Priest shortage

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A priest shortage is the situation of a reduced number of priests in religions, especially the Roman Catholic Church. [1] Pope Benedict XVI said on 11 September 2006 in Altötting, Germany, that he is sad over this situation in the Roman Catholic Church. [2]

Contents

[edit] Background

Although the number of baptized Roman Catholics is at an all-time high, in Western countries the percentage of Catholics who attend Mass on a weekly basis has declined significantly. This has led to a smaller base of recruitment into the priesthood.

Cultural rejection of the of priestly celibacy is often cited as another factor in the decline in vocations, as lay Catholics increasingly embrace married life.

Finally, a decrease in fertility rates across much of the world has led to a decline in the tradition of large families, a demographic trend which had favorably supported vocations.



In the book "Goodbye, Good Men,"[3] the author, Michael S. Rose, cites a number of reasons for the priest shortage. One of the more interesting reasons is that Catholic bishops have manufactured an artificial vocations "crisis" by rejecting candidates who do not embrace the bishops 1960s style "modern" theology. Seminary candidates who are interested in traditional elements of worship (i.e. Tridentine Mass, Gregorian Chant, etc.) or traditional theology (celebate, male, priesthood, sin, confession, etc.) are deemed to be anti-Vatican II and are summarily dismissed from consideration. The Catholic Church is notorious for not disclosing accurate statistics about itself. One statistic that is never reported is the number of men who apply to become seminarians but are rejected for traditionalist tendencies.

Another book which discusses this topic is "Are today's seminaries Catholic? : the unholy subversion of priestly formation"[4] by Michael Dupuis published in 1990 which was the first book to postulate that for Catholic bishops to destroy the Catholic Church, they would have to begin by destroying and eliminating the Catholic priesthood starting with orthodox seminarians.

[edit] Consequences

The priest shortage leads to a sacramental and pastoral deficiency for the faithful of a certain area. The distances, which must be covered for a visit to a mass, baptism, etc. become ever longer, since the reduced number of priests understandably leads to a reduced amount of services. On the other hand this means for the priests, that the distances become greater, and they thus have less time for the individual churchgoer, since they must care for a greater amount of them.

In the United States and many other western countries, the number of Roman Catholic priests in the past two decades has substantially declined. As a result, many parishes have had to share a priest and staff with one or more other parishes, or have had to close. In many parishes, some of the duties performed by priests are instead performed by other personnel, such as Deacons and members of the laity. [5]

[edit] Further literature

  • Dean R. Hoge: The First Five Years of the Priesthood: A Study of Newly Ordained Catholic Priests. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 2002. Page 3.
  • A. W. Richard Sipe: Celibacy in Crisis: A Secret World Revisited. Brunner-Routledge, New York and Hove 2003. Page 136.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Die Tagespost
  2. ^ Vatican.va
  3. ^ Rose, Michael S., 1969-, Goodbye, good men : how liberals brought corruption into the Catholic Church / Michael S. Rose., Washington, DC : Regnery Pub. ; Lanham, MD : Distributed to the trade by National Book Network, c2002., xii, 276 p. ; 24 cm., ISBN: 0895261448 (alk. paper) Contents: A manmade crisis : why Archbishop Curtiss said the priest shortage is "artificial and contrived" -- Stifling the call : how for some men the road to ordination is cut short before it really begins -- The gatekeeper phenomenon : how good men are often screened out during the seminary application process -- The gay subculture : how homosexual politics discriminates against healthy, heterosexual seminarians -- The heterodoxy downer : how false teaching demoralizes and discourages the aspiring priest -- Pooh-poohing piety : how traditional expressions of the faith often disqualify the orthodox seminarian -- Go see the shrink! : how psychological counseling is used to expel the good man from his seminary -- The vocational inquisition : how the orthodox seminarian is identified and persecuted -- Confronting the obstacles : one good man traces his tortuous route to ordination -- Heads in the sand : how complaints about the poor state of seminaries have gone unanswered -- A self-fulfilling prophecy : how a death wish for the male, celibate priesthood created an artificial priest shortage -- The right stuff : how to live up to the church’s expectations for seminary life -- Where the men are : why orthodoxy begets vocations (or, How to learn from successful dioceses and seminaries). Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
  4. ^ Title: Are today's seminaries Catholic? : the unholy subversion of priestly formation / Author(s): Dupuis, Michael. Roscoe, Keith. Thomson, John. Publication: Dickinson, Tex. : Angelus Press, Year: 1990 Description: xiv, 270 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. Language: English SUBJECT(S) Descriptor: Catholic theological seminaries. Named Corp: St. Peter's Seminary (London, Ont.) Catholic Traditionalist Movement. Note(s): Cover title./ Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-[271]). Class Descriptors: LC: BX900 Responsibility: by Michael Depuis [sic], Keith Roscoe, John Thomson. Document Type: Book Entry: 19911231 Update: 20050323 Accession No: OCLC: 25032044
  5. ^ epd: Katholische Kirche setzt Strukturreform fort

[edit] External links

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