This is what the priest shortage in the Diocese has lead to

[contemplative]

The following is a slightly altered letter found in a church bulletin.

In recent months our parish has been praying for vocations,
particularly vocations to the ministerial priesthood. We have
been blessed to have ‘Robert Anonymous’ serving as a seminarian intern at Mary Church. ‘Robert’ is currently one of only six seminarians preparing for the priesthood in our diocese. Only one man will be ordained as a priest this year. These men, as enthusiastic and committed to serving the Church as they are, cannot expect to replace the priests who will be retiring from active ministry in the next several years.
The same situation exists across our country and in
most of our part of the Catholic world. In fact, the priest to
people ratio in the United States is one of the best, not one of
the worst, as many of us might think. Here at Mary Church we have had only one active diocesan priest (our pastor ) serving us since 2001. We have been fortunate to have retired priests, priests from religious orders and most recently, Fr. Bob from Kenya, available to celebrate Mass with us. But we cannot presume that this good fortune will continue indefinitely.
As we continue to pray for priestly vocations and try to
identify and encourage Catholics who may have those vocations,Mary Church’s pastoral team is concerned that everyonebe aware that in the near future we may not have the availabilityof priests we have come to expect. Our priests work veryhard, and Bishop Clark is concerned about their health and well being. One result of this is that there is a limit to the
number of Masses a priest may celebrate each day.
We have come to expect that funerals and weddings
will be Masses. This may not always be possible, and it
is important that all of us realize this. We can have
beautiful and moving Liturgies of the Word with Communion
for funerals. These services are being led by deacons or lay ministers. And deacons do also presideat Roman Catholic sacramental weddings. Last month we used Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) when there was no priest to lead the Eucharist at 6:00 p.m. one Sunday. We
were thrilled by the wonderful response of all the people
in attendance. It was the first time this happened
at Mary Church, but it probably will not be the last.
Were Fr. John to become ill on a Sunday, for instance,
we cannot presume that there will be another priest
available to cover for him.
On Pentecost we celebrated the coming of
God’s Holy Spirit to the Church. Fr. John told us that
God intends for us all to be sent into the world to proclaim
the good news of Jesus Christ. In our Catholic
Christian tradition, it is essential for us to have priests
for sacramental ministry. Please continue to pray that
we will be able to discern God’s will with respect to the
future of the priesthood in the Church, even as each of
us is called gifted to share in Jesus’ ministry.

Mary Church’s Pastoral Team

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

Looking at my own archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Detroit, I can tell you that our parishes (most anyway) are half empty in contrast to 30 years ago, and some are only 1/3 or 1/4 filled.

One thing that many Diocese face is the closure of parishes. And because so many Catholics have fallen to the false gods in their lives, unable to make time for just one hour of worship, many of these buildings need to be closed. In the case of the Archdiocese of Detroit, there will be no priest shortage if half of he churches are shut down and priests are consolidated into those that are left. Closures are forthcoming, but no where near the half that should probably close to free up resources and cut down on bills. Why should three half-filled churches be running electricity, heating and the like when two could be shut down and accomodations be made to deal with the increased number of people, such as more masses?

The primary problem is undevoted Catholics who can’t give God one hour per week. Anyone who uses pedophile priests (unless they personally have been traumatized and in need of help), or churches asking for money, or a other such excuses is making “worship” conditional. Many just don’t want to get up in the morning. I know so many Catholics who don’t go to church on Sunday - more than I know who do go to Church weekly. It is a litany of inexcusable excuses as to why they can’t find one hour for God each week and to teach their children by example. Sure, some have to work to make ends meet, but how many work just to get that new boat, or live in that 5000 square foot mansion?

I say start closing the buildings en masse and herd the faithful that come every Sunday into fewer buildings. If more begin to come, then build more churches or reopen them, but the problem is with the laity and in no way will I believe otherwise. Worship of God should be unconditional and the excuses for not doing so are bountiful.

How can there not be a shortage of priests when there is a shortage of faithful giving unconditional worship to God on a weekly basis?

There is another issue with priest shortages and that is the blatant weeding out of orthodox catholic young men from the seminaries as chronicled by Michael S. Rose in Goodbye, Good Men.

More on that here.

goodbyegoodmen.com/

The vocation rate at Assumption Grotto parish in Detroit, from what I have read in one book is definitely higher and it is a parish which attracts orthodox people - young people. They have large families and are profoundly prayerful and devoted in ways I’ve not seen in any other parish I’ve attended. There may be a backlash against some of the seminaries typically pumping out diocesan priests with reduced numbers, but I believe there is a rise in orders where orthodoxy rules. I give you the Franciscan Missionaries of (can’t recall the name - the EWTN Franciscans). Look at how young the faces are there and they draw more every day. Ditto with the order that order by Fr. Benedict Groeshcel (sp?) on EWTN. They are loaded with young faces. Then there is Miles Christi.

Orthodox Catholics are fighting back, but you won’t see them in the typical seminaries used by the diocese because of all the abuse orthodox catholic young people have been subjected to (ordered psychological testing for anyone showing a hint of orthodoxy).

Here is an article written by a man soon to be my Pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone on the above book. He talks about how they have tried to de-priest the priesthood.

