How can we help our priests to smell like the sheep?

[PhuturePriest]

My question: What shortage? Vocations are booming. There's literally a page on Facebook dedicated to that very fact. Studies have been made, and vocations are way, way up, and the trend is getting more and more positive. Many seminaries around the world have so many applicants that they have to turn men down because they don't have enough room for all of them.

It seems too many people are stuck in 1985. The shortage we're experiencing now will be fixed in ten years when the aforementioned seminarians are ordained. The end of the shortage is nigh. Not for all dioceses, of course. Some of them are still hurting. But that's due to catechesis and what the dioceses themselves focus on, not because men simply aren't willing to go without a physical bride.

Men won't give up something unless you can convince them what they're taking up is just as valuable and will even make them happier if it is their true vocation. Some dioceses (like mine) do an amesome job at that, and they're seeing the fruits of it. Others (like my former diocese) are not, and they are seeing the fruits of that.

Overall, the trend has been incredibly positive. I'll use a paragraph from Jason Evert for my closing statement, and keep in mind this was made many years ago before the better numbers we have now:

"But is there a crisis at all? In so many words, the Vatican has declared that the vocations crisis is over. Figures from the Church's Statistic Yearbook for 1997 were given in a June 4, 2000 Zenit News Agency report, which stated, "In 1978 there were 63,882 seminarians; at present there are 108,517, an increase of 69.87 percent. The increase in Africa and Asia, in fact, is incredible. Over the last twenty years, these two continents have seen an increase of 238.50 percent and 124.01 percent, respectively." Over the past twenty years, vocations have increased in every continent around the globe. In America, the number of seminarians has increased from 22,011 to 35,000 in the last two decades."

[orapronobis]

Having converted from Anglicanism, I'd definitely say that the Roman priesthood is in a much better state- even with the celibacy.

My old Anglican priest refers to the priesthood as his "job" and has very clearly defined times of when it is acceptable for the congregation to ring him or knock on the door- the old joke was "never die on a Monday!" The R.C priests I've encountered since I swam the Tiber (even though I only did so officially on Sunday) have been so full of warmth and the Holy Spirit whilst also being able to have a joke and connect with the individual in front of them- my college chaplain is an absolute scream!  

If you ask me, the priests smell enough like the sheep already!

[veritasluxmea]

Iggy, way back in the early church there was a rule/practice that priests who had sex the night before would abstain from saying mass the next morning. When Anglicans allowed married priests this tradition didn't carry over. That's what people are referencing when they talk about the priest abstaining, not him being physically dirty.

I like Fr. Longnecker's approach. He converted from Anglicanism and is a married Catholic priest, and he makes a good point. Why should Catholics change our approach to celibacy? It won't solve anything. 

"As a married former Anglican priest who is now a Catholic I sometimes hear Catholics say things like, “Excellent, and it’s about time too! I hope all our priests could marry. That would solve a lot of the problems.” What they mean is that relaxing the celibacy rule will solve the priest shortage, solve the problems of pedophile priests, solve the problem of loneliness and ‘difficult’ celibate priests.

I can tell you from being in a church with married clergy that you would only exchange one set of problems for another. Here’s a story from England about a married priest who ran off with his female assistant. I am not relishing the problems outlined in this article, nor am I tut tutting and pointing the finger at the Anglicans. I’m simply pointing out that having married clergy would not necessarily solve any problems.

Marriage has problems too. It was all best summed up by an old Irish priest I met in England. “What do you think Father,” I said, “About all of us married men becoming Catholic priests?”

“Well,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “I expect sometimes we’ll be jealous of you…and then again, I expect sometimes you’ll be jealous of us.” " (Unfortunately I can't figure out how to get the quote feature to work). http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2009/01/married-priests-2.html 

Edited December 16, 2015 by veritasluxmea

[vee]

14 hours ago, Peace said:

Let them marry human beings of the female sex.

Ukrainian Catholic priests can do such a thing, Its one of the valid rites that is part of the Catholic Church, so yes Catholic priests can marry its just a different liturgy.   

[KnightofChrist]

14 minutes ago, PhuturePriest said:

My question: What shortage? Vocations are booming. There's literally a page on Facebook dedicated to that very fact. Studies have been made, and vocations are way, way up, and the trend is getting more and more positive. Many seminaries around the world have so many applicants that they have to turn men down because they don't have enough room for all of them.

