|
|
|
The statistics really are pretty grim and could be pretty depressing. Over the past four decades, the number of secular priests as well as religious sisters, brothers, and priests has dropped precipitously. While we all have heard about those facts, what these statistics mean could be quite frightful to any Catholic who is interested in the survival of the Church in the United States. Kenneth C. Jones of St. Louis has culled these statistics, publishing them in his Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II. Among the data: · After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States dropped to 45,000 in 2002. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests—and only 15,000—that’s a little more than forty eight percent—will be under the age of 70. · In 1965, only three percent of the parishes in the United States—a total of 549—were without a priest. In 2002, there were 2,928 priestless parishes, about 15 percent of all US parishes. By 2020, twenty five percent of all parishes—that’s 4,656 parishes—will have no priest. · There were 16,300 seminarians in 1930 and 49,000 in 1965. By 2002 the number plunged to 4,700: a ninety percent decrease! Without students, seminaries across the country have been sold or shuttered. There were 596 seminaries in 1965, and only 200 in 2002, a sixty eight percent decrease. · While there were 1,575 ordinations to the priesthood in 1965, in 2002 there were 450, a decrease of nearly seventy one percent! Taking into account ordinations, deaths, and departures, in 1965 there was a net gain of 725 priests. In 1998, there was a net loss of 810. · In 1965, there were 5,277 Jesuit priests and 3,559 seminarians; in 2000, there were 3,172 priests and 389 seminarians. In 1965, there were 2,534 OFM Franciscan priests and 2,251 seminarians; in 2000, there were 1,492 priests and 60 seminarians. In 1965, there were 2,434 Christian Brothers and 912 seminarians; in 2000, there were 959 Brothers and 7 seminarians. If these trends continue, by 2050, forget the Augustinians! The Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Christian Brothers, will be the virtually extinct in the United States.
·
In
1945, 138,000 sisters ran the nation’s Catholic education and health
systems; their numbers swelled to 180,000 by 1965. In 2002, there were
75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68. By 2020, the number of
sisters will drop to 40,000—and of these, only 21,000—slightly more than fifty
percent—will be younger than 70 years old. Translation: within one
generation there will be no religious sisters! About these statistics, our fellow co-religionist and the one-time presidential candidate, Patrick J. Buchanan, wrote in a commentary: “Liars may figure, but figures do not lie.” So, what must we as Catholics do to deal with this crisis? Many thoughtful and sincere people have called for the Bishop of Rome to allow married priests in the Latin Rite. Some others have vociferously demanded the ordination of women priests. Many others have opined, “Let the priests who left and got married come back if they want.” Sorry, but I disagree. The solutions put forward will not solve the problem. For me, what those proposing these solutions are seeking to do is similar to putting salve on cancerous skin tissue. That is, while the salve may make the symptoms of disease disappear and ameliorate the pain for a period of time, the salve will not heal the disease itself. In fact, the disease will grow unabated as it metastasizes elsewhere in the body becoming more virulent than ever and, ultimately, causing death. As Catholics, God calls us—each in our own unique and unrepeatable way—to deal with the disease manifesting itself in the symptoms. And, the disease I am talking about is infecting much more than simply the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Consider these statistics: · The number of active pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has fallen from 13,841 in 1990, to about 11,100 in 2005. That’s a decrease of nearly twenty percent in just fifteen years. · In the 2.4 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA), 4,000 of the 11,100 congregations—that’s a full thirty six percent of all congregations—are without pastors.
·
In
1990, the United Methodist Church ordained 820 seminary-trained clergy.
