The tree bears much fruit!
:thumbsup:
According to a knowledgeable deacon friend of mine the sexual abuse figure is less than 2%. He also told me that the percentage is higher among some other denominations, including Mormons, so it isn’t a *Catholic - specific *problem.Now…please don’t get upset, but think about it: 1) we have a serious shortage of priests; 2) a significant number of the ones we have or had committed sexual abuses; 3) it’s commonly known there is a disproportionate number of gays in the priesthood.
I’m not condemning anyone or trying to be disrespectful toward anyone or anything. I’m simply encouraging people to be realistic about vocations. I suspect that aspect of our faith is due for some serious, if not drastic changes, within the next two or three generations. Our current system is not working. Sorry. Don’t dog-pile me, please.
This is true, but in the traditionalist wing there is an overabundance of vocations.Now…please don’t get upset, but think about it: 1) we have a serious shortage of priests; 2) a significant number of the ones we have or had committed sexual abuses; 3) it’s commonly known there is a disproportionate number of gays in the priesthood.
I’m not condemning anyone or trying to be disrespectful toward anyone or anything. I’m simply encouraging people to be realistic about vocations. I suspect that aspect of our faith is due for some serious, if not drastic changes, within the next two or three generations. Our current system is not working. Sorry. Don’t dog-pile me, please.
Maybe I’m confusing terms. Are EMHCs and Lay Eucharistic Minsters the same thing? Probably not. My point was that I suspect in the not-too-distant future, the traditional priesthood will fade away, and the LEM or EMHC model will be greatly enhanced, if not used as a replacement for the priesthood in the field. I see the priesthood dying a slow death (absolutely no disrespect of any kind intended…just my opinion).According to a knowledgeable deacon friend of mine the sexual abuse figure is less than 2%. He also told me that the percentage is higher among some other denominations, including Mormons, so it isn’t a *Catholic - specific *problem.
I’m not an expert on the subject (although it seems to be *thread 'jack *oriented) but I don’t believe pedophile and gay are words which are synonomous or interchangeable.
The Church says EMHC may be used when there is a real necessity, usually implying that the ordained minister’s health or stamina would have to be be weak or just due to the sheer number of faithful. Forgive me @ KingAlfred but I’m watching smoke come out of my ears while I try to draw a link between your post and the use of EMHC’s. Could you help me out here (none of this was meant as a dogpile - just an effort to understand why it was brought up).
Very interesting insight. Thanks. I never knew or thought of that.
I would be curious as to what exactly you are basing your opinion on. World wide, vocations are at about stasis, or increasing. The increase is seen most clearly in Africa.Maybe I’m confusing terms. Are EMHCs and Lay Eucharistic Minsters the same thing? Probably not. My point was that I suspect in the not-too-distant future, the traditional priesthood will fade away, and the LEM or EMHC model will be greatly enhanced, if not used as a replacement for the priesthood in the field. I see the priesthood dying a slow death (absolutely no disrespect of any kind intended…just my opinion).
I’m no expert on this. I’m basing my views on tidbits of info I’ve picked up here and there, and personal observations and impressions. I could easily be as wrong as South Texas summer heat at the North Pole in December. If I am, please forgive me.
I am not suggesting that we do not need more vocations. But the combination of materialism, secualrism, individualism, and the lack of catechesis in the 70’s through the 80’s seems to be the biggest sources of the decrease.I’m no expert on this. I’m basing my views on tidbits of info I’ve picked up here and there, and personal observations and impressions. I could easily be as wrong as South Texas summer heat at the North Pole in December. If I am, please forgive me.
Pray for your bishop, My guess is that he may see no problem with this clericalization of the laity. IAC. it might help if you reinstalled altar rails.
To be fair , one reason for the coolness to African or Indian priests is cultural differences . A hundred years ago, Irish priests were not welcomed in some German or Polish parishes, because they just didn’t “get it”. Most Irish were English-only and did not appreciate other national cultures. There are, after all, substantial differences between English, Irish, Italian, Spanish, French…Catholics. In our area, Vietnamese Catholics have their own churches and priests.
So you would drive away even more Catholics? Our parish has 3500 families(I would guess about 11,000 people) and if we get 2000 people to all 5 of our masses we are lucky. If mass were longer even fewer would attend. I think there are lots of other reforms we need to make like calling out politicians who support abortion before we even start to think about eliminating EMCH’s. When Ted Kennedy dies you can bet that he will have a mass with the cardinal there. IMO that is much more of a problem than EMCH’s.
Well I guess that you guys don’t have much of a need for the use of Extraordinary Ministers do you. At an average of 400 per Mass the Priest and Deacon sould be able to handle the distribution with no problem.
Some masses have 200 and some have 800. We don’t always have enough deacons to serve every mass and we receive communion under both species, so yes we do use EMCHs. In a perfect world we would not have to but then in a perfect world we would have to build another parish to accomodate all the people attending mass but this is an imperfect world and we are doing the best we can. All I am trying to get across is that there are few enough Catholics attending mass now and if it is made to last another 20 to 30 minutes there will be even fewer and then there really will be no need to have EMCHs.
I don’t happen to believe that if Mass is 20 minutes longer people will start dropping out in droves. But if they did then more than likely they are Catholics in name only anyway or of the type that show up only at Christmas and Easter, which is when I imagine you get you biggest crowds anyway…
Just as with any Christian Church, we do get many more people at mass at Christmas and Easter. Here in Illinois we have much larger problems in the Catholic Church that need to be solved before we tackle EMCHs, like the Catholic Chicago mayor who is pro-abortion, Michael Phlager a priest who can not follow the orders of his bishop and invites non-Catholics to speak from the pulpit at mass, gays disrupting Easter services at the cathedral by throwing fake blood, etc. Even if only 3 or 4 % did not come to mass because of it’s length we should take on the other things first and who knows when we get the other problems fixed the EMCH thing could fix it’s self because God may give us more priests and deacons.