'Seminaries would be full, if celibacy was optional'

[AllForJesus]

I am 100% sure it's not a celibacy issue!

If we hear the Lord, we can not but move. The problem is are we able to hear Him through what we have around us.

By the way i come from a Church that we can have married priest, and it's true that we have more people in our seminaries but comapred to before it's in decline... So the issue is not really married or not... this is a thing young people use to get away with their ways...

 

[Fantine]

I've never seen a religious order have one priest assigned to a parish. Diocesan priest this is common, but religious orders being from a religious
community usually share the responsibility. Many like Carmelites, live at the monastery and travel to the parish they are assigned to on a daily basis.

Jim

I think that it's probably a matter of individual discernment for individual communities, sisters, brothers, and priests, Jim.

When priests and religious are in short supply, and many priests pastor 2 and even 3 small parishes, I am sure that those religious who live in community ask God what they should do in these situations.

Many dioceses have tried to deal with the shortfall by recruiting priests from Africa and Mexico and Asia and India...We have had sisters from Nigeria, too.

But I was told not too long ago that since 9/11 that it is much more difficult for the US to import priests and sisters from other countries. Apparently some bogus priests, ministers, and sisters got visas, and now the investigations are much more stringent. We have a nearby Catholic hospital that has been without a Catholic chaplain for quite some time. They were very close to getting a priest from Nigeria, but in the midst of all the visa regulations and applications, everything fell through, and they are back to square one. They have a non-Catholic chaplain. They did have a chaplain from a religious order, but he became too feeble and had to retire.

And so where is God calling them in this situation? To live in community, or to help the Church that needs them?

 

[JBMM]

We should all remember, even after all of this has been said in the thread, that Jesus was the first priest, who was celebate.

It's in the scripture!

 

[KatherineS]

We should all remember, even after all of this has been said in the thread, that Jesus was the first priest, who was celebate.

It's in the scripture!

Very True. All of this has been witness by St. Peter, the first Pope and loving husband!

It's in the scripture!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Sadly, due to the priest shortage, my dioceses just announced this week that they will close half of the parishes in the city I grew up in.

It won't be long before that half that is left, dwindles down to just two parishes.

In the town I live in now, I foresee Mass-less Sundays, because there will not be enough priest to staff the small town parishes.

I'm not making this up, the dioceses put out a report on a comprehensive study ten years ago, and predicted exactly what is taking place now.

Jim

 

[Fantine]

Is it a case, Jim, of Catholics migrating from rural and inner city areas to the suburbs, and are new churches being built in the suburbs?

This seems to be the case in most large dioceses, and historically, throughout our immigrant history, churches have followed the migration of Catholics.

Many of our new Catholics, however, come from different countries, and it is possible that, like most new immigrants, they will settle in cities. I think it's important that we keep our options open with our city church buildings, mothballing one or two and keeping them in reserve for potential growth in the future. If we sell them off to other denominations we will have a difficult time getting them back.

 

[Athanasias]

Is it a case, Jim, of Catholics migrating from rural and inner city areas to the suburbs, and are new churches being built in the suburbs?

This seems to be the case in most large dioceses, and historically, throughout our immigrant history, churches have followed the migration of Catholics.

Many of our new Catholics, however, come from different countries, and it is possible that, like most new immigrants, they will settle in cities. I think it's important that we keep our options open with our city church buildings, mothballing one or two and keeping them in reserve for potential growth in the future. If we sell them off to other denominations we will have a difficult time getting them back.

You have a very good point! That is whach happened in my diocese when alot of city parishes closed. Alot of people moved to suburbs. They called it "white flight" Its shame really because the city churches are more beautified but the county churches are packed in my area and the city churches are slim.

 

[benedictaoo]

I don't know, I mean the Orthodox Church allows married men to become priests, and it's not like we've got thousands of men lining up to be priests. (Our seminaries are full; however not all seminarians become priests.)

Serving the Church is harder than just about any job there is. The words "you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time" never ring truer than in this position.

Every aspect of your life is scrutinized, the hours are long, the money is short, and often the rewards in this life are few. Not to mention, to find a woman who is willing to be a priest's wife is also difficult. Your wife and how you raise your children are all under a microscope. Should the Bishop decide to move you to another parish at any time, you have to pull your children out of school, she has to find a new job and start all over again. It's a very difficult life.

I don't believe the priesthood is meant to be something that is supposed to appeal to the masses. Yes, we need priests, and yes, it's important to encourage people to go into the vocation, but I don't believe that allowing marriage would cause masses of men to fill the seminaries.

Also, married men can become Deacons in the Catholic Church, so if "marriage" were the only issue, why aren't there tons of men lining up to be Deacons?

Personally, I think we need to focus more on getting young people interested and staying interested in the life of the Church. The world as a whole is turning away from religion. This is disconcerting to me. I believe that as you attract more people to the Church, more will be attracted to the priesthood and monastic life in general.

awesome post and you basically gave the reasons why the LR chooses to be celibate.

 

[benedictaoo]

Sadly, due to the priest shortage, my dioceses just announced this week that they will close half of the parishes in the city I grew up in.

It won't be long before that half that is left, dwindles down to just two parishes.

In the town I live in now, I foresee Mass-less Sundays, because there will not be enough priest to staff the small town parishes.

I'm not making this up, the dioceses put out a report on a comprehensive study ten years ago, and predicted exactly what is taking place now.

Jim

and you really think marrying the preists off will solve that problem? for real?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Is it a case, Jim, of Catholics migrating from rural and inner city areas to the suburbs, and are new churches being built in the suburbs?

Nope, in this case there isn't flight to the suburbs. The parishes being closed have plenty of people attending many who grew up in those parishes. There's just not enough priest to staff them.

The next shoe to drop will be the parishes in the suburbs like where I live now. We'll probably have to join a parish in the nearby city. My parish only has 450 families and out of that, only about 130 actually support the parish. We border a wealthy private school who'd love to buy the property. It only makes sense financially to close us and keep the inner city parish open. Everyone in my town commutes to work so commuting to Mass shouldn't be a problem. We'll just have to help out with the elderly who can no longer drive.

This seems to be the case in most large dioceses, and historically, throughout our immigrant history, churches have followed the migration of Catholics.

Not the case here in Massachusetts. Even Boston still has a large number of Catholics living in the city, yet they closed a bunch of parishes. Fact is, they closed the parishes in the burbs which were in the black financially, and kept the old Cathedral styled churches in the City open.

The logic is, first the have to keep the parish open that can serve the largest amount of people, this usually means the city parish. Then they look at the real-estate values. The suburb churches which were only built in the last 25 years, bring the best real-estate numbers. No one wants to buy a Cathedral style Church that cost $5000 per month to heat, and would cost $1 million to have the old under ground oil tanks removed.



Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

and you really think marrying the preists off will solve that problem? for real?

Marrying priest off?

Where did I say that in my post, please show me.

Jim

 

[SpiritualAntiseptic]

I've never seen a religious order have one priest assigned to a parish. Diocesan priest this is common, but religious orders being from a religious
community usually share the responsibility. Many like Carmelites, live at the monastery and travel to the parish they are assigned to on a daily basis.

Jim

I see it all the time.

 

[QuantaCura]

It wasn't the imposition of celibacy that caused the number of priests and seminarians to dwindle. Celibacy was the rule when their ranks were teeming. Celibacy was constant--some other variable(s) led to the change. It is those which need restoration and renewal, and it begins at the root in the family, in parishes, in dioceses, in schools, and in seminaries. Removing the requirement for celibacy will fix nothing. That argument is nothing but a distraction from the real problems.