Ten years later, in 2000, only 620 seminary-trained clergy were
ordained. That’s a twenty six percent decrease. This has forced United
Methodist congregations to rely on pastors whose theological training is
dubious. So, it’s not just the Roman Catholic Church that is having problems attracting clergy. So, too, other Christian denominations—all of which allow for married clergy and some of which allow for women to serve as ministers—are experiencing exactly the same problem. Quite obviously, those Roman Catholics who call for the Church to change its requirements for ordination haven’t carefully considered this broader picture. Could it be that they possess a political and theological agenda they are pushing irrespective of the facts? Let’s broaden even further the picture depicting a “crisis in vocations” by considering some additional statistics that seemingly have little if anything to do with the priesthood per se. Let’s focus upon the professions of service that are so vitally important to our nation’s health and well-being. · The Federal Bureau of Health Professions projects a shortage of nurses over the next two decades. In 2020, our nation will be 800,000 nurses short. · A National Education Association report indicates that nearly 2,000,000 new teachers will be needed in the coming decade. Teacher recruitment is currently experiencing a crisis, especially in urban and rural public schools. Soon, this crisis will ensnare suburban and exurban school districts. · The Washington Post recently published an article concerning police officers. The article notes: “…from seaside Southern California cities to Washington’s suburbs, more than 80 percent of the nation’s 17,000 law enforcement agencies, big and small, have vacancies that many cannot fulfill.
·
A
National Fire Protection Association study found that “at least two
thirds of the nation’s fire departments are understaffed” and that some
cities, “including New York, have had to close fire stations.” And, then, if those statistics aren’t telling enough about the lack of professional service personnel, there are also the statistics concerning the health of the vocation of marriage in the United States. In his book, Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II, Kenneth Jones reports these statistics: · In 1965, there were less than 400 marriages annulled by diocesan tribunals in an average year; in the year 2000 alone, 50,000 marriages were annulled.
·
In
1965, 3 out of 4 Catholics attended Mass each week; in 2000, the figure
was 1 in 4. Then, in the most recent study published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the marriage rate in our nation appears to have hit an all-time low. The outcome? To deal with what appears to be the inevitability of divorce, the number of those living together and subsequently entering into marriage with pre-nuptial agreements has skyrocketed exponentially. These women and men have great difficulty saying “I do” and meaning it…in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, until death. Furthermore, absent a strong and vibrant faith and regular practice of religion, where are these people to hear the “Good News” that will liberate them from this fear which only ensures failed lifelong and permanent commitments? This broadened perspective paints quite a different picture of the alleged “vocation crisis” in our Church. The challenges we face in this generation have impacted not only vocations to the priesthood, but to the professions of service and marriage as well. It is not only the Roman Catholic priesthood in the United States that is experiencing fewer numbers of recruits. So, too, are the other Christian denominations and the professions of service—like nurses, teachers, police officers, and firefighters. And, that’s to say nothing about recruits for the lifelong and permanent commitment that characterizes marriage. Contrary to all of those voices hankering that the Bishop of Rome accept their novel solutions for this purported “crisis” of vocations to the priesthood, I believe these statistics portend something far more momentous for Catholics. These statistics are authentic “signs of the times”—the voice of the Holy Spirit—calling all of us—and that’s you and that’s me—to turn from sin. What is the sin in which we are immersed that makes it more convenient to look every else for solutions than to look at ourselves and our lives? Simply put: the sin now ensnaring us is the permanent commitment we are unwilling to make to one another and to keep for our lifetimes. Novel solutions—like changing or reducing the requirements for ordination or living together before or redefining marriage—are nothing more than Band Aids. These solutions only mask the problems we are experiencing so that we don’t have to deal with the issue that is causing our young people today to live in fear of making a personal, unflinching, and lifelong commitment to others, whether that’s as a priest, sister, or brother, in a profession of service, or as a spouse. When we don’t demonstrate to young people our personal vocations and live them out each and every day—as loving spouses and parents, as priests and sisters and brothers who serve the Church, and as dedicated layperson—we negatively impact our young people and their thinking in such ways that they increasingly fear making permanent and lifelong commitments and, ultimately, they won’t make those commitments and stick by them. When priests, sisters, and brothers as well as their parents fail young people in this regard, materialism, consumerism, and secularism quickly fill in the breach because these are far more appealing to young people than is selfless commitment to others. When we fail to teach young people by our example what selfless commitment requires, how could we possibly expect—save Divine intervention, of course—young people to inspired? “Everything in our society says to live for yourself, not