arfink Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) I went to seminary at the single largest college seminary in the country, St. John Vianney Seminary in Minnesota. Out highest program enrollment was over 180 men. Our problem wasn't finding young men who wanted to study and discern- it was finding ways to house them all. Not to mention that an even larger number of men were turned away because we didn't have the housing or funding to help them. And a number of my classmates had to stop attending seminary part way through from lack of tuition assistance. Still more young Catholic men won't consider seminary because of the expense. Few dioceses have the money to actually pay for men to go to school, and the burden falls on the young man and his family. I barely made it through financially, and because I didn't chose to go on for another 4 years in Theology school and become a priest I now have the burden of college debt without the benefit of a practical college degree. Alot of practical pragmatic things could be done to help the many men who are considering priesthood but who are having huge obstacles placed in their way. EDIT: in other words, it's not just about convincing young men to give it a shot- lots of guys are willing. We need to actually stand up and FOOT THE BILL. Edited December 12, 2011 by arfink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman82 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 (edited) [quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1323715405' post='2349829'] In my parents' diocese there are a few priests from India, who have been sent by their religious order to help fill the need in that diocese. [/quote] I live in Chicago, and one could easily get the impression that Poland's main exports to the US are ham, vodka, and priests. BTW, my pastor that I mentioned a few posts ago is from Poland. Edited December 13, 2011 by Norseman82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 [quote name='arfink' timestamp='1323715526' post='2349830'] I went to seminary at the single largest college seminary in the country, St. John Vianney Seminary in Minnesota. Out highest program enrollment was over 180 men. Our problem wasn't finding young men who wanted to study and discern- it was finding ways to house them all. Not to mention that an even larger number of men were turned away because we didn't have the housing or funding to help them. And a number of my classmates had to stop attending seminary part way through from lack of tuition assistance. Still more young Catholic men won't consider seminary because of the expense. Few dioceses have the money to actually pay for men to go to school, and the burden falls on the young man and his family. I barely made it through financially, and because I didn't chose to go on for another 4 years in Theology school and become a priest I now have the burden of college debt without the benefit of a practical college degree. Alot of practical pragmatic things could be done to help the many men who are considering priesthood but who are having huge obstacles placed in their way. EDIT: in other words, it's not just about convincing young men to give it a shot- lots of guys are willing. We need to actually stand up and FOOT THE BILL. [/quote] I love this. It is our responsibility at the parish level to encourage vocations and to support them spiritually and financially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Flower Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Well I didn't read through everything here () so maybe somebody already said this, but haven't you noticed, we're totally pulling out of the vocations crisis! Vocations are up every year! At least in my diocese we have a TON of guys in the seminary, so many that the diocese budget wasn't prepared for so many and they are having a little trouble lol! And lots and lots of orders (think Nashies eg!) are totally overflowing! We're gonna have more priesties than ever in the future!!!!! imho anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaPetiteSoeur Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 [quote name='arfink' timestamp='1323715526' post='2349830'] I went to seminary at the single largest college seminary in the country, St. John Vianney Seminary in Minnesota. Out highest program enrollment was over 180 men. Our problem wasn't finding young men who wanted to study and discern- it was finding ways to house them all. Not to mention that an even larger number of men were turned away because we didn't have the housing or funding to help them. And a number of my classmates had to stop attending seminary part way through from lack of tuition assistance. Still more young Catholic men won't consider seminary because of the expense. Few dioceses have the money to actually pay for men to go to school, and the burden falls on the young man and his family. I barely made it through financially, and because I didn't chose to go on for another 4 years in Theology school and become a priest I now have the burden of college debt without the benefit of a practical college degree. Alot of practical pragmatic things could be done to help the many men who are considering priesthood but who are having huge obstacles placed in their way. EDIT: in other words, it's not just about convincing young men to give it a shot- lots of guys are willing. We need to actually stand up and FOOT THE BILL. [/quote] This is still a HUGE problem in my old diocese. When going through files at my home church, we found files upon files dating back to the 70s asking families to pay for their sons' tuitions. Problem is, the poor Irish/immigrant neighborhood didn't have any money. So many lost vocations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oremoose Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 [quote name='arfink' timestamp='1323715526' post='2349830'] .EDIT: in other words, it's not just about convincing young men to give it a shot- lots of guys are willing. We need to actually