I would draw a different conclusion. Find an 8 year old. Find two copies of a map of the United States that shows every diocese in the United States. Have the eight year old color in the diocese in the first list on one map; and the second list on the other map. A conclusion would be fairly obvious.
It comes to the rather obvious conclusion that diocese where the majority of Catholics have an ancestry that is from countries that have historically not produced large numbers of priestly vocations ... tend not to produce large numbers of priestly vocations.
As a former seminarian for the Diocese of Wichita, I can tell you that Adoration is cited by nearly everyone (including myself) as a major factor in their vocation or decision to attend seminary. Nearly every parish has perpetual adoration, so we can get to adoration anytime we want. Vocations are fostered by the still small voice that we encounter with our Lord in the adoration chapel. Just my 2 cents.
It would be interesting to see a vocation comparison based on availability of Mass, Confession, and adoration/unlocked church rather than the size of the diocese or the priest/parishioner ratio. Especially since those are things most parishes can increase.
Am I correct in remembering that Wichita also has a tithing-based system for Catholic school tuition? If so, that is one of the only things I know about the diocese but it came to mind- if the Catholic schools are good, and if more families can afford to send their kids to them rather than public schools, I can see that with other factors, like access to adoration as you say, the schools would help to bolster the Catholic population in the area and support the vocations of the young people of the diocese.
A "stewardship diocese" in Catholicism refers to a diocese that prioritizes and integrates the principles of Christian stewardship into its mission, governance, and parish life. Stewardship, as defined by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, is a way of life rooted in gratitude for God's gifts, which involves receiving these gifts gratefully, cultivating them responsibly, sharing them generously, and returning them to God with increase. This concept is central to discipleship and the Church's mission.
Key characteristics of a stewardship diocese include:
1. **Promotion of Stewardship as a Way of Life**: The diocese encourages personal and communal conversion to stewardship through prayer, education, and formation. This includes fostering a culture where parishioners commit their time, talent, and treasure to the Church's mission[1][2][6].
2. **Integration into Parish and Diocesan Activities**: Stewardship principles are incorporated into fundraising, volunteer recruitment, budgetary decisions, and accountability measures. Parishes are encouraged to conduct annual appeals and provide opportunities for spiritual growth and service[1][5].
3. **Focus on the Four Pillars of Stewardship**: These pillars—hospitality, prayer, formation, and service—guide parishes in creating welcoming communities, nurturing faith through sacraments and education, and serving both parishioners and the broader community[6].
4. **Long-term Commitment**: A stewardship diocese commits to fostering stewardship as an ongoing journey rather than a one-time initiative. This involves supporting parish leaders and laity in embracing stewardship practices[1][7].
The Diocese of Wichita is often cited as a model stewardship diocese due to its comprehensive approach to integrating these principles into all aspects of diocesan life[2][6].
Yeah that is probably a big factor as well. Our schools are tithing based, (8% to your parish, 2% to a charity of your choice) so whether you have 1 kid in school or 10 that covers all of their "tuition." And they aren't really strict on this, some very poor families pay little or nothing to go to Catholic schools here. Also I know a lot of the teachers around the diocese and they take the faith seriously, which does not seem to be the case in a lot of places, especially bigger cities.
my pastor is asking parishioners to give at least 2.5% to the parish if they aren't already, and we didn't have a budget deficit last year. I imagine that if many families with students are able to do 8%, it helps cover the costs for those who are unable to.
And by the prayers of the Adorers asking for vocations in their parish and diocese. My parish has perpetual Adoration, and I am convinced that one little room is the 1,200 horse power engine that showers our entire community with blessings.
Not sure exactly. My parish has about 600 families but it's one of the smaller parishes in the city itself. We have a couple coverage gaps, but I think it's Tuesday and 2 am and Wednesday at 3 am, so not too bad. A lot of the rural parishes are smaller but they also don't have perpetual adoration.
Parish sizes in our diocese vary widely since its boundary covers all of SE KS, which includes many rural parishes as well as the larger parishes in the city of Wichita. What is interesting is that while it is mainly the larger parishes that are able to sustain perpetual adoration, some of the smaller ones do as well.
Many of the smaller parishes, such as the one I grew up in with 200-300 families, still hold adoration a few days a week, Mon.-Thurs, etc. My parish started at 3 days and grew to five over 15 years and now is building a dedicated adoration chapel to move out of an extra room in the parish hall.
The Bishop at the head of a diocese makes all the difference. Young men considering a diocesan priestly vocation will seek out a Bishop whom they respect and trust, and a Bishop who has already succeeded in recruiting other young and faithful vocations. "Nothing succeeds like success."
Good morning, Brian, I think there is credence to your comment but I don’t think it’s the ideal. The man who fills the Office of Bishop is temporary, the promise of respect and obedience to him and his successors remains. A young man ought to be encouraged to discern the diocese (or order) that he is committing his life to more than the man who is the bishop at the time. A friend of mine joined seminary under one bishop, was ordained by the next Bishop, and now completes his third year with another as his Ordinary. Bishops can help make or break a culture which fosters vocations, but I hope they are not the sole source of that culture, nor the pivotal point of discernment.
Some years ago, a friend of mine who is a top-rate Catholic economics scholar wanted to study why certain dioceses have more vocations and other ones have fewer. He initially suspected that the bishop's orthodoxy was the main driver, so he did his research based on based on each bishop's "stated" orthodoxy. To do this, the only variable he could figure to use was based on which publications the bishops wrote for; I think the two were "America" versus "HPR". In any event, he got a sample and went to work. What he found was surprising; he learned that the bishop was indeed important, but also that smaller dioceses population-wise are doing much better with vocations, even ones not in traditionally Roman Catholic areas like the South. Size of diocese was not the initial focal point of his research, but this was his conclusion: you want more diocesan vocations? Divide large dioceses into smaller ones.
I don't live in the deep south and only know a few seminarians and priests from that region, so I'm an outsider, but it seems like there's a fair number of Catholic converts and that those smaller dioceses in areas that are traditionally baptist/non-denom have a great missionary, evangelical spirit. But it's still not the same for all of the south. I was on a trip in the diocese of Knoxville a while back and they have some seminarians and younger priests, but lots of parish mergers and not a lot of Adoration and confession times are available because of the shortage of priests.
I will add that the ordinary of a large archdiocese often becomes distant from his people with many unneeded layers of bureaucracy and loads of auxiliaries too. The whole idea of a bishop is to be the pastoral leader not only of his priests, but his people too. For an archbishop with, say, 1200 priests, 350 parishes and 250 schools, he will be lucky if he makes one visit to each place over a ten-year period and he will certainly never get to know each of his priests on a by name basis. Canon 396 states a bishop is obliged to visit the diocese annually either in whole or in part, so that he visits the entire diocese a minimum of every five years. Some guys in bigger dioceses can't even pull this off.
I get it that there are always going to be large archdioceses. But it would be a good move to take a look at some of our very largest dioceses and consider splitting them up into manageable pieces as other major archdioceses elsewhere in the world have done, i.e. Manila, Mexico City, and Rio. The benefits far outweigh the costs of creating new dioceses, especially with regard to attracting more vocations.
Both bankrupt, both under the same metropolitan Archbishop.
Perhaps he should spend less time campaigning for US presidents and more time nurturing vocations. Not much time left until he turns 75 though (February 6).
Agreed. A bishop with such a huge diocese cannot be a father to his priests. At best he could appoint auxiliaries who are another layer between him and the front line clergy. It must be all the more difficult to spot early signs of trouble before they spiral out of control. And a priest with such a remote bishop must be all the more reluctant to approach him for help and advice. His Grace is always so busy....