Scroll down until you see “A Pastor’s Descant” by him.

diocesereport.com/the_record/2002_10_06_archive.shtml

Fr. Perrone is one of ten priests profiled in Michael Rose’s book “Priest” which can also be previewed at the site. It reveals the obstacles he overcame as an orthodox catholic becoming a priest and in the short time I’ve known him, he is one of the finest I’ve ever known. This is a man who rises at 3:00 in the morning each day to pray a rosary, spend an hour in Adoration, exercise, eat breakfast and then head off to Lauds at 7:00 and 7:30 am mass. He is also a T.O. Carmelite in addition to being a diocesan priest and is spirtual director to them locally - an order I’m joining. He is also founder and spiritual director of Call to Holiness.

calltoholiness.com/

 

[Kay_Cee]

A few years ago, our diocese actually ordained 6 in one year. It was so unusual it was reported on the front page of our local paper. Unfortunately, one died a few months later in a car accident.

My parents funded a seminarian all the way through the seminary. He was ordained and served many years but then left the priesthood to get married.

I agree that the laity needs to do more. One thing we need to do is re-instill an awe of God. We need to encourage our young to seek the priesthood and religious life.

We also need to stop liberalizing our convents. When a nun wore a habit, she was seen by everybody as set aside by God. Nowadays, who can tell who’s a nun? And if we act like there’s not much difference between a nun and a lay person, why would anybody want to be a nun?

 

[contemplative]

Lux_et_veritas:

I say start closing the buildings en masse and herd the faithful that come every Sunday into fewer buildings. If more begin to come, then build more churches or reopen them, but the problem is with the laity and in no way will I believe otherwise. Worship of God should be unconditional and the excuses for not doing so are bountiful.

This makes sense. The Diocese of Rochester is already doing this in various places. Some large new churches are already bursting at the seams. This is is the case of the ‘Mary Church’ in the bulletin letter above. It is already quite large. This diocese is simply running extremely low on priests. A small army of women pastoral assistants are lined and ready to take charge…actually many already do.

One by one, Catholics in this diocese are succumbing to the inevitable…few priests…deacons…and a line of women all too ready and eager to take charge.

 

[Agomemnon]

The original post is very good in identifying some of the problems.

As I look around Church I see a lot more gray-haired than young families like mine. We are rare.

Even more rare are those young families that are orthodox in the faith…that is NO CONTRACEPTION and the faith taught in the home.

Why are they worried about shortages in priests…there will be less than half a church full in 10 years. For many parishes this is already the case…they will probably cease to exist by sheer demographic decline.

Only 10% of the proclaimed Catholics actually are Catholic in faith and practice. The rest our protestants in the pews that aren’t being taught the full gospel.

The problem is First…the heresy of contraception.

The second problem is that we Roman Catholics expect Mass schedules to conform to our schedule. It should be the other way around…we should schedule our Sunday and life around the Mass.

The Third Problem is that we need the tabernacle back in the sanctuary. Latin in the Mass again and only boyse and men serving.

God Bless

 

[kmmd]

I also live in the diocese of Rochester and we have not had a priest pastor for about two years now. I think the diocese is reaping what it sowed and here is my evidence:

I took part in the diocesan wide synod about 10 to 15 years ago. The way it worked was this: each parish had small groups and our mission was to come up with the five most important concerns facing the church, then a representative from each of those groups met to agree on the top five for the parish. Our parish leaders then met in Rochester. The number one concern for the parish was the shortage of priestly vocations. When our pastor returned from the Rochester meeting, he reported the results like this: The number one concern of almost all the parishes was the shortage of priests, but when the group met in Rochester, they were “moved by the Holy Spirit” (I kid you not, those were his words) to rename that concern as one for the role of women in the church.
In our bulletin today (As we now are losing our resident priest) it says, (In the diocese of Rochester)…“Currently there are 18 pastoral administrators serving 26 diocesan churches, three are permanent deacons, nine are religious sisters, and six are lay women.”
The diocese has gotten what it asked for. More power for women in the church, 16 of our parishes are led by women. Lord have mercy.

 

[ames61]

kmmd:

I took part in the diocesan wide synod about 10 to 15 years ago. The way it worked was this: each parish had small groups and our mission was to come up with the five most important concerns facing the church, then a representative from each of those groups met to agree on the top five for the parish. Our parish leaders then met in Rochester. The number one concern for the parish was the shortage of priestly vocations. When our pastor returned from the Rochester meeting, he reported the results like this: The number one concern of almost all the parishes was the shortage of priests, but when the group met in Rochester, they were “moved by the Holy Spirit” (I kid you not, those were his words) to rename that concern as one for the role of women in the church.

Our diocese had a synod a couple years ago, and this was the flavor of much of what came out of it, to me. The idea of a synod makes me nervous. Many of my acquaintences seemed to see it as the Church moving toward a more democratic style of governance and leadership, which is a dangerous notion, in my mind. Much of the end result included inclusive worship, and inculturation. I specifically asked, at several levels, what would be done to increase participation in the sacraments, and in particular, belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I was tol that this was not a problem in our diocese.