Where are the American born priests?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tacorock1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I am an immigrant to US in a very diverse area, I am not bothered a bit by priests ‘not America born’, actually I think I can relate better to them because we share some of the same experiences (new language, new country etc). One of the most amazing priest I ever met was from India, we were very blessed to have him In our parish and I thank God for him even after years.
 
Last edited:
Our Indian priest speaks flawless English. His accent is very heavy. As a result, I find myself having to concentrate heavily on the homilies. Paradoxically I am getting more out of them.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
No that’s not what I said. He is welcomed and has been since his arrival. However, it’s many of us elderly parishioners who no longer feel like it’s our parish.

Jim
Click to expand...
I totally understand what you mean. When you said, “To tell you the truth, I’d rather see my parish closed and merged with another larger parish, than what we have now,” though, I think you see how that sounds.

I belonged to a parish that had a priest who came in and changed things radically. He wasn’t foreign-born; he just had a very different way of doing things than any previous pastor and he was very energetic about changing things very quickly. A lot of parishioners did change over to a nearby parish, because in that case there were several parishes within a ten-mile radius. It was very hard on the oldest parishioners; literally, there were a lot of tears, especially when there were funerals for friends that were nothing like these parishioners had always imagined these funerals would be. It was extremely hard.

The parish I grew up in has a parish administrator who is in residence at at neighboring larger parish. That doesn’t necessarily mean you get an English-speaking jubilarian priest who’s being a hero for you instead of retiring. Sometimes, it means you get the young priest who is straight out of seminary…that is, the pastor you have now, only less experienced than he is now. That is what happens when your parish is absorbed by another parish and not closed.

The parishes who really have it hard are the ones who get a radical change very quickly and have no alternative within an hours’ drive. They have no choice. If you have a choice, make the best choice for you. It is hard, but this is the reality of living in a part of the world that has not had enough vocations from its own people to meet their needs. It isn’t easy on the priests, because they can’t be what they’re not. They’re willing to be what they can, and what else can you ask? The priest you want simply did not go to seminary. He wasn’t ordained, he’s not available. That’s one reality of the shortage of priestly vocations. Within that reality, we are fortunate that there are priests willing to come and serve where they are needed, even if it requires adjustments.
 
Last edited:
Only the traditional seminaries are doing well.
Something like half of seminarians in the U.S. want to learn the EF. I think in twenty years it will probably be just as widespread as the OF in America honestly. Millenial Catholics want tradition and beauty.
 
Last edited:
DIERM said:
Wow! Nothing more to add on this point!
Click to expand...
He may know of a more shocking story than either you or I do. What he’s suggesting is totally outside my experience with foreign-born priests, but it is possible that some seminaries don’t (or didn’t) have the formation programs in place to always screen out candidates who obviously didn’t have a vocation to the priesthood before they are ever ordained. When someone is ordained who does not have the heart to live his vocation faithfully, that is very damaged for everyone involved, not just for him.

I will take that back; there was a case in Oregon that shocked everybody who had known the priest. I wouldn’t say he went to seminary in order to escape poverty, but it is a recent case of a foreign-born diocesan priest who failed his priestly vows in a shocking fashion:



He is very much the minority, though. The seminaries are very vigilant now.
 
Last edited:
I can throw a rock from my porch and hit about 4 now closed Latin Rite parishes. I think that says a lot about why there are so many foreign born priests.
 
Welshrabbit said:
Yikes! That’s awful. Why do you think that has happened?
Click to expand...
When parishes are far away from others and there is a priest shortage, they become missions.
When they are near other parishes, they are consolidated and the parish with the smaller congregation and the less-desirable facilities is usually closed altogether.
 
So? I, for one, am glad Africa is giving the US so many priests. By the way, my pastor was born and raised here in South Carolina.
 
Our Indian Priests are much stricter then our home grown priests in my Diocese and tend to love the public displays like the processions of Our Lady, public rosaries etc.
 
I find our South East Asian and Indian Priests start out with thick accents but soon enough become much more easily understood. The South East Asian Priests , i.e. the Vietnamese and the Indonesian are great with children and so very patient with them.

These Priests are not escaping poverty , they are going where their Priestly mission sends them. I am sure some would rather stay home, rather then travel across the world
 
I know a lot of 20-something Catholics—I mean the ones who attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day.
No, the EF is not currently likely to become anything like as widespread as the OF. If in 20 years it is even 1/2 as available in our diocese as Masses in non-English languages like Spanish or Vietnamese, I would be astonished.
 
Last edited:
Be patient. The seminaries are turning them out on a regular basis. Holy orders are also growing - those which are most orthodox. The young and not-so-young are reacting to the meaninglessness of our age and seeking something concrete, something tangible, something that lasts.
 
I see. I wonder how much of this is simply due to migration patterns and how they relate to the local economy. Where I live, there has been an influx of tech to the area and a subsequent population boom.

As a result, the local parishes are thriving.
 
Yes! Our Indian priest is from Kerala, a truly beautiful place. Just to come live in the desert of southwest Kansas is a sacrifice.
 
EricF said:
Rather than me assume something wrong, can you explain why you feel that way?
Click to expand...
When my family member was dying the parish was low on priests. A lovely priest from Nigeria was sent, but the dying person couldn’t understand because the accent was so thick. He tried to make his final confession, and the lack of communication was very distressing to him. Not exactly something you want your dying loved one to have to endure. I realize at the end of the day the confession was still valid but it was still so upsetting to him in his final hours, none the less.
 
Last edited:
I’m not sure about the situation @DeniseNY is experiencing, but I knowthe practice a century ago was to have the Polish parish, the German parish, the Irish parish, etc., frequently in close proximity to each other.

Here in Nebraska, South Omaha was the home to the stockyards and gigantic meatpackers staffed by immigrants. Consequently, South Omaha has a ton of Catholic churches - within about six city blocks, there were three parishes - Czech, Irish, and Spanish-speaking. The Polish and German parishes were about half a mile away. Today, the Czech/Irish/Spanish cluster is one parish with two buildings (the third was sold) and is heavily Hispanic. The Polish parish is staffed by the FSSP as an EF-only parish.

Given demographic changes - people moving to the suburbs or leaving the region completely (see “Rust Belt” flight to the “Sun Belt”) - along with a generally lower overall Mass attendance rate, and it’s not surprising that many Latin Rite churches built a century ago are closing.
 
For sure and my question is how much do we blame waning attendance for the closings and how much of it is just normal migration patterns (i.e. Rust Belt to Sun Belt, etc.)?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top