I'd change one variable in the research, though. Rather than comparing active priests to number of Lay Faithful, the active priests should be compared to REGULARLY PRACTICING Faithful. In the Cinci Archdiocese, we have about 500,000 Catholics on the books, but around 110,000 Catholics who practice. That paints a wildly different picture, as I'm sure it would for many other dioceses. Once again, I think the numbers indicate the "priest shortage" has far less to do with ordained priests (in many cases), and far more to do with the Baptismal Priesthood.
Agreed, it’s easy to blame the lack of priests on the lack of priests, but that gets us nowhere. Good families/communities are what enable young men/women to respond to the call.
Yes, but good priests often inspire and encourage the development of good Catholic families which then tend to have more vocations to the priesthood. Fewer good priests, fewer good families, fewer new priests, like a circle steadily getting smaller.
The Holy Spirit is constantly at work revitalizing the Church. To assent to the "circle getting smaller" outlook is to despair in the ongoing action of the Almighty and a reduction of the mystery of vocation to deterministic predictors.
Good, personable, attractive priests are often the catalyst and locus of revival but putting the blame on the clergy (and pressure on seminarians not to "quit") does nothing to grow vocations and can often stifle them. There is plenty of room for the lay faithful to participate in the saving action of the Church and more access to catechetical resources than ever before. The future is hopeful because Christ is present in the Church today as he was in Galilee. Despair is never the work of God.
I think the future (really, the present) is extraordinarily hopeful! I can only speak for my diocese, but the slow-but-steady growth in faithful families, single young adults and college students, and priests and religious is nothing short of extraordinary. The Holy Spirit is powerfully at work in the Church, and I only mentioned the active-priest-to-active-parishioner ratio to highlight that we all need to live out our Baptismal Priesthood more faithfully and help each other to do the same - you know, like, offline.
I am actually more positive then you think, because the new generation of priests is more inspiring to kids like my own than previous generations. My point is good priests are needed to energize young people and new vocations. The circle will get smaller if there is not enough of them. There is a young priest chaplain at my kid's high school who, simply by being a good priest, is much more influential to the students than all the lay teachers are, no matter how holy or good educators they are. Lay people simply can never be equal to that task.
I really want this to be true because I raised a seminarian. ;) However, SO many of the young men my son knows are either college or adult converts to the faith, or had “conversion” (in quotations to distinguish from actual converts to the faith) experiences as young adults after being raised not attending Mass regularly, or didn’t have familial support for their vocations. So I’m not sure if “good families raise priests” is even necessarily true in the majority of cases. It CAN be true, obviously! But sometimes adversity brings about conversion and it’s there that vocations occur.
I think both things can be true! Today’s seminarians (as well as the past couple generations of seminarians) were raised in families and catechetical environments that were more likely to have been formed in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, with all that that implies about the practice of the faith in most families, how well their parents were catechized and able to pass on the faith, etc. So it makes sense that there would be more seminarians who had a story of “had a conversion or reversion experience.” As things change going forward, it MAY start to be true that a higher percentage of vocations may start to come from a background of “received good catechesis in a Catholic family and community.” I guess we’ll see!
Obviously I do know it can be true; we practice the faith seriously and raised a seminarian. But anecdotally, most of his classmates and friends he met while discerning didn’t have that kind of background. One had been an emancipated minor, several have families that were opposed to the vocation, at least two were adult converts to the faith, and A LOT were raised in very nice families that just didn’t attend Mass that frequently. YES there are also some who are from practicing Catholic families including a few homeschool graduates. But they are the exception, not the rule.
Totally. And after writing that first response, it did occur to me that it is naive to think that now, the majority of seminarians would come from super devout, practicing families because we know that over time, the number of those practicing the faith has… gone down. Luckily we do know that God provides through so many different avenues, even unexpected or rare ones!
Absolutely! (I think we cross-posted a moment ago.) It is actually REALLY cool to see who these men are, where they come from, and the path that led them to the priesthood. Just so awe-inspiring.
Also these young men are all under the age of about 26 so primarily born around, or slightly before or after, the year 2000. Most were children or young teens during the Benedict pontificate, which I think many people consider the JPII-Benedict years as a period of fruitfulness, growth, and inspiration back to orthodox & serious practice of the faith. So, I guess I’m thinking, a man’s path to the priesthood is born from his own experience and encounter with Christ, not simply his parents’. I think it’s complex and nuanced. The Pillar reported a few months ago on the situation with homeschoolers in San Diego and mentioned that around 10-12% of newly ordained priests had been homeschooled, and data indicates that number could rise as high as 20% of ordinands in the coming years. So that DOES point to the phenomenon of faithful families raising priests, which I definitely see. I just also see that the other 85% or so have REALLY varied backgrounds and it’s not so simple. That’s my main point from observing the men my son knows.
Hence families/communities, college catholic centers are where many young adults (including myself) experience true community for the first time. I anecdotally know some "late bloomer" seminarians/priests but it takes a special type of man to leave all of his possessions behind.
You're exactly right, Father! And the statistic that really matters when calculating priest ratios is the Mass attendance rate in the diocese. When that number is known, all the ratios look different, and the patterns look different too.
Here in Australia we are more in danger of running out of laity than of priests.
Interesting point about the ease of importing priests, Father. I clicked through to the report and I found it extremely interesting that the “Tier 3” dioceses (100,000-300,000 Catholics living within the diocese) had both the most vocations AND the most extern priests—with extern priests serving in 955 parishes, compared with only 717 parishes in Tier 1 dioceses (those with more than 750,000 Catholics) being staffed by extern priests and even fewer in Tier 2 (300k-750k Catholics) and Tier 4 (fewer than 100k Catholics) dioceses. It just seems that a well-staffed, amply ministered diocese thrives (if vocation numbers are a sign of thriving).
It’s complicated. In most agreement with all of the very very positive and encouragement statements in this thread, especially on the importance of adoration and availability of the sacraments…. It’s in contrast to where I live in Arlington Diocese where there is both immense good and attention to parish formation. I could help the diocese start up at least six new over-capacity parishes just for all of the people who want to come back but feel unsafe here, and I am absolutely overwhelmed with people reaching out to share their horror stories of being pushed out of their parish because they didn’t fit the mold of a compliant and politically conservative person. So as someone who loves the Latin Mass and am conservative, I’m also gay and know just how awful we can be to one another here. FWIW it’s been 12 hours since someone last reached out to me from that diocese for help.
It sounds like you are in a position to do a lot of good for a number of disenfranchised individuals. It's only anecdotal and on the opposite side of the spectrum, but I have a friend who was argued out of a bible study on her first appearance by boys who couldn't conceive of a woman going hunting.
I would hope there would be at least one sympathetic pastor in the area for you and your friends to congregate around. It doesn't justify the exclusivity you've experienced, but I would imagine there is an even greater need for "non-conformative" community than is otherwise known. A good pastor would recognize the need for this and support some sort of initiative.
Cincinnati’s ordination numbers are the best in all the Tier 2 dioceses (97% of “replacement rate”), so you’ve got that going for you there. The other thing to consider is priests don’t ONLY minister to practicing parishioners. They get sick calls, do marriage prep (and many other things I’m sure I’m overlooking) for people who don’t regularly attend Mass.
They may be ministering to people who have never been members of the Church. One of my colleagues circa 1990 approached local priests to explore the Catholic faith. My previous parish priest was a regular on the local radio station's weekly religious program. He had no direct idea of who his words were reaching. Half an hour after the news of Pope Benedict's resignation broke, he had the local BBC journalist on the phone seeking instant comment. Mercifully a parishioner had already rung to tell him the hot news, so he had been granted a few minutes to Google for an explanation. It lall took some of his limited time.
That is a really interesting observation as well. A priest’s influence and responsibility extend well beyond the laity who actually show up for Mass on a regular basis. I have to try not to think about the enormity of this task too much or I get kind of freaked out for my son’s future (provided that he completes seminary and is ordained, obviously).
