Commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Vatican II documents, Optatam Totius and Presbyterorum Ordinis, both dealing with the Sacred Priesthood, Pope Leo penned an apostolic letter titled “A Fidelity That Generates the Future.” Although an overtly positive effort, the Holy Father nonetheless felt compelled to include these lines:
The issue of formation is also central to addressing the phenomenon of those who, after a few years or even decades, leave the priestly ministry. This painful reality should not be interpreted solely in legal terms, but requires us to look carefully and compassionately at the history of these brothers and the many reasons that may have led them to such a decision. (n. 11)
The Pope hits on a number of remedies, without necessarily connecting them to the unfortunate phenomenon of clerical defections. When John Paul II assumed the Petrine office, he faced a situation in which 100,000 men had abandoned their priestly vocations over a ten-year period. He staunched that hemorrhage in a variety of ways.
In this essay, I would like to identify several issues that give rise to the current problem, from the perspective of having served as a seminary professor, a vocations director, and currently as a mentor for many seminarians and young priests.
In no particular order, consideration must be given to these matters.
• Seminary life is community life. Most priests today live alone. Even when two or more live together, they do not eat together or pray together. The average rectory today is a hotel with a cross on top.
• Formation programs keep adding years as though that will address the problem, which it does not and cannot.
• Most seminaries do not provide their students with a spirituality of study and a deep appreciation for theology, which is to say, their intellectual formation is poor.
• Financial compensation for Catholic clergy is the lowest in the country for any religion. One bishop told me the rationale: “Keep them poor, and you keep control.”
• Priests are caught in an unenviable vise between what they call “chancery rats,” who cannot stop meddling in their pastoral work, and laity with “stole envy,” who are wanna-be priests. Any complaint lodged against a priest is taken seriously by diocesan authorities.
• Education in and experience of chastity is woefully lacking, such that young men are coming to priestly formation having been sexually active for years, often enough in both directions, making celibate continence all the more difficult. And how many of these poor fellows are addicted to pornography, starting even in childhood?
• At least two generations of priests have grown up now in an atmosphere where delayed gratification is nearly unheard of and rarely promoted, which does not translate well into a vocation in which human satisfaction is not always immediate, if it comes at all.
• Most lay folk fail to affirm good priests for a proper celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, for a good homily, or for “being there” when needed. One person said to me, “Why should I congratulate them for doing what they’re supposed to do?” Which seems not to recognize that “doing what you’re supposed to do” today often takes great courage.
• For decades now, seminaries have not trained men to be shepherds but to be perpetual sheep, easily controlled. And of course, “leading from behind.”
• That methodology has been fueled by a creeping feminism that has invaded the Church, among other things, making men feel bad simply for being men.
• Most priests are not faithful to the Divine Office, with perhaps a slim majority praying no more than Lauds and Vespers.
• All too many priests have dual wardrobes: Gammarelli cassocks and Brooks Brothers lay attire, a practice subtly encouraged in seminaries where students wear clerical garb for class and Mass and then switch off to lay dress for the rest of the day, thus presenting the model of an “on-duty, off-duty” vision of priestly life.
• Priests are concerned that properly exercising their confessional praxis will get them into trouble. Someone confesses “sinning against purity,” which needs to be followed up by the confessor with, “How did you sin against purity?” but which has led not a few “penitents” to report the priest to the diocese for “sexual harassment.”
• When a priest’s phone screen shows the chancery number, most men freeze in fear: “What am I being accused of?”
• The preceding twelve years of the Francis pontificate were a non-stop assault on priests and seminarians—unlike the twenty-seven years of the John Paul pontificate of love and affirmation of priests. Signs point to a return to the John Paul II approach so far in the Leo pontificate, thankfully.
• In many dioceses, young priests—almost universally “conservative” or “traditional”—are assigned to obnoxious, dictatorial pastors imbued with “the spirit of Vatican II,” leading to hellish living situations and constant conflict over liturgy and pastoral practice.
• Young priests are forced to violate their consciences and to submit to liturgical practices they dislike (e.g., female servers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion; Communion in the hand).
• Priests are made pastors way too young. They know they lack the experience to lead a parish, which causes terrible insecurity.
• Priests are burdened with too many parishes. One priest of my acquaintance has five parishes, separated by less than ten miles; adding all five Sunday Masses together, he has fewer than 300 people. Bishops are afraid to close parishes due to lay push-back, but are not afraid to place the heavy yoke on the shoulders of their priests.
• Seminaries do not prepare men for parish administration or the school apostolate. Summer assignments could easily be used to offer courses to address such lacunae.
