Priest Shortage?

[adawgj]

Is there really a priest shortage?
From what I hear especially in the mid west of the USA priests have to pastor 6 churches.
In my diocese their doesn’t seem to be a priest shortage especially since 3 have just been ordained transitional deacons. I also hear seminaries are starting to fill up.

Can anyone clarify?

 

[NovusAugustus]

There’s no doubt that if more priests aren’t ordained, we will have a shortage. Fortunately, several studies have shown that seminaries are indeed filling up more than they have in the past decade, which is certainly good news.

Here’s a relevant article:

ncregister.com/site/article/1733

 

[mcrts]

There definitely is a shortage of priests in my country (Singapore). Please pray for us!

 

[TiggerS]

Dire shortage of priests here too in Australia, so much so that parishes are being bound into the one big parish (two or three parishes into the one parish). In places, Churches and Mass centres are being closed. The priests we do have have a truly demanding schedule of duties.

I’m convinced that until we lay Catholics take The Gospel and Faith seriously as a daily 24x7x365 commitment within available means and the bounds of prudence and common sense (without presuming), The Church will continue to suffer in one way or another. That along with ardent devotion to Our Lady Mother of The Church with St Joseph, Patron of The Church. It is up to us - not just me or even just you, but all of us as the Lay Community of The Church, The People of God.

---

A good read: “The Gospel and Utopia” and while I do have some problems with it in parts - some minor problems, some more major problems, much of it is well worth reading if one is a discerning and reflective reader and interested in laity in this 21st century and a something of a way forward :

If you access this blog thegospelandutopia.blogspot.com.au/ an online copy of “The Gospel and Utopia” with link is in the far right hand column under “The Book - Click here to read the full text of The Gospel and Utopia”

 

[john78]

shortage versus Bishops being allowed to accept or reject applicants at their own discretion not based upon a set standard of rules that is to govern such matters only the four pillars of formation at best, one diocese or country can have a shortage where the other has an abundance of applicants and there is no communication between the two for one to say hey we have enough or too many applicants here, why don’t you consider going over there where they hardly have anyone applying and are in dire need.

then one can go into well one size doesn’t fit all, which is true, but with a lack of communication, a lack of basic standards that are applied across the board with some discretion allowed to be used in deciding who is accepted things just get harder.

then the applicant who is accepted gets into formation and for what ever reason God makes things a little more clear and that seminarian decides that is not where God is calling him to be an then drops out.

then there are applicants who are afraid to step forward to due a rough past, mental issues at any level, SSA , lack of funds, lack of support, and they might actually be called to a religious life but are too afraid to step forward for those issues…

Or you run into a poor vocation or spiritual director who gives horrible advice or just flat out work against the young man who is trying to find his way in Gods’ plan for him, and the young man or man, has no way to find out how he can find another v.d or s.d in his area…

perspective it seems, there is not so much a priest shortage but there might be a shortage on those being called not willing to accept a calling, or give up on a calling , and then one has to wonder how much work satan is putting into tripping up or confusing those who are being called.

and for the shortage of priest crisis that has been going on for at least 20 years the Catholic Church is still standing strong. So how does one interpret that ?

 

[TiggerS]

and for the shortage of priest crisis that has been going on for at least 20 years the Catholic Church is still standing strong. So how does one interpret that

Two ways: “The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against you” and from Sunday’s Gospel: "He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

We need to recall that it all began with Jesus gradually calling to follow Him only 12 apostles - and look how The Church as spread and in those very early days, The Church underwent murderous persecution in what was then in the main ‘the universal world’. Persecuted everywhere.

and then one has to wonder how much work satan is putting into tripping up or confusing those who are being called.

If one reads the opening paragraphs of the Book of Job, one finds that Satan cannot make a move without the permission of The Lord - and our theology, taught by The Magisterium, of The Permissive Will of God outlines this in the CCC for one.

 

[john78]

If one reads the opening paragraphs of the Book of Job, one finds that Satan cannot make a move without the permission of The Lord - and our theology, taught by The Magisterium, of The Permissive Will of God outlines this in the CCC for one.

good grief if you go perpetuating on here to Catholics that God allows Satan to act against us, for our own maturation which will thusly in the end glorify God, I think with out doubt confuse the mess out of a lot of everyone on the forum.

And in turn will lead a lot of people to using that as an excuse to commit sins an thus ignoring that they have free will to choose to do right or wrong, but wait Satan offers us temptations to sin, and that is in turn allowed by God to help us grow in faith and to glorify God, so thusly people are going to think well hey if I am being tempted maybe I need to look into why I am being tempted into something and thus instead of running from it or praying for help one in turn starts dancing with temptation to try and learn from it, but wait we have a conscience, our free will is guided in part by our guardian angel, to help us on this path to choose to do good , ahhh wait I just remembered God allows Satan to tempt us so we shouldn’t worry about anything in the long run.

okay feeew glad that is not convoluted in any way shape or form.

 

[TiggerS]

That God permits evil because He can draw good from it is a proclaiming of the overwhelming Glory of God! The theology of the Permissive Will of God is nothing of a permission nor attraction to commit sin - totally to the contrary once one grasps the teaching. It is a teaching of The Catholic Church and the Magisterium and contained both in Scripture and in the CCC as well as Catholic theology generally, though many do twist and distort what The Church states in accord with Scripture. To speak against this is to speak against The Church and The Magisterium, the teaching authority of The Catholic Church.

The Church Teaching and theology of The Permissive Will of God is all to little well understood within our Catholic Culture general speaking - and to our complete poverty being totally unable therefore to explain how evil comes into being if God and His Goodness is stronger than evil and the embodiment of evil…

Catholic Catechism: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c1p4.htm#324

311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. **God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil.176 He *permits ***it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:

For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.177

Book of Job - Douay Reims Catholic Translation:

http://www.drbo.org/chapter/20001.htm
Now on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. [7] And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. [8] And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? [9] And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain? [10] Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth?

([6] The sons of God: The angels.-- Ibid. Satan also, etc. This passage represents to us in a figure, accommodated to the ways and understandings of men, 1. The restless endeavours of Satan against the servants of God; 2. That he can do nothing without God’s permission; 3. That God doth not permit him to tempt them above their strength: but assists them by his divine grace in such manner, that the vain efforts of the enemy only serve to illustrate their virtue and increase their merit. )[11] But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face. [12] Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

For those seeking to understand from Catholic Spiritual Direction website - and a reliable source of Catholic teaching:

http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/06/20/how-can-i-know-the-will-of-god-in-my-life-part-i-of-ii#ixzz2YSIjMtig

God’s Permissive Will
But the phrase “God’s will” also touches another category of life-experience: suffering. Suffering, of one type or another, is our constant companion as we journey through this fallen world. God has revealed that suffering was not part of his original plan, but rather was the offspring of original sin, which ripped apart the harmony of God’s creation. His indicative will to our first parents in the Garden of Eden was “do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). They disobeyed. Human nature fell; creation fell; evil attained a certain predominance in the human condition, giving rise to “the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death” (Catechism, 403).
Here is where the distinction between God’s indicative and permissive will comes in. God did not desire or command Adam and Eve to rebel against his plan, but he did permit them to do so. Likewise, throughout human history, God does not will evil to happen (and its consequence of suffering), but he does permit it. He certainly didn’t explicitly will the Holocaust, for example, but, on the other hand, he did permit it.
The question of why God permits some evil and the suffering that comes from it, even the suffering of innocents, is an extremely hard question to answer. Only the Christian faith as a whole gives a satisfactory response …read on at above link also for the difference between the Indicative & Permissive Will of God