Let's be real about the shortage of priests

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Getting back to the thread, do you have any practical suggestions that posters on CAF might do, to address the shortage of priests?
 
Look at the dioceses with the highest number of vocations and duplicate what they’re doing. Have our good Bishops even recognized that there is a crisis?
 
Not the same thing. Eastern Catholic men (in some Catholic churches sui juris) may be ordained priests, provided they are married before ordination to the diaconate.

I take no position on whether or not men of the Latin Church sui juris should be able to do so. In fact, I belong to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, which admits former Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood (how I, a cradle Catholic, ended up on the Apposite Register of Ordinariate Members is a long story which I will save for another day).

There is no need to make inflammatory remarks comparing married priests to polygamous marriages.
 
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angelic06 said:
Not the same thing. Eastern Catholic men (in some Catholic churches sui juris) may be ordained priests, provided they are married before ordination to the diaconate.
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And that, as well, is “not the same thing” as what Ed wrote. Maybe I’m picking nits, but he was talking about priests getting married. That cannot happen, as you mention – priests cannot marry (although in Eastern Catholic rites, married men may be ordained).

In any case, the subject of this discussion is the shortage of priests in the Latin rite. In that context, one cannot choose two vocations, just as one cannot choose two wives. I’m not being inflammatory, I’m just pointing out the norms of the Latin rite.
I take no position on whether or not men of the Latin Church sui juris should be able to do so. In fact, I belong to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, which admits former Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood
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Right. So, the discussion isn’t about whether that’s appropriate in that context – clearly, the Church believes that it is! But, for the purposes of this conversation (unless you’re suggesting that the Ordinariate is the means of replenishing the Church with priests), we’re talking about the norms of the Latin rite.
There is no need to make inflammatory remarks comparing married priests to polygamous marriages.
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In the normative practice of the Latin rite, it is a valid comparison. Not trying to be ‘inflammatory’, just calling it like it is… 🤷‍♂️

(Incidentally… as you well know, unmarried Anglican clerics who are admitted to the Catholic priesthood in the Ordinariate are required to observe perpetual celibacy. Moreover, as a norm, the Ordinariate can only ordain unmarried men from its ranks. So, the same observation can be made with respect to celibacy within the Ordinariate as it can without… 😉 )
 
I am well aware of ordinariate norms.

I was discerning transferring to the Byzantines last year, not because I wanted to be a priest but because I was spending more time there than I was at my (at the time) Pastoral Provision parish, and I wanted my papers to match reality. However, when my own parish transferred to the ordinariate at the command of our Holy Father, I chose to accompany it instead (the chancery in Houston gave us cradle Catholics, otherwise ineligible under any other membership qualification, a three month grace period to join the registry). At that time, I was discerning the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony to a woman from my parish who moved closer to the coast several years back. It didn’t make sense - to me - for us to belong to two different traditions, given I just came from the one she still is in.
 
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I am careful about them and materials from non-Catholics, but I don’t rule them out entirely.
 
Priests should NOT be looking at pornography! I agree, they should be dismissed from active ministry.
 
Why can it not happen? It was the norm for the first 1200 years of the Church and wasn’t enforced until following the Council of Trent in the late 16th century.
 
Well you sound like a follower of Christ to me … so how could that not be true Catholicism 😉.

I have a not dissimilar disposition. Decided to seek beyond the hack cr#p to see if there was a kernel I could still hold onto and remain Catholic - did a Masters in Theology. Am stll hanging on but am a real pain in the b#tt to most I suppose.
 
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I do not understand your comments. Saint Pope John XXIII opened the council.

God the Father, by granting two miracles at the intercession of John, more or else endorsed John’s legacy, the council; as did he endorse the legacy of John Paul, who ministered in light of the council.
 
Gorgias said:
he was talking about priests getting married. That cannot happen, as you mention – priests cannot marry (although in Eastern Catholic rites, married men may be ordained).
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I thought that there had been a few cases of exceptions being made. For example, in Russia, if the wife of an Orthodox priest had died and there were several young children.
 
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AlNg said:
I thought that there had been a few cases of exceptions being made. For example, in Russia, if the wife of an Orthodox priest had died and there were several young children.
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Right. It’s a discipline, which means it doesn’t have the force of dogma. It can be changed.

So, in an exceptional case, there might be a particular concession that’s made, but if it happens, it’s rare. (I’ve heard about it in the context of Catholic deacons who are widowers with small children.)
 
BlackFriar said:
Well you sound like a follower of Christ to me … so how could that not be true Catholicism 😉.

I have a not dissimilar disposition. Decided to seek beyond the hack cr#p to see if there was a kernel I could still hold onto and remain Catholic - did a Masters in Theology. Am stll hanging on but am a real pain in the b#tt to most I suppose
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Sounds like you are putting in the hard work of trying to get it right. I am always surprised at those who accuse agnostics (like me) and atheists of being lazy. I am constantly seeking the truth. It’s hard work and not for the faint of heart, by any means. I truly believe it is what we are here to do. It would be a lot easier to be able to just fall back on a religion you belong to instead of questioning everything. However, I believe we are all different in so many ways that one path is never correct for everybody.
 
Wretched_1 said:
Look at the dioceses with the highest number of vocations and duplicate what they’re doing. Have our good Bishops even recognized that there is a crisis?
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Eh, that’s not necessarily a good idea.

They may not be filtering hard enough.

Consider how often it turns out that especially successful college sports programs are engaging in unethical practices with regard to recruitment. You have to look at the people involved, not just look at the games one/number of ordinations. Ordaining just one really bad priest can produce a spiritual disaster for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people.
 
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Thanks for sharing your perspective! I was hoping you would!
QwertyGirl said:
All I can tell you is that I never was a believer.
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OK… so, from the beginning, as you were being educated in the faith, you never believed it. Fair enough.
As I matured into an adult, my experience has been that the Catholic Church emphasizes way more negative things than positive.
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Do you mean “the Church” or “those affiliated with the Church with whom you came in contact while in school”? There’s a critical difference there, wouldn’t you say?
The Catholic church, in my experience, was counter-productive for me with regards to living life positively.
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OK. Fair statement. Do you mean that, because the Church talks about ‘sin’, you felt that it was being too negative?

Would it be fair of me to ask whether, since medicine talks about ‘sickness’ and law speaks of ‘punishment’, it’s reasonable to avoid them, and disbelieve in those systems?
For example, I don’t really believe in the concept of sin. Instead, I believe in the concept of people going through life, some very broken. Some at great disadvantage. Some mentally ill. Etc.
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The Church teaches that, too. 😉
I disagree with the church on the following: Concept of original sin, views on human sexuality, exclusion of women in the hierarchy, attitudes towards suffering, infallibility of the pope, etc., the Catholic church isn’t a good fit for me.
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I don’t expect that you’ll reply – and that’s ok! – but it would be interesting to know what about these you disagree with. Just one. I don’t know… why is “original sin” wrong? Or, what is erroneous about the teaching of “infallibility”?

Anyway, thanks for sharing your perspective. 👍
 
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