• As Cardinal Avery Dulles predicted, the Dallas Charter has driven a wedge between a bishop and his priests. Most diocesan clergy hold their Ordinaries in disdain and regard them with fear. Most bishops treat their priests like indentured servants, rather than the brothers and closest collaborators called for by the Second Vatican Council.
• Last but by no means least, men have been coming to us from a culture and families where commitment is a rare commodity; they have not been schooled in the ability to make a firm decision from which there is no turning back. I saw this forty years ago as a young priest asking my freshmen boys in high school once a year why they would and/or would not want to be a priest. The first negative response was always: “Priesthood is forever!”
Some of the difficulties I have identified come from the broader culture, which means we need to attend to them through a long, painful process of evangelization, which should and can come through our Catholic grammar schools and high schools (which means clergy have to promote their use and guarantee their catholicity).
Most of the other concerns I have highlighted can be more easily handled, but they require attitudinal changes on the part of both bishops and priests, especially by bishops becoming fathers and not CEOs. Not infrequently, when a priest and bishop come into conflict, the bishop reminds the priest that on the day of his ordination, he promised the Ordinary “obedience and respect.” The beautiful gesture of an ordinand’s hands being placed into the hands of his bishop goes back to feudal times, as a knight pledged his fidelity to his lord. In return for the knight’s “obedience and respect,” the lord pledged his protection. Most priests do not experience that protection anymore.
The priesthood has never been an easy vocation to live (and, of course, marriage is not, either), but when the buffets come from within and from without, one can understand why young men are shaken. While we cannot forestall the external attacks, we can—and must—confront those which are of our own making.
Pope Leo concluded his apostolic letter quoting St. John Vianney: “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” He then went on in his own words to declare that such love is “so strong that it dispels the clouds of complacency, discouragement and loneliness.”
May each of us in his own calling do everything possible to ensure that our priests never succumb to “complacency, discouragement and loneliness.”
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Cupich, Seitz, Martin…
“Some of the difficulties I have identified come from the brooader culture . . .”
No kidding.
Only remedy – the rest of this paragraph. What’s the hold-up?
After reading this article, I can see why thwarted, disillusioned priests are signing up for the SSPX training program and a life that is centered, not on talk and busy-ness, but one centered on Christ, growing in holiness and self-respect. The PC church (Post-conciliar, or Politically correct, whichever you prefer) has denigrated priesthood by elevating a misleading and false notion of a “general, lay priesthood” to the point that it seems an obvious move by the hierarchy to someday just remove the consecrated priesthood out of the way, almost, altogether. I say “almost” because we do need the sacraments and they cannot be conferred (with the exception of baptism) without consecration, i.e. ordination. That said, I can see the church becoming so desperate that hosts will be consecrated by the one or two remaining priests in a diocese and delivered to churches for use in pre-consecrated masses one day. Meanwhile, again, the SSPX grows . . . and why not? There, the priests are valued, appreciated, respected. They hold a divine office and are respected as such. They’re “clerical” – involved in the lives of their parishioners because they can afford to be. Not a single SSPX priest takes a parish “alone”. They are all safely situated in priories where their brother priests divide amongst themselves their tasks, priestly duties and fellowship. Deo gratias.
Fr Stravinskas reveals the depth of the priesthood disaster. This is a matter that great relevance for the Cardinals papal consistory. Bishops from the time of my ordination decades past and before have not taken their obligation to examine the moral fitness of candidates seriously.
Today, as Stravinskas points out it’s far since because the moral deterioration of our culture has reached epic proportions. What was traditionally understood as sin is now thought as natural and normal.
Apparently the young priests who qualify for Stravinskas’ “May each of us in his own calling do everything possible to ensure that our priests never succumb to complacency, discouragement and loneliness” are few and far between. When they’re welcomed into a priest and parishioner scenario as described in this article as their first assignment it would take a martyr like commitment like the missionaries of old to survive and succeed. But then we need bishops of that calibre to create a new form of preparation for ordination.
“. . . I can see the church becoming so desperate that hosts will be consecrated . . . for use in pre-consecrated masses one day”.
Correction: pre-consecrated services.
Already happening in Europe, from what I can gather from trying to locate a Mass in my aunt and uncle’s town.
Thank you for the correction and, sadly, Europe is now circling the drain . . . 🙁
If a priest has a problem with female altar servers and Communion in the hand, he did not have a true priestly vocation. Those are permitted practices.
Having a problem with those shouldn’t translate to not actually having a vocation. He may end up having a problem with his bishop & parishioners though.