Fort Wayne-South Bend's numbers won't look so hot for the next decade studied. We had two massive (for us) classes of seven men and two classes of five ordained in the period studied, and that cleaned out our cupboard quite a bit. We have a group of five set to be ordained deacons this summer, and after that, class sizes drop to onesies and twosies — and nones. I think 2028 is the year where we're on track to not have an ordination to the priesthood at all, Kyrie eleison.
In my interactions with many of our recently ordained, I have found them to be young men striving greatly for holiness and eager to help the flocks in their care grow in holiness as well.
Some of them are even Pillar readers (In A Good Way).
We used to have parishes doing weekly adoration for vocations advertised in Today's Catholic and maybe I'm not reading it closely enough but I haven't noticed it for some time.
Clearly many factors are in play. I would be interested in whether there are Catholic High Schools staffed by priests in dioceses with a good number of vocations?
But one factor that might be explored: I have yet to meet a young priest or seminarian who says his vocation was inspired by the current Bishop of Rome.
Truth. At least in this country (USA), there is no “Francis wave of vocations” as I remember some people anticipating gleefully back in 2013. It might have something to do with the constant stream of criticisms and insults aimed at his brother priests.
No, there never will be. Francis is a swim against the current kind of guy. That works heroically well in poorer, less powerful countries, with limited rule of law & where the Church is community. Massimo Faggioli has written a number of times all of the Francis style personalities have popped up over the past 15 centuries & where they do well. The countries with the most power never appreciate that, until after they fell out of power or suffered serious wartime destruction.
It is more likely a result of the doctrinal chaos under Francis. If you take some of his statements literally, there is no need for the Church to exist, much less any need for anyone to devout his entire life to Her service. One of several examples is his 2017 preaching that everything will be saved.
I recall a priest (I think it was the late Edward Holloway) writing movingly circa 1980 about the threats to a priest's vocation. Doctrinal certainty was all important to a celibate priest. An Anglican vicar might endure the total doctrinal chaos all around him because he had the love of his wife and children.
Though size of the diocese matters, the most important factor is who the bishop is. The bronze medal Springfield, Illinois diocese is led by Bishop Paprocki, one of the most orthodox, outspoken, and dedicated bishops in the world. I used to live in Springfield 20 years ago when the Cathedral had only 30 minutes of confession on Saturday. Under Bishop Paprocki, there are confessions every evening 7 days a week with Saturday late morning as well. And most parishes now have confessions at least twice a week.
The gold winner Bishop Kemme was Paprocki's right hand man in Springfield before being named Bishop and Wichita has had a series of great bishops. The same can be said of many of the other successful dioceses, like Lincoln, Little Rock, Kansas City, Madison, etc, having excellent bishops who focus on vocations (the study does not include the many male and female religious order vocations the best dioceses also have).
A lot of these dioceses have a lot of vocations also thanks to prior bishops, like Wichita, Nashville, Lincoln, Madison, Arlington, Fort Wayne-South Bend, who promoted conservative and orthodox practices like a tabernacle behind the altar, the traditional Latin Mass, promoting only male altar servers, delegating some of their most dynamic priests to be chaplain at local university Newman Centers (like Father Schmitz at the University of Minnesota, Duluth).
In my diocese of Joliet, Illinois you can see how much a bishop matters. Many years ago we had Bishop Sartain who replaced a lackluster bishop and immediately started actively promoting vocations, personally having dinners and other events with small groups of young men or high school students discerning a vocation and hired an excellent priest as vocations director. We were having multiple ordinations every year. When Bishop Sartian left for Seattle, we got a bishop who was a nice man, but not very active. The vocations started dropping a little.
Then came Bishop Hicks, a Cardinal Cupich protege, who is known by his priests as "Bishop Hide and Seek" because he can never be reached by them unless he chooses to call them with his restricted phone number so they cannot call him back. Not only have vocations fallen, but several excellent seminarians have left in the last 3 years, including some who were forced to leave because they were considered too conservative. But the bishops elected Bishop Hicks as chair of the USCCB committee for the clergy and vocations, which shows they can be easily fooled by the extroverted, pleasant personality of Bishop Hicks instead of looking at what he has actually done, decreased vocations to a trickle. The only thing that is good is that his vocations director is a dedicated, solid priest, but this even shows more how it is the bishop, not the vocations director, who matters most.
More than once you have made these claims about Bishop Hicks. I don't know how we can trust the veracity of your statements, and they also sound uncharitable. It would be wiser and more in keeping with Christian charity, to leave such comments out of your remarks. I also live in the Joliet Diocese and have heard much that contradicts your claims.
I personally met a seminarian at a high school fundraising gala who was very good who asked me to pray for him because Bishop Hicks was throwing him out for his conservative views and he did. Two more seminarians left who were some of the most holy men I had ever met. One orthodox priest was sent for "sensitivity" training because he called certain behaviors like homosexual acts sinful. I know another priest with major health problems because of mold in his rectory which the diocese refused to fix who has not been able to meet or even talk to Bishop Hicks for over 3 months. Yet I have been told by the Bishop's vicar for clergy that a couple elderly priests, the pastor and his associate, in my parish can continue to refuse giving Communion on the tongue because the diocese does not have enough priests, when seminarians are thrown out and younger priests are on the verge of leaving the diocese because of Bishop Hick's actions.
When Bishop Hicks is charitable to his priests, I will be nicer writing about him. Otherwise, I will criticize him because of righteous indignation, knowing that those priests and seminarians cannot defend themselves.
Interesting analysis. The super-low number for Beaumont stuck out to me- my in-laws are there and I will note that demographics are working against the diocese in a huge way- Beaumont at large has a retention problem with its young people. It’s an issue that I’m sure is not unique to Beaumont but is definitely present there. Young people go to college out of town and have no economic or cultural/lifestyle incentive to return. Having some experience with the area, I’m guessing Scranton, PA struggles similarly.
Interesting that 3 out of the 4 diocese listed over 750000 Catholics, that have higher vocations have Redemptoris Mater Seminaries. Dallas, Philadelphia, and Newark!
I feel this article, deeply. I am a former (minor) seminarian for Grand Rapids, from about 20 years ago. In those days, we were at the tail-end of a nice-but-weak bishop who paid very little attention to the vocations office. The long-time vocations director very clearly hated his job -- he wanted to be in parish ministry but he had a heart attack young and wasn't allowed back in parishes. This VD was "of the type" who policed the ideology of new recruits. We had lots of interest in the vocations program but one-by-one, they'd be channeled out of it.
The current bishop, David Walkowiak, has prioritized vocational formation. He channels younger priests into the VD role with some overlap and turnover. He's invested in the process and there's greater transparency into what's happening in the Vocations Office. So, we're seeing more "stickiness" from the pre-seminary journey toward ordination.
We tend to look at trajectories of vocations as being a function of the culture. And that might be true to an extent. But the staffing and prioritization of the vocations offices is a much bigger factor. If you invest the time and try new things, you'll get results. If you let the vocations office be run by tired old cynics with an agenda, you'll also get results -- just not the ones you might have prayed for.
This is a really cool article. Well done. Let’s not forget we need to support our priests. They feel a lot of pressure to feel perfect, but shouldn’t. And that starts with the parishioners knowing our priests and accompanying them, and not just inviting them to the Super Bowl watch party or for dinner every now and then.
I like the idea of accompaniment but in practice I never know what the word means (for calibration, I have never in my post-college life invited another adult to my house for anything that was not basically mandatory).
Alcoholism among priests 10 years post ordination appears to be increasing. Anecdotally of course. There’s several incidents in this region I’m thinking of now, and in every case the priest goes into overdrive on Sunday morning to be sober, alert, charming. How different would it be if the parishioners knew? Would they rush to his assistance? Would the priest have more room for healing if he could simply say “I’m struggling and you don’t see it. But I am.”