for others. We are a materialistic society,” a seminarian responded about what he thought was the primary obstacle to increase the number of vocations. This is not to say there aren’t heroes and heroines today. Just the other day, some freshmen students in one of my classes remarked that the fire and police personnel who gave their lives on September 11, 2001, have inspired them. So, too, other freshmen students noted the heroic sacrifices of those men and women who are currently serving our country in the armed forces. In these men and women—who “Walk the Talk” by giving their lives in service to the people of our nation—the witness they provide inspires young people. Furthermore, while many young people may not be entering into ministry or the professions of service, a good number are opting to help others for a limited period of time. Especially at our nation’s Catholic colleges and universities, many students use their fall and spring breaks not to travel to Cancun for a week-long Bacchanalian orgy but to volunteer their time and talent for the less fortunate. That’s a wonderful sign that God is at work in their souls. But, they—and us, too—must press beyond providing necessary social services. How? We must elevate our service to make a God-like commitment, what’s called a “vocation.” This requires making a permanent and lifelong commitment and growing in this commitment by dealing with and overcoming the challenges that come our way in a healthy, mature, and spiritually enriching—though likely not “easy”—way. Whoever promised that married life would be bliss, that the priesthood would be easy, or that the dedicated single life would be “full of fun” because there were no attachments tying one down? The challenges the Church in the United States faces are very difficult. We need many young people who will generously accept their call to the consecrated life and to confront head on the sinful attitudes and behaviors currently afflicting marriage and family, denigrating the sanctity of all human life, and creating a culture where Roman Catholics don’t want the Church to stand for anything except what pollsters identify as popular or what will make people “feel good.” Or, making it easy to turn one’s back on a permanent commitment. The statistics suggest that some service professions may become extinct. That’s sad because our nation needs many hands capable of building and sustaining our life as a community. Yes, our nation needs the hands of many nurses if those who are infirmed are to experience the health care they need. Our nation also needs the hands of many if we are to provide young people the knowledge and skills required to grow in grace, wisdom, and virtue. So too, the hands of many police officers are needed to help keep our society orderly and the hands of many firefighters are needed to confront threats of disaster and the need for rescue from mortal danger. More substantively, however, the hands of many priests are needed to serve the people of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And, the hands of many religious sisters and brothers are needed to provide for a host of spiritual and material needs. In today’s gospel, Jesus called Simon Peter, James, and John—fishermen “of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips”—to cast out into the deep not for fish but for souls. “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man,” Simon Peter responded when called to commit himself to his vocation. Likewise, St. Paul told us that he was sinful, “not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.” But, St. Paul reminds us, “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective.” Through the grace of Christ, God continues even in our day to redeem what seems unsalvageable to most human beings…even our situation which may be desperate but is not without hope. Who does God call and send forth in the consecrated life? Not the perfect. Not the holy. Just regular old human beings—sinners who accept the grace of God—and make the commitment to love God and neighbor as they love themselves. God calls many, but God can only send those who respond, “Here I am…send me” and mean those words as a permanent and lifelong commitment.
A brief commercial
break... Hurry up! Lent is just around the corner, beginning on Wednesday, February 21st! Each year, the people at Magnificat® produce a companion edition for the season of Lent. Similar to a what older Catholics may remember as a "prayer book," the companion edition contains all sorts of prayers, readings, reflections, art, and activities for every member of the family to prepare each day of the season of Lent for the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning. Grandparents might consider purchasing a copy for themselves and copies for each grandchild. Confirmation sponsors might consider purchasing a copy for themselves as well as the person they have sponsored or are sponsoring in the faith. Spouses might purchase a copy for themselves and use it for daily prayer during the season of Lent. Parents might purchase a copy for the family and use it to lead prayer before dinner each evening. At a price of $3 for 1-4 copies plus $1 shipping/handling, $2 for 5-9 copies plus $3 shipping/handling, and $1.10 for 10-49 copies (plus $5 shipping/handling), the companion edition makes a perfect and very affordable opportunity to prepare for the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning as well as an Lenten gift to spur family, friends, and colleagues toward greater spiritual growth during the holy season of Lent. The companion edition has a limited press run that sells out each year. Furthermore, orders are filled in the order received. So, place your order early. To place an order for the 2007 companion edition of Magnificat® for the season of Lent, call 1-970-416-6670 or email specialissue@intrepidgroup.com for ordering information.
|
|
|
HOMILY