No need for female servers nor Christ’s Body in the hand.
The trust in the compassion of our Lord for each soul from the moment of His conception is a truth that is narrated here –
https://www.littlechildreninthedivinewill.com/christmas-novena
Day 4 esp. narrated our Lord requitting in tears & thorns, the burden of sins of each and of all of humanity . Contemplating same to requit what He is owed – hoping that such and related practices though the year could be one means of dealing with the issues & struggles of our times wounded by the contraceptive mentality of fear & rejection of life which would have spared very few families .
https://www.littlechildreninthedivinewill.com/christmas-novena – day 4 esp. alluding to The Passion from the moment of Incarnation . The idolatry of creatures / media , instead of looking to The Lord – great need for reparation in many lives .
The open narrative in the article about the trials in lives of priests – to help persons in compassion & requesting our Lord to use same too united to His Cross in making reparations for all generations, to hasten the Reign of The Kingdom . The great graces that touch generations from such lives also to help kindle faith and gratitude . Same is promised as the ‘spring time ‘ of Christianity – the ‘synodal’ times of The Father walking with His children in the Divine Will operation of bringing Him the love & glory that He is owed by all generations & in renewal of lives . Fiat !
Priests leave the priesthood because regular exposure to homosexuality in the ranks is repulsive. Just ask them.
Never heard that one!
Thank you, Fr., for another great article . . . “In many dioceses, young priests—almost universally “conservative” or “traditional”—are assigned to obnoxious, dictatorial pastors imbued with “the spirit of Vatican II,” leading to hellish living situations and constant conflict over liturgy and pastoral practice.” Can you elaborate? What is that? It seems like a desire to advance failure for failures sake. 🙁
I agree that it was a great article. I wonder if young men discerning the priesthood would be good to look at seminaries in the same way that they would a good college. Choose many and make long visits to see what you can see before you make a commitment. And at the very first sign of a problem, especially homosexuality and disobedience, leave and look for another. Find brothers of like mind and spirituality. Many of the saints of old did not stop at their first choice. A seminarian should be free to do the same until he finds the place where he knows the Lord wants him.
Father Peter,
I have a friend who was discerning with the Jesuits for about a year. He left their formation program when he was hit-upon by one too many homosexuals in that community. I’ll give you his name and you can ask him.
Well, being as the most prominent member of pseudo-Catholic gnostic cult outside of the recently deceased Pope is Jimmy “light shoes” Martin, who used his business training and experience to make the subversive normalization of homosexuality into a cottage industry, nobody should be surprised. Nor would anybody be surprised if he “came out”.
On another website (that no longer entertains comments) there used to be a commenter operating under the pseudonym “Art Deco” that had a quip about parts of the Jesuits being guided by “single malt scotch and sodomy”.
A now passed friend was a graduate of Georgetown and used to quip something about being trained by the Pope’s marines, not the Pope’s Queens.
If you can’t offer evidence for that, it is a gravely sinful accusation.
If the Deacon heard a first party account from a credible party, that was testimony and it would be evidence.
With all due respect, father, the burden of proof is actually on you to demonstrate that the assertion isn’t true. If someone is discerning a call to the priesthood, and he is conservative in his worldview, traditional in his theology, and confidently heterosexual, what’s the statistical probability that he’ll make it through the process? Is he likely to be ordained, or will the closeted gay progressive boomers in the hierarchy find some way to disqualify him? Truth be told, the latter outcome is far more likely than the former.
Amen
Having read this twice, all I can do in my own way is to pray for priests, seminarians and those forming them. Moreover, I pray for the priests in my Archdiocese, asking Jesus to keep them steady.
There were some very good points made here, but the bottom line is society has changed and so must the model. We have to give up mandatory celibacy. The pool from which we choose our seminarians is just too small. There are too many priests with personality disorders. Most Deacons, on the contrary, are rather normal. It has everything to do with having a woman in your life that is your equal and who challenges you in ways that help you to see your own flaws, which you would otherwise miss. We had married clergy for the first thousand years of the Church’s history. What a tradition!
However, I had to stop reading this less than half way through. It started off well, but then it just degenerated into “they’re leaving because seminaries are not run the way I would run them.” Pope Francis was going after priests like Stravinskas–clerical minded elitists who want to go back to the days when the people would fawn all over their cassock wearing sanctuary priests who had all the answers to our questions. Those days are gone. Get over it.
If there are so many married men itching to become priests, why aren’t they becoming deacons? I am not aware that there is a crush of married men clamoring to readmitted to the permanent diaconate. Just the opposite.