stand up and FOOT THE BILL. [/quote] If we could figure the amount of money needed and then start a Kickstarter Project we could then mabey make the money for them. Side point I had a light a while back when the readings in the mass went through the book of revelation and I remembered the qoute of the dragon swiping 1/3 of the stars out of the sky. and since Christ is the light of the world the preists are little lights (stars). So I kinda see this shortage as nothing big to worry about. But we all need to help promote Vocations any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oremoose Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 [quote name='Oremoose' timestamp='1323809805' post='2350596'] If we could figure the amount of money needed and then start a Kickstarter Project we could then mabey make the money for them. Side point I had a light a while back when the readings in the mass went through the book of revelation and I remembered the qoute of the dragon swiping 1/3 of the stars out of the sky. and since Christ is the light of the world the preists are little lights (stars). So I kinda see this shortage as nothing big to worry about. But we all need to help promote Vocations any way. [/quote] I killed the thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern california guy Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 My fathers cousin was a Monsignor in Idaho. He died last year. He had actually been giving Masses at three different churches every Sunday. So that tells you how short they were on Priests in Idaho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 [quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1323824210' post='2350763'] My fathers cousin was a Monsignor in Idaho. He died last year. He had actually been giving Masses at three different churches every Sunday. So that tells you how short they were on Priests in Idaho. [/quote] Yeah, it's funny how some areas (where no one wants to go I guess) have no priests and other areas seem to have plenty! My priest does three Masses every Sunday (one of his four parishes has to have a lay led liturgy every week, but fortunately not the town I am in - only the two smallest towns). And women's cloistered religious communities sometimes have problems finding a priest to serve them too. In England, one community I was in hired their own chaplain but they had to ask a missionary priest from Africa to come do it, and in the US, one community I know uses African missionary priests as well. The missionary priests from Asia and Africa are a Godsend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthephysicist Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I truly have to agree with what some other posters have said about encouraging vocations. When I lived in Australia, I went to a Catholic school and never heard about vocations there, only from my parents. Our diocese was running extremely low on priests and we had one priest (God bless him) who did 5 Masses in 5 different parishes every weekend, was the "fulltime" priest at 2 catholic schools, and was the priest for a small group of sisters (can't remember which order). When we moved to America, it was only slightly different. I spent 8 more years in Catholic school, and in that time, we did vocations nights once every other year. That diocese is running low on priests and we've begun merging and closing parishes in advance of running short, so now it's 1-2 priests per parish, but each parish is comprised of 1-3 spread out churches. My current diocese (the one where my college is) is brimming with priests (with quite a fair amount of young priests too) and is always talking about vocations. I'd never even heard of a "vocations director" before I got to this diocese, but over the course of a single month, I'll hear the word "vocation" more than I've heard it in all the time I spent in my previous dioceses. There are so many opportunities for adoration (often as part of a vocations night) every month. My personal favorite is held once a month at a seminary and it consists of an hour of adoration (including silent prayer, contemporary praise & worship music, a gospel reading & homily, and tons of incense rofl) followed by free food (usually pasta and sammiches) and a dodgeball tourney where the seminarians play too. From what I've seen, I'd have to agree, encouragement of vocations directly affects the number of priests in the diocese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJon16 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 [quote name='brianthephysicist' timestamp='1323893364' post='2351291'] My personal favorite is held once a month at a seminary and it consists of an hour of adoration (including silent prayer, contemporary praise & worship music, a gospel reading & homily, and tons of incense rofl) followed by free food (usually pasta and sammiches) and a dodgeball tourney where the seminarians play too. [/quote] THAT SOUNDS SO AMESOME!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthephysicist Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 [quote name='BigJon16' timestamp='1323894593' post='2351308'] THAT SOUNDS SO AMESOME!! [/quote] It is! It's so popular, it's always a full house. I usually get there about 15-20 min early and they're already out of seats lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savvy Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 (edited) I have noticed there is a generation missing. Priests are either old or very young. The same with religious. Edited December 15, 2011 by savvy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfink Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 [quote name='savvy' timestamp='1323912067' post='2351435'] I have noticed there is a generation missing. Priests are either old or very young. The same with religious. [/quote] Ever notice other problems with that generation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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