Why is there a priest shortage

[JacktheCatholic]

The easiest way is to talk to your kids about the priesthood. I grew up thinking that married life was the normal path, and that priests just kind of came out of the box like that. I wasn't born with a Roman collar around my neck, ergo I must not be called to become a priest. I wasn't walking through the woods one day and SHAZAM God comes down points to me and says "I WANT YOU!" It was more like my parents just causally saying "When you have kids..." "When you get married..." "When we have grandchildren..."
No one ever spoke to me about becoming a priest. I think the only reason I ever started thinking about it was because I found out I prefer to talk about theology instead of football.
So parents, don't train your children for married life, leave it open. Talk to them about the priesthood or consecrated life, that is the only way we will even begin to think about it.

My grandparents do the same thing. I went to their house last summer and made onion soup for everyone, (and cutting the onions is something I dread) and I noticed that their knife was SO sharp, it made it almost freakishly easy to cut the food.
My dad just refuses to sharpen our knives, I hate it.

Being a father of a daughter turning 17 next month I have a question for you.

Do you have many friends that are greatly involved in the internet and if so do they get exposed to a lot of pornography?


I ask because as I stated above, I beleive our youth is hit from every corner with sin. Television no longer monitors themselves and most of the shows with sex and bad language are not label for it. You cannot use the internet with out getting hot with pornography. As a teen in todays world in the USA it has to be very difficult to avoid sin.


With all the influences and lack of controls in the media available to the younger crowd it must be very difficult to see the greatestness of Priesthood. When you cannot have God in schools and teens are taught sin is good I cannot see why a kid would want to be a priest.

 

[Number 81]

I have a funny story about that!
See you will notice from my original post that I think that God might be leading me to the priesthood. Or in a more accurate, but less grammatically correct way (stupid MLA telling us how to write our research papers *shakes fist*): I feel as if I am being led to the priesthood by God. See? Passive voice.
I am addicted to pornography. In fact, the only other friend that I know FOR SURE who is addicted to pornography is my best friend, and he is probably my best friend because he is the only other kid I know who enjoys talking about theology. Over the past three (four?) years the whole pornography thing has really stressed me emotionally and spiritually. But over those past three or four years I have accumulated a massive amount of spirituality to help me battle it. I think I am called to the priesthood because I enjoy talking about theology, pray often, do liturgy of the hours, love the Mass, the Rosary, Mary, etc. I had become so engrossed in it that religion has become the #1 thing in my life, ergo making the idea of being a priest for life tolerable, almost desirable. HOWEVER, it's the fact that I am stuck in this sin that hinders me from saying "I'm going to become a priest!"
It's a paradox. I think I am called to the priesthood because my life is Catholicism. My life is Catholicism because I rely on it so heavily in my battle against sin. And my sin holds be back from becoming more active in deciding the priesthood.
Go figure.

 

[outhwaar]

Umm, there is no priest shortage.

I don't know where you live, but in our diocese each priest is running two or three parishes. How do you conclude that there is no shortage?

 

[outhwaar]

We can't change the society so we have to deal with it.

Isn't that part of what we, the Church, are called to do - transform the society? In fact, since the consensus seems to be that this is a cultural problem of some kind, I don't see that there is any other long-term solution.

 

[BrRichSFO]

In order to avoid having that women's ordination thread getting hijacked, here's a brand new one.

So... why the priest shortage? What do you think?

There are those who say that if the Church would just liberalize, and throw out a few unpopular doctrines - you know, become more "relevant" - there would be plenty of people wanting to be priests. I don't buy it.

There are those who say that if the Church would get back to her roots, and be more orthodox and traditional, there would be plenty of priests. I'm more sympathetic to this argument, but I'm not totally convinced.

I think the problem is more to do with the culture at large. The idea, these days, of giving up your whole life in service to others, requires a level of unselfishness that is just not too common today. A hundred years ago, there was much less to give up. The average Catholic family just didn't have that many meterial comforts. The rectory was probably one of the nicest houses in town. Nowadays, there is a lot more "stuff" to attract a person to a more secular lifestyle. Besides, as people get more stuff, they have a tendency to get more selfish, or so I suspect. Thoughts?

Because Catholic families do not encourage their sons to consider the priesthood.