Holiness is not a state of being, but a state of becoming. If we think of anyone as “holy” or “not holy” then there is no accompaniment. If we understand ourselves as being on a messy road toward becoming all that God made us for, you not only create accompaniment but virtue too.
I agree, we had an alcoholic priest friend who struggled mightily with it. He was a good priest, who even was picked by the bishop to take over a difficult parish where he was able to fix things very well.
But I would say only his friends should know that, meaning those parishioners who truly love him. Unfortunately, many parishioners would simply despise having a "drunkard priest" and just write to the bishop seeking a replacement. I have noticed, also by the way people judge priests for anything on this site, that people all too often want the priest to forgive them, but will never forgive a priest for his sins.
Hands down, a priest who overcomes addictions has better homilies and is a better confessor than anyone else. The problem is when we try to judge someone holy or not holy. That’s nonsense, and a perfect place for hiding. Accompaniment is only possible when we all understand that each of us is on a messy road to becoming holy. That it’s a process. Then the bishop will have fewer emails to answer because the parishioners are busy ministering to their priest, in mutual gratitude.
I keep wondering how many of the problems priests have are related to not having support. Most of them are in a parish on their own, or multiple parishes on their own, with no brother priests to back them up. It's gotta drive the stress levels up.
I've talked with a priest who is at a parish with 2 other priests, and he said that the biggest factor in determining where the priests went was matching personalities so that there would be "peace in the home", because looking out for the daily welfare of the priests makes such a big difference in them being able to minister well.
Good thinking. Cuts down on the vampire incidents. :)
Seriously though, accompaniment is a word that I've been struggling to put into practice recently. It seems like it has become one of the choice buzzword's of our currant pontificate. Much has been made about "walking with others/outsiders," and many an internet argument has been made about which path is being walked down (narrow v wide).
What I don't hear about is accompaniment with priests. How is this done beyond the casual meal invite? As laity, we are not in a position to be someone that they would, typically, look to spiritual or social direction. It's one of those boundaries between clergy and universal priesthood that wasn't shattered by V2.
With that in mind, who do they turn to other than their bishop or other priests? What does that mean in a diocese where one or more of those parties is hostile? We can pray for them, but the yearning to do more remains because it is not our place to affect change.
It’s not a natural theological term in the USA and other English speaking countries because we tend to make theological terms too clear, too rigid. The hyper emphasis on canon law here (which is still a critical discipline) has infantilized Catholic theology in America. Holiness is a process of becoming all that we were made for by God. It’s a mutual journey, not a priest ministering to his people. But a two way street with respect for their dignity and different mission. We also teach “virtue” differently in English. Think of the most beautiful gold tile in a mosaic. It only becomes more itself through its proper relationship with the other tiles. In other words, as we often judge priests on chastity….sitting in your room and thinking/doing nothing is not chastity. That’s just avoiding lust. Chastity requires an orientation of willing the good for the other tiles around us, attempting to hold up their mutual dignity. And to foster that, the people must become close to their priests in intimate, but non sexual ways. We must offer our gifts to our priests.
You also can’t make someone be friends with you. They will select their own community based on affinity. So in practice, “accompanying” a priest does seem hard because you can’t just march in there and be like, “Hey, buddy, I’m here to be your support system & confidant.”
Yes, befriending priests (and nuns) you know is important and has mutual benefits for everyone. When I was growing up my parents would often invite priests over and my wife and I have done the same thing. How about inviting them to a game or theater with you. You are not only doing something good for someone without whom (through the Sacraments they administer) you could not achieve salvation, but you benefit so much from them on a personal level, as there is nothing better than the candid advice of priests who know they can tell you the truth as a friend without offending you.
I remember how I was thinking about going to a certain Catholic college where I had a scholarship when our priest friend secretly told my mother (since the gay priest mafia could have destroyed him at that time) that that college is infested with abusive homosexual priests. Several years later a scandal broke out that proved he was right. I went to a state university instead and the same priest, disabled, wheelchair bound from a stroke, was so overjoyed when my kids visited him in his retirement home and became friends with them as well. He did everything possible to have a friend transport him to my son's First Holy Communion 4 hours away, and my son was adamant in serving as an altar server at his funeral several months later. Nothing ever beats a friendship with a priest or nun.
This can have positive externalities for vocations, too. Not only does Father feel encouraged and supported in living his vocation, but the children of the families who befriend him will benefit as well- growing up knowing priests (and as another commenter said, sisters) as people leads to viewing the priesthood or religious life as a viable life choice.
The first thing I noticed about the numbers was that 8 of the 10 lowest vocation rate large dioceses are heavily hispanic. I don't know what to make of that, if anything.
I'm not surprised. This report doesn't have such data, but elsewhere it seems that vocations overwhelming come from middle class families who at least one parent had a college education. The exceptions being mostly rural, farming communities.
Actually, even the successful dioceses tend to have a good percentage of Latino seminarians, and in some religious orders the Latino seminarians dominate in numbers. The Latino communities face a lot of problems with their young men being exposed to a lot of vices and addictions more than in white communities, but one thing I can say is that most Latino families still retain a deep respect for priests and support their sons if they have a vocation, something I cannot say about other American families following the priestly scandals of the recent past.
Brian: Since I am a pastor in one of those dioceses you mention with a multi-cultural parish of 8,000 families (Mexican, Filippino, Gringo/Anglo) and as a fellow who used to work in vocations, I will tell you that this has always been the case. If, by Hispanic, you mean Mexican, I will remark that there has been a long-standing problem (50 years plus) with the Roman Catholic bishops in the US trying to attract Mexican and Mexican-American candidates to serve as diocesan priests. The spoken complaint is usually centered the problem of what is called "ambiente" in the seminary and in the rectory which is pretty much what it sounds like in the English translation: a lack of ambience for the Mexican outlook of ecclesiology in the seminary and ensuing pastoral life. But, an unspoken issue is the pressure on a Mexican candidate to provide grandkids to the parents. Many Mexican parents (in the US and in Mexico) actively discourage their sons from thinking about the priesthood especially if they don't yet have grandkids. As time goes on, and as adjustments are made in our seminaries to be more welcoming to non-Gringo seminarians, we are definitely attracting more and more Mexican and Mexican-American (and a few other Hispanic-national candidates) but it is a long and slow process, made even longer with the recently added years of formation in the new PPF. Most guys can expect to spend 8 years in the seminary now, post baccalaureate! And, they end up with a lousy MA/M.Div for all that work.
I would draw a different conclusion. Find an 8 year old. Find two copies of a map of the United States that shows every diocese in the United States. Have the eight year old color in the diocese in the first list on one map; and the second list on the other map. A conclusion would be fairly obvious.
It comes to the rather obvious conclusion that diocese where the majority of Catholics have an ancestry that is from countries that have historically not produced large numbers of priestly vocations ... tend not to produce large numbers of priestly vocations.
NYC throws a bit of a wrench in the works of that theory, doesn’t it?
Actually .... no.
It fits the model.
As a former seminarian for the Diocese of Wichita, I can tell you that Adoration is cited by nearly everyone (including myself) as a major factor in their vocation or decision to attend seminary. Nearly every parish has perpetual adoration, so we can get to adoration anytime we want. Vocations are fostered by the still small voice that we encounter with our Lord in the adoration chapel. Just my 2 cents.
It would be interesting to see a vocation comparison based on availability of Mass, Confession, and adoration/unlocked church rather than the size of the diocese or the priest/parishioner ratio. Especially since those are things most parishes can increase.
And adoration is even more fruitful when it is held for an hour after Mass for the intention of vocations.
