Why is the seminary system (for secular priests) so long? Depending on your situation it could be up to six years until you are ordained a priest–that is even with a college degree. The work priests do just doesn’t seem to justify spending that much time. In that amount of time someone could become a physician or ear a doctorate in an academic field. I just don’t believe priesting is as complex/demanding as being a physician. Some might reply that it is to make the priest holy, but the priest’s holiness doesn’t effect the sacrament’s power and on top of that most priests don’t seem to be much holier than the lay Catholic who’s trying to be holy. If anyone knows of a seminary system that is shorter, that information would be much appreciated.
It should tell you that something, that many priests are physicians but not necessarily vice-versa.
No, there are very few physicians who become priests, just to have something to do or whatever–meaning that the priestly office has enough breadth that it can encompass and incorporate other specializations from physician to psychologist, but not the other way around. Many of the priests who were once attorneys or physicians–that I have read about, at least–actually
leave their practices behind them, and make priestly ministry their primary concern.
Furthermore, your evaluation of the priesthood by ‘the work it does’ and whether it can ‘justify spending that much time’ means that you’re probably not thinking about it correctly. You’re approaching in too
utilitarian a fashion. If we’re just going going to start considering all training justified only by the ‘work it does’–why don’t we just liquidate philosophy, philology, and history departments across the country and put them all in HVAC and EMT-Advanced courses? … Since Socrates was a stone mason and Cleanthes dug wells, perhaps you have a point.
Fact of the matter is,–holiness aside, even–the ordination of the priest can’t exactly be called ‘instantaneous’. You can’t hand someone a degree or zap them with a crosier and make them a priest. If the Archdiocese of New York’s seminary at Dunwoodie accepted me, placed me in their courses on Monday, handed me an STB, MDiv, and MA on Friday, and ordained me next Thursday, do you think people would take me seriously as a priest? Probably not.
This is why seminaries are generally intense environments where spiritual ‘gains’ are expected.
Finally, if the priests you know don’t seem to be much ‘holier’ than your average layman, keep in mind that they are called ‘secular’ priests for a reason. Their calling doesn’t exactly involve hairshirts and holy silence: in fact, it might be more of an asset to their calling to know something about how the Yankees or Cowboys did, than to appear aloof like the ‘priests of old’ (pre-1950s Irish-American clergy, for instance).
If you are asking this question (i.e., for a shorter route to ordination) for your own purposes, perhaps you should find a spiritual director in your diocese and express your opinions on formation length and ordination?
