"Lack of Priests"

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joshjacob

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I would like to hear what everyone’s opions is regarding the lack of priests. Here are a few of my own opions:
  • Lack of religion in the family.
  • No encouragement from family and friends.
  • Priesthood is too demanding.
I am looking forward to hearing from other members opions.🙂 I hope we can recognize the problems and fix them before it goes beyond the breaking point.😦

Thanks,
joshjacob
 
Too many liberal (heterodox) seminaries. These don’t attract candidates.

Too few orthodox seminaries.
 
I think that a major part of the problem is the lack of orthodoxy in some of the seminaries. The media is very quick to point to a decrease in the number of vocations, yet they do not look very far for the answer. I hear of many religious orders that are bursting at the seams with the number of men that are joining. Why? Because they are teaching authentic Catholicism.
 
I read a book by Sr. Briege McKenna in which she said that we get the Priesthood we deserve. There’s not enough faith and obedience to Church teaching among the laity.
 
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joshjacob:
I would like to hear what everyone’s opions is regarding the lack of priests. Here are a few of my own opions:
  • Lack of religion in the family.
  • No encouragement from family and friends.
  • Priesthood is too demanding.
I am looking forward to hearing from other members opions.🙂 I hope we can recognize the problems and fix them before it goes beyond the breaking point.😦

Thanks,
joshjacob
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As a guy who ran for a long time, I can say that the culture makes religious service look foolish and “wierd” (I was so afraid I would lose all my friends by applying for the seminary, but even my athiest and lesbian friends support me!), makes it sould like you have to abandon your talents, and says that membership in organized religion is shameful enough much less priesthood in such a medival organization!

Also, due to the lovely second half of the 20th century a lot of people think celibate is Catholic for “gay.” (and it is true that some men have hidden from the disorder under a cassock, which didnt end well, as we know) And the scandal didnt help much either…

I have yet to meet an effeminate priest BTW. Only one is not steryotypically masculine and thats only because he is kinda loopy, but not effeminate.

oh and one more biggie: Too few priests invite young men to consider it. Peter and Andrew didnt just decide to become deciples one day randomly, Jesus called them and told them to do it, then they abandoned everything to do it. I would have not ran for so long, maybe even at all, if someone had just asked me to.
 
It could be any number of reasons…

Catholic families are smaller nowadays, and parents don’t push vocations to the priesthood as much, because they want grandchildren.

The priests they know are poor examples of men and of priests.

The priests they know have an anti-clerical streak to them (won’t be caught outside the church in a cassock, etc.).

There is an anti-clerical streak in many seminaries today.

There is a lack of reverence in Mass and respect for the Blessed Sacrament.

People focus on what they want, rather than what God wants. They want to get married and have a family, and they just know that God’s will is what they want.

The local priest is no longer guaranteed a place of honor and respect in the community.

Not enough people are praying for them.
 
A lot of the seminary problems have been and will be cleared up soon, especially with B16.
 
It’s kind of funny, but at my last parish, our poor priest was totally overworked, nearly 2000 families and a very active parish, all falling on one priest. He was a totally great, totally inspiring priest. Well, one day there was a visiting priest who it seemed like totally out of nowhere just lit into our parish during his homily, chastising us that in our 150 year history we had never produced a single priest. Everyone was kind of put off that this priest would tear into them for this. The next Sunday our priest apologized to everyone. Well, what do you know, within just a couple of months we had not just one but two young men in our parish enter the seminary. I always wondered if it was a coincidence or if, perhaps, the Holy Spirit had been speaking through that visiting priest that day.
 
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Aurelia:
I read a book by Sr. Briege McKenna in which she said that we get the Priesthood we deserve. There’s not enough faith and obedience to Church teaching among the laity.
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That is a very accurate summation of the problem as I see it.

Although in an ideal world the rule would be the opposite, because the laity are in the greatest need of a strong priesthood when we’re at our worst.
 
The dioceses that have good Catholic leadership in their bishops have no trouble with vocations.

This leads me to believe the problem is “Lack of Good Bishops in particular dioceses.”
 
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Aurelia:
I read a book by Sr. Briege McKenna in which she said that we get the Priesthood we deserve. There’s not enough faith and obedience to Church teaching among the laity.
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Contraception! More babies; more priests! More babies; BETTER priests!

But if we had better priests, we would have better laity also. Nevertheless, as a layman, I say we need to clean our own house before pointing blame.
 