Am I correct in remembering that Wichita also has a tithing-based system for Catholic school tuition? If so, that is one of the only things I know about the diocese but it came to mind- if the Catholic schools are good, and if more families can afford to send their kids to them rather than public schools, I can see that with other factors, like access to adoration as you say, the schools would help to bolster the Catholic population in the area and support the vocations of the young people of the diocese.
I believe they are a stewardship diocese, yes.
New term for me. Perplexity:
A "stewardship diocese" in Catholicism refers to a diocese that prioritizes and integrates the principles of Christian stewardship into its mission, governance, and parish life. Stewardship, as defined by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, is a way of life rooted in gratitude for God's gifts, which involves receiving these gifts gratefully, cultivating them responsibly, sharing them generously, and returning them to God with increase. This concept is central to discipleship and the Church's mission.
Key characteristics of a stewardship diocese include:
1. **Promotion of Stewardship as a Way of Life**: The diocese encourages personal and communal conversion to stewardship through prayer, education, and formation. This includes fostering a culture where parishioners commit their time, talent, and treasure to the Church's mission[1][2][6].
2. **Integration into Parish and Diocesan Activities**: Stewardship principles are incorporated into fundraising, volunteer recruitment, budgetary decisions, and accountability measures. Parishes are encouraged to conduct annual appeals and provide opportunities for spiritual growth and service[1][5].
3. **Focus on the Four Pillars of Stewardship**: These pillars—hospitality, prayer, formation, and service—guide parishes in creating welcoming communities, nurturing faith through sacraments and education, and serving both parishioners and the broader community[6].
4. **Long-term Commitment**: A stewardship diocese commits to fostering stewardship as an ongoing journey rather than a one-time initiative. This involves supporting parish leaders and laity in embracing stewardship practices[1][7].
The Diocese of Wichita is often cited as a model stewardship diocese due to its comprehensive approach to integrating these principles into all aspects of diocesan life[2][6].
Citations:
[1] https://www.dioceseofboise.org/stewardship
[2] https://charlestondiocese.org/office-of-stewardship-and-mission-advancement/the-spirituality-of-stewardship/
[3] https://charlestondiocese.org/office-of-stewardship-and-mission-advancement/
[4] https://dioceseofraleigh.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Booklet-StewardshipADisciplesResponse.pdf
[5] https://www.advancementfoundation.org/starting-parish-stewardship
[6] https://worcesterdiocese.org/the-4-pillars-of-stewardship
[7] https://catholicfdn.org/stewardship
[8] https://grdiocese.org/ministries/stewardship/
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Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share
Gosh maybe I’ve been using the term incorrectly or too loosely. Apparently very technical haha.
Yeah that is probably a big factor as well. Our schools are tithing based, (8% to your parish, 2% to a charity of your choice) so whether you have 1 kid in school or 10 that covers all of their "tuition." And they aren't really strict on this, some very poor families pay little or nothing to go to Catholic schools here. Also I know a lot of the teachers around the diocese and they take the faith seriously, which does not seem to be the case in a lot of places, especially bigger cities.
my pastor is asking parishioners to give at least 2.5% to the parish if they aren't already, and we didn't have a budget deficit last year. I imagine that if many families with students are able to do 8%, it helps cover the costs for those who are unable to.
And by the prayers of the Adorers asking for vocations in their parish and diocese. My parish has perpetual Adoration, and I am convinced that one little room is the 1,200 horse power engine that showers our entire community with blessings.
How many families are there in an average parish in Wichita, such that you can sustain perpetual Adoration at them without major coverage gaps?
Not sure exactly. My parish has about 600 families but it's one of the smaller parishes in the city itself. We have a couple coverage gaps, but I think it's Tuesday and 2 am and Wednesday at 3 am, so not too bad. A lot of the rural parishes are smaller but they also don't have perpetual adoration.
Parish sizes in our diocese vary widely since its boundary covers all of SE KS, which includes many rural parishes as well as the larger parishes in the city of Wichita. What is interesting is that while it is mainly the larger parishes that are able to sustain perpetual adoration, some of the smaller ones do as well.
Many of the smaller parishes, such as the one I grew up in with 200-300 families, still hold adoration a few days a week, Mon.-Thurs, etc. My parish started at 3 days and grew to five over 15 years and now is building a dedicated adoration chapel to move out of an extra room in the parish hall.
The Bishop at the head of a diocese makes all the difference. Young men considering a diocesan priestly vocation will seek out a Bishop whom they respect and trust, and a Bishop who has already succeeded in recruiting other young and faithful vocations. "Nothing succeeds like success."
Good morning, Brian, I think there is credence to your comment but I don’t think it’s the ideal. The man who fills the Office of Bishop is temporary, the promise of respect and obedience to him and his successors remains. A young man ought to be encouraged to discern the diocese (or order) that he is committing his life to more than the man who is the bishop at the time. A friend of mine joined seminary under one bishop, was ordained by the next Bishop, and now completes his third year with another as his Ordinary. Bishops can help make or break a culture which fosters vocations, but I hope they are not the sole source of that culture, nor the pivotal point of discernment.
You’ll get no argument from me. Thanks, Father!
Some years ago, a friend of mine who is a top-rate Catholic economics scholar wanted to study why certain dioceses have more vocations and other ones have fewer. He initially suspected that the bishop's orthodoxy was the main driver, so he did his research based on based on each bishop's "stated" orthodoxy. To do this, the only variable he could figure to use was based on which publications the bishops wrote for; I think the two were "America" versus "HPR". In any event, he got a sample and went to work. What he found was surprising; he learned that the bishop was indeed important, but also that smaller dioceses population-wise are doing much better with vocations, even ones not in traditionally Roman Catholic areas like the South. Size of diocese was not the initial focal point of his research, but this was his conclusion: you want more diocesan vocations? Divide large dioceses into smaller ones.
I don't live in the deep south and only know a few seminarians and priests from that region, so I'm an outsider, but it seems like there's a fair number of Catholic converts and that those smaller dioceses in areas that are traditionally baptist/non-denom have a great missionary, evangelical spirit. But it's still not the same for all of the south. I was on a trip in the diocese of Knoxville a while back and they have some seminarians and younger priests, but lots of parish mergers and not a lot of Adoration and confession times are available because of the shortage of priests.
They needed a bishop removal which helped contribute to their priest shortage. Hopefully they are now healing from their former difficulties.
I will add that the ordinary of a large archdiocese often becomes distant from his people with many unneeded layers of bureaucracy and loads of auxiliaries too. The whole idea of a bishop is to be the pastoral leader not only of his priests, but his people too. For an archbishop with, say, 1200 priests, 350 parishes and 250 schools, he will be lucky if he makes one visit to each place over a ten-year period and he will certainly never get to know each of his priests on a by name basis. Canon 396 states a bishop is obliged to visit the diocese annually either in whole or in part, so that he visits the entire diocese a minimum of every five years. Some guys in bigger dioceses can't even pull this off.
I get it that there are always going to be large archdioceses. But it would be a good move to take a look at some of our very largest dioceses and consider splitting them up into manageable pieces as other major archdioceses elsewhere in the world have done, i.e. Manila, Mexico City, and Rio. The benefits far outweigh the costs of creating new dioceses, especially with regard to attracting more vocations.
New York, New York: 23%
Rockville Center, New York: 33%
Both bankrupt, both under the same metropolitan Archbishop.
Perhaps he should spend less time campaigning for US presidents and more time nurturing vocations. Not much time left until he turns 75 though (February 6).
Agreed. A bishop with such a huge diocese cannot be a father to his priests. At best he could appoint auxiliaries who are another layer between him and the front line clergy. It must be all the more difficult to spot early signs of trouble before they spiral out of control. And a priest with such a remote bishop must be all the more reluctant to approach him for help and advice. His Grace is always so busy....
