It’s no secret there’s a short supply of Catholic priests in the US, so when we heard that the shortage was now forcing churches to consolidate, we put our heads together to come up with some options for the Catholic Church. While we admit that numbers 1 and 2 would almost completely solve the problem, we provide other choices for a Church leadership hell-bent on preventing Vatican III.
1. Lift the ban on celibacy
2. Ordinate women
3. Provide US citizenship to foreigners who wish to enter the priesthood
4. Clone the (non-corrupt or closeted) priests you’ve got
5. Further subsidize theological education
6. Improve the vintage of “the blood of Christ”
7. Update the vestments. It’s time.
8. Money. Offer a signing bonus. Hey, the military does it.
3 comments
Geert says:
Jun 23, 2011
Although I agree on the principle of lifting the ban on celibacy and ordinating women in the Catholic Church, I don’t think that is really going to solve the problem. It doesn’t work either for communities who don’t have celibacy or exclusively male ordinations. They know shortages too.
Let’s face it: we in the west are going towards a smaller church. It’s just reality we have to live with, whether we like it or not.
Therry says:
Jun 26, 2011
You forgot the one reason people are not going into the ministry. The loss of social status of priests due to the secular society is not only the reason so many women are going into the ministry but is also the reason so few men are interested in the position. When the church was a viable career alternative, money and power went with it. That is no longer the case.
Steve Van Nattan says:
Jul 28, 2011
I have talked to many ordinary Catholic families who are devout but troubled. The pedophile issue is there of course, but I am amazed at how many of them believed Pope John Paul II was the Antichrist, and they all complain about the prayer meeting at Assisi with pagans. Others believe he was an evil man, and the next Pope after Benedict would be the Antichrist. This is not Protestant propaganda– it is the work of Father Grunner and others inside the Catholic Church. If a young fellow listened to about fifteen years of such talk, and if he saw enough and read enough (Malachi Martin etc) to make it sound serious, why would he want to enter that world? Rome is famous for intrigue, and nothing has changed. Young men are smart enough to know that there is no future in joining a mob, even if some of the data they use is suspect.