 

[JacktheCatholic]

I have a funny story about that!
See you will notice from my original post that I think that God might be leading me to the priesthood. Or in a more accurate, but less grammatically correct way (stupid MLA telling us how to write our research papers *shakes fist*): I feel as if I am being led to the priesthood by God. See? Passive voice.
I am addicted to pornography. In fact, the only other friend that I know FOR SURE who is addicted to pornography is my best friend, and he is probably my best friend because he is the only other kid I know who enjoys talking about theology. Over the past three (four?) years the whole pornography thing has really stressed me emotionally and spiritually. But over those past three or four years I have accumulated a massive amount of spirituality to help me battle it. I think I am called to the priesthood because I enjoy talking about theology, pray often, do liturgy of the hours, love the Mass, the Rosary, Mary, etc. I had become so engrossed in it that religion has become the #1 thing in my life, ergo making the idea of being a priest for life tolerable, almost desirable. HOWEVER, it's the fact that I am stuck in this sin that hinders me from saying "I'm going to become a priest!"
It's a paradox. I think I am called to the priesthood because my life is Catholicism. My life is Catholicism because I rely on it so heavily in my battle against sin. And my sin holds be back from becoming more active in deciding the priesthood.
Go figure.

I think your testimony here is a sign of the times we are in.

The Catholic Church says we are in Tribulation already. I am not trying to sound like "The end is near" but for each of us it may not be that far down the road.

With the media running virtually unhindered and capitalism being the way it is, living in this day and age is particularly stressful to be righteous and chaste.

I know the struggles with the sins that are readily made available and I know that when you are ready God will give us the strength to stop commiting mortal sins. But for our younger generation, sin has not only become acceptable but encouraged.

'Number 81' thanks for sharing. I pray that your experiences with the Catholic Church continue to draw you closer to God and away from all the evil that is pushed on us.

 

[BAFRIEND]

In order to avoid having that women's ordination thread getting hijacked, here's a brand new one.

So... why the priest shortage? What do you think?

There are those who say that if the Church would just liberalize, and throw out a few unpopular doctrines - you know, become more "relevant" - there would be plenty of people wanting to be priests. I don't buy it.

There are those who say that if the Church would get back to her roots, and be more orthodox and traditional, there would be plenty of priests. I'm more sympathetic to this argument, but I'm not totally convinced.

I think the problem is more to do with the culture at large. The idea, these days, of giving up your whole life in service to others, requires a level of unselfishness that is just not too common today. A hundred years ago, there was much less to give up. The average Catholic family just didn't have that many meterial comforts. The rectory was probably one of the nicest houses in town. Nowadays, there is a lot more "stuff" to attract a person to a more secular lifestyle. Besides, as people get more stuff, they have a tendency to get more selfish, or so I suspect. Thoughts?

Jesus promised us a Priesthood.

The truth is there is no shortage... but a surplus of phony balonies claiming to be catholic.

I have found that in each of my parishes their is a small and dedicated crew of Catholics involved in everything and they never want for the sacraments.

The same people that never go to Confession are the ones who complain of a priest shortage. It is not the quantity, but the quality.

 

[BAFRIEND]

I have a funny story about that!
See you will notice from my original post that I think that God might be leading me to the priesthood. Or in a more accurate, but less grammatically correct way (stupid MLA telling us how to write our research papers *shakes fist*): I feel as if I am being led to the priesthood by God. See? Passive voice.
I am addicted to pornography. In fact, the only other friend that I know FOR SURE who is addicted to pornography is my best friend, and he is probably my best friend because he is the only other kid I know who enjoys talking about theology. Over the past three (four?) years the whole pornography thing has really stressed me emotionally and spiritually. But over those past three or four years I have accumulated a massive amount of spirituality to help me battle it. I think I am called to the priesthood because I enjoy talking about theology, pray often, do liturgy of the hours, love the Mass, the Rosary, Mary, etc. I had become so engrossed in it that religion has become the #1 thing in my life, ergo making the idea of being a priest for life tolerable, almost desirable. HOWEVER, it's the fact that I am stuck in this sin that hinders me from saying "I'm going to become a priest!"
It's a paradox. I think I am called to the priesthood because my life is Catholicism. My life is Catholicism because I rely on it so heavily in my battle against sin. And my sin holds be back from becoming more active in deciding the priesthood.
Go figure.

I have a real aversion to pornography. cannot stand to look at it. I have a friend who I berated for looking at the stuff, and he excused himself stating, "Well, I'm a guy am I not ?"

I think the roots of this fascination with nudity and the misfired sexual orientations is family oriented. I was bathing myself when I was four and cannot even one time remember having been given a bath by anyone. In our family it was very modest. I could never imagine showing up at the dinner table without a shirt on or sleeping out of pajamas or leaving my room in my underwear.
That is why I believe fascination with the flesh is learned at an early age.

 

[fragmentsofdreams]

I don't know where you live, but in our diocese each priest is running two or three parishes. How do you conclude that there is no shortage?

Our cups overflow compared to some of our Latin American brethren.

 

[hawko]

I believe that the Lord is still calling men into the priesthood, but our young men are not hearing His voice. There are also too many other worldly things that are pulling all of us away from the Lord and His calling. The only way to hear the Lord's voice is to set aside quiet time every day,away from all the world's distractions. The best way that I know of to do this is spending time in front of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. I would encourage all catholics to talk to their pastors about the idea of establishing adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, (preferably perpetual adoration), in their churches. It is a known fact that churches that have perpetual adoration of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament have a greater amount of vocations than churches that don't.