Seeing the Archdiocese of Las Vegas's numbers matches something I've felt since moving to the state: Nevada is difficult soil for the faith.
Sounds like something the Pillar should send Michelle La Rosa to investigate.
These maga churches are so impersonal and don’t have a community building effect.
I agree. And I think the same is true for the mega churches.
I see what you did there.
I'd change one variable in the research, though. Rather than comparing active priests to number of Lay Faithful, the active priests should be compared to REGULARLY PRACTICING Faithful. In the Cinci Archdiocese, we have about 500,000 Catholics on the books, but around 110,000 Catholics who practice. That paints a wildly different picture, as I'm sure it would for many other dioceses. Once again, I think the numbers indicate the "priest shortage" has far less to do with ordained priests (in many cases), and far more to do with the Baptismal Priesthood.
Agreed, it’s easy to blame the lack of priests on the lack of priests, but that gets us nowhere. Good families/communities are what enable young men/women to respond to the call.
Yes, but good priests often inspire and encourage the development of good Catholic families which then tend to have more vocations to the priesthood. Fewer good priests, fewer good families, fewer new priests, like a circle steadily getting smaller.
The Holy Spirit is constantly at work revitalizing the Church. To assent to the "circle getting smaller" outlook is to despair in the ongoing action of the Almighty and a reduction of the mystery of vocation to deterministic predictors.
Good, personable, attractive priests are often the catalyst and locus of revival but putting the blame on the clergy (and pressure on seminarians not to "quit") does nothing to grow vocations and can often stifle them. There is plenty of room for the lay faithful to participate in the saving action of the Church and more access to catechetical resources than ever before. The future is hopeful because Christ is present in the Church today as he was in Galilee. Despair is never the work of God.
I think the future (really, the present) is extraordinarily hopeful! I can only speak for my diocese, but the slow-but-steady growth in faithful families, single young adults and college students, and priests and religious is nothing short of extraordinary. The Holy Spirit is powerfully at work in the Church, and I only mentioned the active-priest-to-active-parishioner ratio to highlight that we all need to live out our Baptismal Priesthood more faithfully and help each other to do the same - you know, like, offline.
I am actually more positive then you think, because the new generation of priests is more inspiring to kids like my own than previous generations. My point is good priests are needed to energize young people and new vocations. The circle will get smaller if there is not enough of them. There is a young priest chaplain at my kid's high school who, simply by being a good priest, is much more influential to the students than all the lay teachers are, no matter how holy or good educators they are. Lay people simply can never be equal to that task.
I really want this to be true because I raised a seminarian. ;) However, SO many of the young men my son knows are either college or adult converts to the faith, or had “conversion” (in quotations to distinguish from actual converts to the faith) experiences as young adults after being raised not attending Mass regularly, or didn’t have familial support for their vocations. So I’m not sure if “good families raise priests” is even necessarily true in the majority of cases. It CAN be true, obviously! But sometimes adversity brings about conversion and it’s there that vocations occur.
I think both things can be true! Today’s seminarians (as well as the past couple generations of seminarians) were raised in families and catechetical environments that were more likely to have been formed in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, with all that that implies about the practice of the faith in most families, how well their parents were catechized and able to pass on the faith, etc. So it makes sense that there would be more seminarians who had a story of “had a conversion or reversion experience.” As things change going forward, it MAY start to be true that a higher percentage of vocations may start to come from a background of “received good catechesis in a Catholic family and community.” I guess we’ll see!
Obviously I do know it can be true; we practice the faith seriously and raised a seminarian. But anecdotally, most of his classmates and friends he met while discerning didn’t have that kind of background. One had been an emancipated minor, several have families that were opposed to the vocation, at least two were adult converts to the faith, and A LOT were raised in very nice families that just didn’t attend Mass that frequently. YES there are also some who are from practicing Catholic families including a few homeschool graduates. But they are the exception, not the rule.
Totally. And after writing that first response, it did occur to me that it is naive to think that now, the majority of seminarians would come from super devout, practicing families because we know that over time, the number of those practicing the faith has… gone down. Luckily we do know that God provides through so many different avenues, even unexpected or rare ones!
Absolutely! (I think we cross-posted a moment ago.) It is actually REALLY cool to see who these men are, where they come from, and the path that led them to the priesthood. Just so awe-inspiring.
Also these young men are all under the age of about 26 so primarily born around, or slightly before or after, the year 2000. Most were children or young teens during the Benedict pontificate, which I think many people consider the JPII-Benedict years as a period of fruitfulness, growth, and inspiration back to orthodox & serious practice of the faith. So, I guess I’m thinking, a man’s path to the priesthood is born from his own experience and encounter with Christ, not simply his parents’. I think it’s complex and nuanced. The Pillar reported a few months ago on the situation with homeschoolers in San Diego and mentioned that around 10-12% of newly ordained priests had been homeschooled, and data indicates that number could rise as high as 20% of ordinands in the coming years. So that DOES point to the phenomenon of faithful families raising priests, which I definitely see. I just also see that the other 85% or so have REALLY varied backgrounds and it’s not so simple. That’s my main point from observing the men my son knows.
Hence families/communities, college catholic centers are where many young adults (including myself) experience true community for the first time. I anecdotally know some "late bloomer" seminarians/priests but it takes a special type of man to leave all of his possessions behind.
Yeah. Especially with how easy it is to import priests, I think the real danger we are facing as a Church is a parishioner shortage.
You're exactly right, Father! And the statistic that really matters when calculating priest ratios is the Mass attendance rate in the diocese. When that number is known, all the ratios look different, and the patterns look different too.
Here in Australia we are more in danger of running out of laity than of priests.
Interesting point about the ease of importing priests, Father. I clicked through to the report and I found it extremely interesting that the “Tier 3” dioceses (100,000-300,000 Catholics living within the diocese) had both the most vocations AND the most extern priests—with extern priests serving in 955 parishes, compared with only 717 parishes in Tier 1 dioceses (those with more than 750,000 Catholics) being staffed by extern priests and even fewer in Tier 2 (300k-750k Catholics) and Tier 4 (fewer than 100k Catholics) dioceses. It just seems that a well-staffed, amply ministered diocese thrives (if vocation numbers are a sign of thriving).
It’s complicated. In most agreement with all of the very very positive and encouragement statements in this thread, especially on the importance of adoration and availability of the sacraments…. It’s in contrast to where I live in Arlington Diocese where there is both immense good and attention to parish formation. I could help the diocese start up at least six new over-capacity parishes just for all of the people who want to come back but feel unsafe here, and I am absolutely overwhelmed with people reaching out to share their horror stories of being pushed out of their parish because they didn’t fit the mold of a compliant and politically conservative person. So as someone who loves the Latin Mass and am conservative, I’m also gay and know just how awful we can be to one another here. FWIW it’s been 12 hours since someone last reached out to me from that diocese for help.
It sounds like you are in a position to do a lot of good for a number of disenfranchised individuals. It's only anecdotal and on the opposite side of the spectrum, but I have a friend who was argued out of a bible study on her first appearance by boys who couldn't conceive of a woman going hunting.
I would hope there would be at least one sympathetic pastor in the area for you and your friends to congregate around. It doesn't justify the exclusivity you've experienced, but I would imagine there is an even greater need for "non-conformative" community than is otherwise known. A good pastor would recognize the need for this and support some sort of initiative.
Cincinnati’s ordination numbers are the best in all the Tier 2 dioceses (97% of “replacement rate”), so you’ve got that going for you there. The other thing to consider is priests don’t ONLY minister to practicing parishioners. They get sick calls, do marriage prep (and many other things I’m sure I’m overlooking) for people who don’t regularly attend Mass.
