondered what was going on, but for priests, I think not renewing themselves and getting caught up in the repitition of prayer without thought, all the same things that can happen to secular people. I notice in some fraternity orders, they schedule retreats and trips during the year, sometimes close by, sometimes far, but they realize the need for it and have the numbers to keep work going at home. A lone priest in a parish wouldn’t have the same luxury as often.
I just wondered in my original post, if our secular world and lack of faith among the masses infiltrates to the seminarians or older priests…they start to doubt because they feel alone and unappreciated. I also think the scandals caused a lot of harm because some can’t see through the sin of that, how can such holy men do such awful things repeatedly and give out the eucharist and do confessions? They in their own personal sin, also effected how others look at the priesthood. That is another sin in itself, but hopefully one that will dim more and more over time.

 

[bpbasilphx]

The Holy Spirit is the One Who has sthe power to turn bread into the Body of Christ, not any man, even the Priest.