It seems too many people are stuck in 1985. The shortage we're experiencing now will be fixed in ten years when the aforementioned seminarians are ordained. The end of the shortage is nigh. Not for all dioceses, of course. Some of them are still hurting. But that's due to catechesis and what the dioceses themselves focus on, not because men simply aren't willing to go without a physical bride.

Men won't give up something unless you can convince them what they're taking up is just as valuable and will even make them happier if it is their true vocation. Some dioceses (like mine) do an amesome job at that, and they're seeing the fruits of it. Others (like my former diocese) are not, and they are seeing the fruits of that.

Overall, the trend has been incredibly positive. I'll use a paragraph from Jason Evert for my closing statement, and keep in mind this was made many years ago before the better numbers we have now:

"But is there a crisis at all? In so many words, the Vatican has declared that the vocations crisis is over. Figures from the Church's Statistic Yearbook for 1997 were given in a June 4, 2000 Zenit News Agency report, which stated, "In 1978 there were 63,882 seminarians; at present there are 108,517, an increase of 69.87 percent. The increase in Africa and Asia, in fact, is incredible. Over the last twenty years, these two continents have seen an increase of 238.50 percent and 124.01 percent, respectively." Over the past twenty years, vocations have increased in every continent around the globe. In America, the number of seminarians has increased from 22,011 to 35,000 in the last two decades."

I guess it depends on how one views the data. According to George Town University, in 1970 the number of priests worldwide was 419,728, in 2014 the number of priests worldwide was 414,313. A drop of only 5,415 and you would think that would hardly be a shortage crisis. However in 1970 the worldwide Catholic population was 653.6 million, with 39,431 parishes without a resident priest, in 2014 the worldwide Catholic population was 1.229 billion, with 49,153 parishes without a resident priest, 9,722 more parishes without a resident priest than in 1970.

[vee]

Basically, contrary to what the world and hormones would have us think, everything does not revolve around sex.  There will be problems with married and unmarried clergy simply because we are human and frail.  We need men of sound character and morals.  A few good men like that  would do far more good than vast quantities of priests with questionable character and morals.  Its the inner man that matters. 

We as laity can help our priests by our prayers and sacrifices first and foremost.  Do you pray daily for your priests, do you offer up sacrifices for them?  What do you do for them?

5 hours ago, IgnatiusofLoyola said:

The priests I feel bad for are the ones who are the only priest in a parish. It must be a very lonely life. I've read one recommendation that priests who serve congregations near each other live in Community with each other, rather than live alone, so they have "family" life.

Married people can be lonely too!  People in any kind of situation can be lonely.  Only God can truly satisfy our inner loneliness. 

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

15 minutes ago, vee said:

 

Married people can be lonely too!  People in any kind of situation can be lonely.  Only God can truly satisfy our inner loneliness. 

I know that all too well. Many times I was MORE lonely when I was married--particularly near the end. And, I nowadays I often find that I feel more lonely around other people than when I am by myself. Working on the God part--I'm not very good at it.

[Amppax]

Veritas, I was just about to share that article! 

[Era Might]

I think the only way to have married priests would be to reform the way the priesthood is imagined. IOW, keeping the priest's role strictly ritual and spiritual, and opening up everything extraneous either to lay people or to priests on an employment basis (and reimagining parish life would be necessary). But a married clergy can be distasteful too. I've been reading a biography of MLK which goes into the history of black clergy in the United States, which is a fascinating institution because the black preacher wasn't just a religious figure, he was often the center of the community, especially considering the illiteracy, poverty, etc. of the "sheep," the preacher was an honored "profession." But some were "freelance" preachers, others part of a hierarchical group (e.g., Lutherans), so it's hard to say how such a model could work in the very hierarchical Catholic milieu. But the other side of that was that the preacher often had to contend with the powerful families in the congregation...often, "smelling like the sheep" means telling them what they want to hear if you want to keep your job. There's a great story of the man who preceded MLK in Montgomery, AL...Vernon Johns. He caused a ruckus because he would sell produce and do manual work and speak truth to power...the local black aristocracy didn't like that, eventually he got kicked out and MLK was hired...the rest was history.

But in other contexts I think married priest could not only work, but are a no-brainer. There are areas, e.g., in Latin America where people don't even have a priest. I don't see any reason why local men can't be trained, without the traditional expectations of academic priesthood (the Apostles went to no college seminary).

Edited December 18, 2015 by Era Might