They may be ministering to people who have never been members of the Church. One of my colleagues circa 1990 approached local priests to explore the Catholic faith. My previous parish priest was a regular on the local radio station's weekly religious program. He had no direct idea of who his words were reaching. Half an hour after the news of Pope Benedict's resignation broke, he had the local BBC journalist on the phone seeking instant comment. Mercifully a parishioner had already rung to tell him the hot news, so he had been granted a few minutes to Google for an explanation. It lall took some of his limited time.
That is a really interesting observation as well. A priest’s influence and responsibility extend well beyond the laity who actually show up for Mass on a regular basis. I have to try not to think about the enormity of this task too much or I get kind of freaked out for my son’s future (provided that he completes seminary and is ordained, obviously).
Fort Wayne-South Bend's numbers won't look so hot for the next decade studied. We had two massive (for us) classes of seven men and two classes of five ordained in the period studied, and that cleaned out our cupboard quite a bit. We have a group of five set to be ordained deacons this summer, and after that, class sizes drop to onesies and twosies — and nones. I think 2028 is the year where we're on track to not have an ordination to the priesthood at all, Kyrie eleison.
In my interactions with many of our recently ordained, I have found them to be young men striving greatly for holiness and eager to help the flocks in their care grow in holiness as well.
Some of them are even Pillar readers (In A Good Way).
We used to have parishes doing weekly adoration for vocations advertised in Today's Catholic and maybe I'm not reading it closely enough but I haven't noticed it for some time.
Clearly many factors are in play. I would be interested in whether there are Catholic High Schools staffed by priests in dioceses with a good number of vocations?
But one factor that might be explored: I have yet to meet a young priest or seminarian who says his vocation was inspired by the current Bishop of Rome.
Truth. At least in this country (USA), there is no “Francis wave of vocations” as I remember some people anticipating gleefully back in 2013. It might have something to do with the constant stream of criticisms and insults aimed at his brother priests.
No, there never will be. Francis is a swim against the current kind of guy. That works heroically well in poorer, less powerful countries, with limited rule of law & where the Church is community. Massimo Faggioli has written a number of times all of the Francis style personalities have popped up over the past 15 centuries & where they do well. The countries with the most power never appreciate that, until after they fell out of power or suffered serious wartime destruction.
That's interesting. If you can recall, who are some of the other personalities Massimo identified as similar to Francis?
It is more likely a result of the doctrinal chaos under Francis. If you take some of his statements literally, there is no need for the Church to exist, much less any need for anyone to devout his entire life to Her service. One of several examples is his 2017 preaching that everything will be saved.
https://onepeterfive.com/worlds-end-update-last-things-according-francis/
I recall a priest (I think it was the late Edward Holloway) writing movingly circa 1980 about the threats to a priest's vocation. Doctrinal certainty was all important to a celibate priest. An Anglican vicar might endure the total doctrinal chaos all around him because he had the love of his wife and children.
Though size of the diocese matters, the most important factor is who the bishop is. The bronze medal Springfield, Illinois diocese is led by Bishop Paprocki, one of the most orthodox, outspoken, and dedicated bishops in the world. I used to live in Springfield 20 years ago when the Cathedral had only 30 minutes of confession on Saturday. Under Bishop Paprocki, there are confessions every evening 7 days a week with Saturday late morning as well. And most parishes now have confessions at least twice a week.
The gold winner Bishop Kemme was Paprocki's right hand man in Springfield before being named Bishop and Wichita has had a series of great bishops. The same can be said of many of the other successful dioceses, like Lincoln, Little Rock, Kansas City, Madison, etc, having excellent bishops who focus on vocations (the study does not include the many male and female religious order vocations the best dioceses also have).
A lot of these dioceses have a lot of vocations also thanks to prior bishops, like Wichita, Nashville, Lincoln, Madison, Arlington, Fort Wayne-South Bend, who promoted conservative and orthodox practices like a tabernacle behind the altar, the traditional Latin Mass, promoting only male altar servers, delegating some of their most dynamic priests to be chaplain at local university Newman Centers (like Father Schmitz at the University of Minnesota, Duluth).
In my diocese of Joliet, Illinois you can see how much a bishop matters. Many years ago we had Bishop Sartain who replaced a lackluster bishop and immediately started actively promoting vocations, personally having dinners and other events with small groups of young men or high school students discerning a vocation and hired an excellent priest as vocations director. We were having multiple ordinations every year. When Bishop Sartian left for Seattle, we got a bishop who was a nice man, but not very active. The vocations started dropping a little.
Then came Bishop Hicks, a Cardinal Cupich protege, who is known by his priests as "Bishop Hide and Seek" because he can never be reached by them unless he chooses to call them with his restricted phone number so they cannot call him back. Not only have vocations fallen, but several excellent seminarians have left in the last 3 years, including some who were forced to leave because they were considered too conservative. But the bishops elected Bishop Hicks as chair of the USCCB committee for the clergy and vocations, which shows they can be easily fooled by the extroverted, pleasant personality of Bishop Hicks instead of looking at what he has actually done, decreased vocations to a trickle. The only thing that is good is that his vocations director is a dedicated, solid priest, but this even shows more how it is the bishop, not the vocations director, who matters most.
Thomas,
More than once you have made these claims about Bishop Hicks. I don't know how we can trust the veracity of your statements, and they also sound uncharitable. It would be wiser and more in keeping with Christian charity, to leave such comments out of your remarks. I also live in the Joliet Diocese and have heard much that contradicts your claims.
I personally met a seminarian at a high school fundraising gala who was very good who asked me to pray for him because Bishop Hicks was throwing him out for his conservative views and he did. Two more seminarians left who were some of the most holy men I had ever met. One orthodox priest was sent for "sensitivity" training because he called certain behaviors like homosexual acts sinful. I know another priest with major health problems because of mold in his rectory which the diocese refused to fix who has not been able to meet or even talk to Bishop Hicks for over 3 months. Yet I have been told by the Bishop's vicar for clergy that a couple elderly priests, the pastor and his associate, in my parish can continue to refuse giving Communion on the tongue because the diocese does not have enough priests, when seminarians are thrown out and younger priests are on the verge of leaving the diocese because of Bishop Hick's actions.
When Bishop Hicks is charitable to his priests, I will be nicer writing about him. Otherwise, I will criticize him because of righteous indignation, knowing that those priests and seminarians cannot defend themselves.
Interesting analysis. The super-low number for Beaumont stuck out to me- my in-laws are there and I will note that demographics are working against the diocese in a huge way- Beaumont at large has a retention problem with its young people. It’s an issue that I’m sure is not unique to Beaumont but is definitely present there. Young people go to college out of town and have no economic or cultural/lifestyle incentive to return. Having some experience with the area, I’m guessing Scranton, PA struggles similarly.
I (a Pennsylvania resident) was thinking the same thing
Interesting that 3 out of the 4 diocese listed over 750000 Catholics, that have higher vocations have Redemptoris Mater Seminaries. Dallas, Philadelphia, and Newark!
We know several great priests from the RM seminary here in Dallas. I pray for their flourishing.
Love to see it
I feel this article, deeply. I am a former (minor) seminarian for Grand Rapids, from about 20 years ago. In those days, we were at the tail-end of a nice-but-weak bishop who paid very little attention to the vocations office. The long-time vocations director very clearly hated his job -- he wanted to be in parish ministry but he had a heart attack young and wasn't allowed back in parishes. This VD was "of the type" who policed the ideology of new recruits. We had lots of interest in the vocations program but one-by-one, they'd be channeled out of it.
The current bishop, David Walkowiak, has prioritized vocational formation. He channels younger priests into the VD role with some overlap and turnover. He's invested in the process and there's greater transparency into what's happening in the Vocations Office. So, we're seeing more "stickiness" from the pre-seminary journey toward ordination.