 

[PetertheRock]

Well, when the Church tells you to come back when you have a college degree that's not helping things. If one cannot afford to go to college and you are going to turn them away because they have no degree the Church gets what it deserves.

 

[DedicatedLittleFaith]

Umm, there is no priest shortage.

I don't know where you live, but in our diocese each priest is running two or three parishes. How do you conclude that there is no shortage?

I was going to reply the same. Here in my area, our pastor is in charge of 5 parishes.

 

[2Cosmic2Charlie]

Isn't that part of what we, the Church, are called to do - transform the society? In fact, since the consensus seems to be that this is a cultural problem of some kind, I don't see that there is any other long-term solution.

You used two words in two ajoining sentenses as if those to words meant the same thing.

I don't beleive the do.

Society is a collection of people and the mechanisms by which they operate.

Culture is the collective set of norms a society uses.

We can effect the culture, the society is a different thing all together.

I don't think we can change to fact the people no chose to marry before the chose a career for example.

 

[2Cosmic2Charlie]

Jesus promised us a Priesthood.

The truth is there is no shortage... but a surplus of phony balonies claiming to be catholic.

Its not that we don't have enough soldiers in Iraq, its that we have too many people claiming to be our enemy.

Its not the we have to many demented craziods with guns its that there are just too many people need to be shot.

It not that the world is getting warmer, its that the cold of space needs to heated.

It not that there are straving people, it just some people aren't worth feeding.

Hey, don't go off on me - its your logic.

 

[2Cosmic2Charlie]

Well, when the Church tells you to come back when you have a college degree that's not helping things. If one cannot afford to go to college and you are going to turn them away because they have no degree the Church gets what it deserves.

Geez, Peter, while I understand your point as a practical matter do we as a church really want people in the preisthood who can't figure out how to educate themselves ?

 

[BAFRIEND]

Geez, Peter, while I understand your point as a practical matter do we as a church really want people in the preisthood who can't figure out how to educate themselves ?

I agree with you opn this one. I worked my way through college, never took out a single loan for anything, 100% paid my own way, and earned 3 degrees while working two jobs at times.

Of course, in California it is relatively cheap. If I had been in a more expensive region I still would have done it, but probably would of had to have taken loans.

By the way, I know folks who have gone through the seminary, and my understanding is that it is expensive but the diocese takes the loan. I had a friend who went through and prior to his ordination decided he wanted to go into the monastery, well he could not because he owed 80k for going through the seminary and while the diocese held the loans and were commited to paying, if he was not ordained, or did not remain a priest, he would be stuck paying the balance. Quite an incentive to be ordained and remain in the Priesthood for years to come.

 

[PetertheRock]

Many people cannot afford to go to school. If you take out loans they won't let you be a priest until the loans are paid off. By that time people are married and aren't going to become priest.

My pastor at the Church I grew up at was given a loan by the diocese. He paid a little bit on it out of his salary. If he left the priesthood he would be responsible for the loan. So one way or another the loan gets paid off. So once again...if you don't want to have any priests...keep refusing to pay for people to go through school.

 

[WarriorAngel]

Fewer priests because;

Many fall away.

Many do not attend Church and are lukewarm.

Material life and technology has [I agree] increased, and the distractions have caused less prayer.

People are 'democracy' minded and want the Church to conform to them and not visa versa.

AND I believe as Christ had asked...'Will there be faith left when He returns..?'

Seriously, I dont think we ever saw so much lack of interest in religion than we do today.

Athiesm has increased and so have pagan faiths. As well as other faiths that are organized but do not profess Christ.

Religion is on the back burner a ppl do not believe we need a CHURCH to go to.

I have heard:
God is everywhere....
God didnt build a Church...
Religion is man made...
Ppl who attend Church cannot use their own minds...

Etc etc etc

 

[BAFRIEND]

Many people cannot afford to go to school. If you take out loans they won't let you be a priest until the loans are paid off. By that time people are married and aren't going to become priest.

My pastor at the Church I grew up at was given a loan by the diocese. He paid a little bit on it out of his salary. If he left the priesthood he would be responsible for the loan. So one way or another the loan gets paid off. So once again...if you don't want to have any priests...keep refusing to pay for people to go through school.

If somebody is being called to the priesthood, the expense of education would not or should not be a hurdle. I do agree that men who complete the seminary should be forgiven their loans. I have always wondered why we take 2nd collections for the priest retirement fund but never have I seen a collection for seminarian's expenses.

I wonder if given the opportunity, how many households would be willing to sponsor seminarians through college ?

 

[isshinwhat]

We have one, as well as a burse club that funds the seminarians tuition.