Temporary preisthood to stem falling numbers?

[Ken]

Capt K:

Simple way to test this hypothesis. Deacons can be married but we don’t see a huge number of men rushing to become deacons. Marriage is no barrier, so what is? A deacon is an ordained minister who can preach at Mass and preside at baptisms and marriages.

OK. Perhaps the number applying to be deacons is not huge. How many deacons are there in the US? How many are married?

 

[GoodME]

I think the principal cause of the priest shortage is apathy. There is a lack of passion in young people today about the spritual life. Thus, the call is ignored by many who would otherwise consider a religious life.

Also, there is not enough done to attract people who may be in their eartly 30’s, for example, never married, drifting through life, who may be suited for the religious life. There is an effort going on in my diocese to nominate people who seem to possess a strong spiritual element to their existence for duties, wherein being asked to participate in this way is an honor (it is a recognition of the person by those that nominated them). It is hoped that this further involvement with the Church might lead to a further self-examination, out of which new deacons, nuns, priests and lay ministers of different types may come forward to serve the Church.

I could not accept a “temporary” priesthood for all the reasons posted abnove. I also believe that celibacy which is rooted in the requirement to be devoted to God and to not be distracted by that type of intimacy with others makes for a better priesthood. I do not believe that this discipline is the cause for the shortage of priests.

Does anyone know if the rigors of screening of candidates for the seminary may be limiting the numbers, compared to 20 or 30 years ago? What percentage of candidates pass through the screening? How many are declined because of issues unearthed during screening?

 

[Fortiterinre]

Capt K:

Simple way to test this hypothesis. Deacons can be married but we don’t see a huge number of men rushing to become deacons. Marriage is no barrier, so what is? A deacon is an ordained minister who can preach at Mass and preside at baptisms and marriages.

Well, one difference is that permanent deacons do not generally do parish work as a “career” and may have no interest in doing so “full-time.” They are often retired, but younger deacons usually have secular occupations ranging from factory workers to bank executives in my diocese. Some deacons become hospital chaplains and the like, but they apply for these jobs the same as laymen do. If upon ordination a deacon was required to quit secular employment and work full-time as a parish minister, it would be interesting to see if we had more or fewer applicants.

I agree that the role of the deacon is not well understood–should full-time parish ministry even be a goal for them? I think until we try it we will never really know what effect celibacy has on vocations. Marriage lived fully (non-contracepting, non-in-vitro-fertilizing, mutual obedience and support, etc) is not particularly easier than celibacy!

 

[Poisson]

bengal_fan:

absurd. celibacy is A cause for the shortage of priests. it might not be the cause as there a probably a number of reasons but it definitely has an effect. i am not advocating either camp on this issue and i agree that discipline attracts the truly devoted, but to say it is not a cause for some one to not go into the priesthood is a bit of an overstatement. i can sit here and name 5 personal acquaintances (all very orthodox) who would leap into the seminary if married priests were allowed.

If married priests were allowed we may have MORE priests but there would still be a shortage because we would need more.
As it is now if I want to see my priest it is very difficult. He is busy every night because most people try to arrange meetings in the evening since most work during the day. If a priest was married he would want to,(and have a duty to, spend that time with his wife and kids, which would happen in the evenings since kids are in school during the day. You would probably need two married priests to do the duties of one celibate priest. Additionally if priest were allowed to be married most likely would and this would contribute to the shortage. I think that if priest were allowed to be married we would need twice as many and we would not have that large an increase in applications.
Another point, a married priest would need to earn about 2X that of an unmarried priest to support his family. Seeing that we would need twice as many priests making twice as much that would quadruple salaries would collections increase?? Probably not.