We tend to look at trajectories of vocations as being a function of the culture. And that might be true to an extent. But the staffing and prioritization of the vocations offices is a much bigger factor. If you invest the time and try new things, you'll get results. If you let the vocations office be run by tired old cynics with an agenda, you'll also get results -- just not the ones you might have prayed for.
This is a really cool article. Well done. Let’s not forget we need to support our priests. They feel a lot of pressure to feel perfect, but shouldn’t. And that starts with the parishioners knowing our priests and accompanying them, and not just inviting them to the Super Bowl watch party or for dinner every now and then.
I like the idea of accompaniment but in practice I never know what the word means (for calibration, I have never in my post-college life invited another adult to my house for anything that was not basically mandatory).
Alcoholism among priests 10 years post ordination appears to be increasing. Anecdotally of course. There’s several incidents in this region I’m thinking of now, and in every case the priest goes into overdrive on Sunday morning to be sober, alert, charming. How different would it be if the parishioners knew? Would they rush to his assistance? Would the priest have more room for healing if he could simply say “I’m struggling and you don’t see it. But I am.”
Holiness is not a state of being, but a state of becoming. If we think of anyone as “holy” or “not holy” then there is no accompaniment. If we understand ourselves as being on a messy road toward becoming all that God made us for, you not only create accompaniment but virtue too.
I agree, we had an alcoholic priest friend who struggled mightily with it. He was a good priest, who even was picked by the bishop to take over a difficult parish where he was able to fix things very well.
But I would say only his friends should know that, meaning those parishioners who truly love him. Unfortunately, many parishioners would simply despise having a "drunkard priest" and just write to the bishop seeking a replacement. I have noticed, also by the way people judge priests for anything on this site, that people all too often want the priest to forgive them, but will never forgive a priest for his sins.
Hands down, a priest who overcomes addictions has better homilies and is a better confessor than anyone else. The problem is when we try to judge someone holy or not holy. That’s nonsense, and a perfect place for hiding. Accompaniment is only possible when we all understand that each of us is on a messy road to becoming holy. That it’s a process. Then the bishop will have fewer emails to answer because the parishioners are busy ministering to their priest, in mutual gratitude.
I keep wondering how many of the problems priests have are related to not having support. Most of them are in a parish on their own, or multiple parishes on their own, with no brother priests to back them up. It's gotta drive the stress levels up.
I've talked with a priest who is at a parish with 2 other priests, and he said that the biggest factor in determining where the priests went was matching personalities so that there would be "peace in the home", because looking out for the daily welfare of the priests makes such a big difference in them being able to minister well.
Good thinking. Cuts down on the vampire incidents. :)
Seriously though, accompaniment is a word that I've been struggling to put into practice recently. It seems like it has become one of the choice buzzword's of our currant pontificate. Much has been made about "walking with others/outsiders," and many an internet argument has been made about which path is being walked down (narrow v wide).
What I don't hear about is accompaniment with priests. How is this done beyond the casual meal invite? As laity, we are not in a position to be someone that they would, typically, look to spiritual or social direction. It's one of those boundaries between clergy and universal priesthood that wasn't shattered by V2.
With that in mind, who do they turn to other than their bishop or other priests? What does that mean in a diocese where one or more of those parties is hostile? We can pray for them, but the yearning to do more remains because it is not our place to affect change.
It’s not a natural theological term in the USA and other English speaking countries because we tend to make theological terms too clear, too rigid. The hyper emphasis on canon law here (which is still a critical discipline) has infantilized Catholic theology in America. Holiness is a process of becoming all that we were made for by God. It’s a mutual journey, not a priest ministering to his people. But a two way street with respect for their dignity and different mission. We also teach “virtue” differently in English. Think of the most beautiful gold tile in a mosaic. It only becomes more itself through its proper relationship with the other tiles. In other words, as we often judge priests on chastity….sitting in your room and thinking/doing nothing is not chastity. That’s just avoiding lust. Chastity requires an orientation of willing the good for the other tiles around us, attempting to hold up their mutual dignity. And to foster that, the people must become close to their priests in intimate, but non sexual ways. We must offer our gifts to our priests.
You also can’t make someone be friends with you. They will select their own community based on affinity. So in practice, “accompanying” a priest does seem hard because you can’t just march in there and be like, “Hey, buddy, I’m here to be your support system & confidant.”
"I am HERE to join your private Dungeons & Dragons circle / lifting bros group chat / etc, with the rest of your laypeople friends"... :)
Glad to see someone else has thought of adding a priest to their adventuring party :)
Yes, befriending priests (and nuns) you know is important and has mutual benefits for everyone. When I was growing up my parents would often invite priests over and my wife and I have done the same thing. How about inviting them to a game or theater with you. You are not only doing something good for someone without whom (through the Sacraments they administer) you could not achieve salvation, but you benefit so much from them on a personal level, as there is nothing better than the candid advice of priests who know they can tell you the truth as a friend without offending you.
I remember how I was thinking about going to a certain Catholic college where I had a scholarship when our priest friend secretly told my mother (since the gay priest mafia could have destroyed him at that time) that that college is infested with abusive homosexual priests. Several years later a scandal broke out that proved he was right. I went to a state university instead and the same priest, disabled, wheelchair bound from a stroke, was so overjoyed when my kids visited him in his retirement home and became friends with them as well. He did everything possible to have a friend transport him to my son's First Holy Communion 4 hours away, and my son was adamant in serving as an altar server at his funeral several months later. Nothing ever beats a friendship with a priest or nun.
This can have positive externalities for vocations, too. Not only does Father feel encouraged and supported in living his vocation, but the children of the families who befriend him will benefit as well- growing up knowing priests (and as another commenter said, sisters) as people leads to viewing the priesthood or religious life as a viable life choice.
Beautiful!
The first thing I noticed about the numbers was that 8 of the 10 lowest vocation rate large dioceses are heavily hispanic. I don't know what to make of that, if anything.
I'm not surprised. This report doesn't have such data, but elsewhere it seems that vocations overwhelming come from middle class families who at least one parent had a college education. The exceptions being mostly rural, farming communities.
Actually, even the successful dioceses tend to have a good percentage of Latino seminarians, and in some religious orders the Latino seminarians dominate in numbers. The Latino communities face a lot of problems with their young men being exposed to a lot of vices and addictions more than in white communities, but one thing I can say is that most Latino families still retain a deep respect for priests and support their sons if they have a vocation, something I cannot say about other American families following the priestly scandals of the recent past.
Brian: Since I am a pastor in one of those dioceses you mention with a multi-cultural parish of 8,000 families (Mexican, Filippino, Gringo/Anglo) and as a fellow who used to work in vocations, I will tell you that this has always been the case. If, by Hispanic, you mean Mexican, I will remark that there has been a long-standing problem (50 years plus) with the Roman Catholic bishops in the US trying to attract Mexican and Mexican-American candidates to serve as diocesan priests. The spoken complaint is usually centered the problem of what is called "ambiente" in the seminary and in the rectory which is pretty much what it sounds like in the English translation: a lack of ambience for the Mexican outlook of ecclesiology in the seminary and ensuing pastoral life. But, an unspoken issue is the pressure on a Mexican candidate to provide grandkids to the parents. Many Mexican parents (in the US and in Mexico) actively discourage their sons from thinking about the priesthood especially if they don't yet have grandkids. As time goes on, and as adjustments are made in our seminaries to be more welcoming to non-Gringo seminarians, we are definitely attracting more and more Mexican and Mexican-American (and a few other Hispanic-national candidates) but it is a long and slow process, made even longer with the recently added years of formation in the new PPF. Most guys can expect to spend 8 years in the seminary now, post baccalaureate! And, they end up with a lousy MA/M.Div for all that work.