I think the priest sex abuse scandal has had some effect. Granted, IMO, the % of priests who were actually involved was/is very small, however it put a stink on the priestly profession and the Catholic church as a whole.

Imagine being a priest these days and everytime you touch a child, you are possibly being scrutinized.

Many uninformed people outside the Church, and some inside think most priests are gay or are potential abusers.

Being a priest does not command the respect it once did.

Very Sad. 😦
 
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joshjacob:
I would like to hear what everyone’s opions is regarding the lack of priests. Here are a few of my own opions:
  • Lack of religion in the family.
  • No encouragement from family and friends.
  • Priesthood is too demanding.
I am looking forward to hearing from other members opions.🙂 I hope we can recognize the problems and fix them before it goes beyond the breaking point.😦

Thanks,
joshjacob
Click to expand...
The cost 😦
 
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Lazerlike42:
What do you mean by the cost?
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The educational costs are high.

I think the biggest issue is the “mold”. That is vocations directors, both diocesean and religious, are looking for a person to fit a certain set of criteria and if they don’t then they don’t want to “waste” their time with them.

Also diocesean vocation directors seem to have too much to do. On top of being the vocation director most of them are also pastors.

Please keep in mind that my comments here are from actual experience.
 
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Lazerlike42:
What do you mean by the cost?
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ByzCath is correct.

From my own account with the F.S.S.P the annual cost for a seminarian to pay for his training and keep is $6,000 (approx £3,500). Now considering the program for formation is for seven years, that cost totals $42,000 (approx £24,500).

This money has to be raised before entering the seminary, as there will be little opportunity to get a paid part time job whilst studying.

Also they require that you have completed college or university and prefer a BS or a BA degree (again if you do not have these, then there is more cost in studying for them)

So unless you happen to have excellent finances or a good benefactor, then it is down to scrimping and saving to try and raise the funds needed.
 
I think there have been lots of good factors listed, but wanted to add my own formulation of a concern:

There is (in today’s culture) no longer anything heroic about the priesthood.

Young people embrace orthodoxy because of its radicality and challenge. I think if we treated priests as they deserved to be treated and expected them to fulfill the duties of their office the priesthood would be similarly attractive.

Think about it, assuming one is open to the call but unsure of his vocation, how attractive does celibacy sound when it is undertaken in order to be a liturgical dispenser taking a back seat to a clericalized laity and on behalf of a Church that refuses to preach on any ‘controversial’ beliefs or even enforce its own law (persistent manifest grave sin and the Eucharist comes to mind). In fact, you might make a solemn pledge of obedience to a man who is intent on lifting the “spirit” of most anything above actual Church teaching and law. Why become a eunuch for the kingdom when the pilgrim kingdom looks and acts so pathetic at present? We’ll only get priests once we preach and live a faith that is worth sacrificing for; and let’s face it, kumbayah glad-handing is not that faith.
 
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Pious:
So unless you happen to have excellent finances or a good benefactor, then it is down to scrimping and saving to try and raise the funds needed.
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Correct me if I’m wrong… but won’t the diocese pick up the tab for seminary education?
 
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ByzCath:
The educational costs are high.

I think the biggest issue is the “mold”. That is vocations directors, both diocesean and religious, are looking for a person to fit a certain set of criteria and if they don’t then they don’t want to “waste” their time with them.

Also diocesean vocation directors seem to have too much to do. On top of being the vocation director most of them are also pastors.

Please keep in mind that my comments here are from actual experience.
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That was one part of what happened with me and why I looked outside Rome to pursue my calling.

Other reasons?
The introduction of the regular use of EMHC instead of just for extraordinary circumstance.
Altar girls which were also supposed to only be for extraordinary circumstances (i.e. no men available at all such as in a women’s prison, or hospital ward)
The unfortunate stereotype that most priests are gay.
The downplaying of the priests role in the church. ( “We are all priests, he is only a presider” mentality)
And of course, as mentioned, the cost.

They want 4 years of college before you can go into seminary, and until recently I was never ever able to get a 4 year degree. I would have much rather just gone in right out of high school.
 
I don’t think cost is an issue for the lack of vocations. Many religious orders pay for the seminary (jesuits, holy cross ec) and its my understanding that diocesan priests generally take loans for their seminary education and the diocese usually picks it up after they are ordained.

I can’t speak for the FSSP. It would not surprise me that priests must raise money on their own for the seminary given that the Order is rather new and probably does not have a significant income/benefactor/contribution base for seminary formation…But it is just not the norm.
 
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