I don’t believe there’s a huge number of US men interested in religious vocations- with or without mandatory celibacy. Even Protestant seminaries are closing their doors for lack of candidates.
Commitment , whether to Matrimony or Holy Orders is a scarcer thing in our culture these days.
Young men have spent their whole lives being told they are “privileged” or “toxic” or as as observed a quarter of a century ago by Danielle Crittenden in The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men “defective girls”.
If you are systematically demoralized and don’t think you have intrinsic worth, you certainly aren’t going to bother making the sacrifices necessary to be part of the clergy.
To be fair I don’t see a ton of women joining religious orders either. Commitment & community are important things in a society but they’re not flourishing much in ours. At least not overall. There are countercultural movements & communities today where things are different. Eventually those may become a demographic majority.
mrscracker: you’ve just about summed up the entire problem. Thanks!
Thank you, Deacon Edward.
🙂
As I understand it, the ratio of priests to weekly-Mass-attendees has remained pretty constant over the last 100 years or so.
Are children supposed to learn commitment by their parents never showing up, and their priests never preaching on the importance of it? Those whose parents do show up, seem to learn commitment just fine.
One would think that priests who are overstretched across multiple parishes would see at least self-preservation-related reasons to preach on the things that support vocations (like showing up).
“We have to give up mandatory celibacy.”
Married priests disagree. In 2020 in an article entitled Father Josh: A married Catholic priest in a celibate world (NC Register, 20200 this was included:
“But there’s one very small, very notable Catholic constituency that mostly doesn’t support opening up the priesthood to married men: married priests themselves.”
Interestingly, CORPUS, originally founded as the “Corps of Reserved Priests United for Service.” a group dedicated to married priests disbanded last year due to an aging membership and lack of new members.
There are a significantly large number of candidates for the diaconate compared to the priesthood. All will not get in, of course, but there will be a much larger pool to choose from. In fact, take 10 Deacons that are tried and tested, older, have experience in the world, experience in being married and raising kids, the kids are grown up and gone–take those guys and ordain them to the priesthood, so they can help with Confessions and anointing of the sick and relieve priests so they can go on vacation–or take over a parish if the pastor has to be suddenly removed due to some sex scandal. These 10 will not be financially supported like celibate priests are today, but will be just like Deacons in that regard. But 10 extra priests, suddenly, would make a huge difference on the pressure and stress that priests are under. You see, the problem is that pastors are becoming younger and younger, because they don’t have enough priests. After 2 years, they are made a pastor of the parish. But they are ministering to people who have much more life experience than they have and are much more mature than these young clerics. That’s a big problem. And that’s why a lot of these young guys make really dumb mistakes–they didn’t have good mentors, because there is a shortage of priests. We cannot operate under a 1940s model. It’s a different world. We cannot do things the same way we did them in the 40s, 50s, even 60s. We need to ordain priests who are older and have more life experience, who have a healthy personality, have been in relationships, etc. As it is, we are getting guys who would not be married otherwise, because no woman would go near them (there are exceptions, of course, but they are few and far between). These are not the kind of people you want running a parish. Why do you think we still have sexual problems among clergy? You would think that the sex abuse scandals would have brought an end to that, but they have not. We are working out of an old and outdated model that worked for the world of the 1940s, but not 2020s and 2030s.
BTW, I should have qualified what I said in the previous post. Not all Deacons are normal.
Father Stravinskas has struck a nerve. Lotsa issues with few resolutions.
“Excerpts: “One bishop told me the rationale: “Keep them poor, and you keep CONTROL.” WOW!
>Is Catholic dogma’s sexual admonishments partly responsible for the decline? Can human libido be considered a motivator?
Lord save me…
“Mythology has been fueled by a creeping feminism that has invaded the Church, among other things, making men feel bad simply for being men.”
>Creeping feminism? broadbrush? Clarify. Oxford-review.com. Feminism: “The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. (DEI) are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people.”
“Many of these poor fellows are addicted to pornography, starting even in childhood?”
> Porn access: Where is the family?
“Bishops are afraid to close parishes due to lay push-back, but are not afraid to place the heavy yoke on the shoulders of their priests.”
>My priest had responsibility for three parishes and a Catholic school. He got some relief when St. John’s parish and St. John Coleman High closed. Sad!
Questionable dogma? Could holy women help fill the gap?
No Mr. Morgan, women can not fill the gap. The dogma’s not questionable. Why would we want to believe in a Church that’s founded on questionable dogma in the first place?