Seminarians from a parish are not the only, nor even the primary factor, but they are an important consideration. How can people expect to have priests if they don't provide the diocese with seminarians? In many dioceses, there are often only a handful of them that provide the great majority of seminarians. I would say that if a parish h…
Seminarians from a parish are not the only, nor even the primary factor, but they are an important consideration. How can people expect to have priests if they don't provide the diocese with seminarians? In many dioceses, there are often only a handful of them that provide the great majority of seminarians. I would say that if a parish has not produced a vocation to the seminary in the last 30 years, they should make an examination of conscience and discern why that is the case. It could be bad or even scandalous priests, which is not the fault of the parishioners, but there could also be other factors that they can change.
Certainly true. I just think in the meantime there are big things at stake for this community. Seems like they are going about the proper methods to keep the church they love intact. If lack of seminarians is the reason the Bishop is consolidating this parish, he should have communicated that and not allowed them to purchase the property. He also shouldn't have sold the parish outside of what appears to be the proper order of a suppression. Now that this all has unfolded it seems to me like it would be a good thing for him to have some open dialogue with the parish. Clearly the community cares, this seems like it might be a good opportunity to try some of that "change" you mentioned.
Seminarians from a parish are not the only, nor even the primary factor, but they are an important consideration. How can people expect to have priests if they don't provide the diocese with seminarians? In many dioceses, there are often only a handful of them that provide the great majority of seminarians. I would say that if a parish has not produced a vocation to the seminary in the last 30 years, they should make an examination of conscience and discern why that is the case. It could be bad or even scandalous priests, which is not the fault of the parishioners, but there could also be other factors that they can change.
Certainly true. I just think in the meantime there are big things at stake for this community. Seems like they are going about the proper methods to keep the church they love intact. If lack of seminarians is the reason the Bishop is consolidating this parish, he should have communicated that and not allowed them to purchase the property. He also shouldn't have sold the parish outside of what appears to be the proper order of a suppression. Now that this all has unfolded it seems to me like it would be a good thing for him to have some open dialogue with the parish. Clearly the community cares, this seems like it might be a good opportunity to try some of that "change" you mentioned.