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"So, if they have men that meet these qualifications, why not just Ordain them Priests. (They probably even have some Widowers and single men that meet these qualifications)"

Because most of the parish administrators are women.

There are several issues here, and I won't to toss in my 2 cents' worth:

Laity as Parish Administrators: They are a fact of life for two reasons. There is a priest shortage, and the laity are now taking a more active role in the Catholic religion. The former is sad. The latter is necessary and, in some ways, quite good. "Father" shouldn't have to do everything. "Father" should get to be a priest, first and foremost.

Married parish priests: I think it's necessary to resume the option for married priesthood in the Eastern Church because it is part of the Eastern Church's Tradition. As for the Roman Church, I think it should be an option also -- for all the obvious reasons.

No Magic Bullets: However, I hope Roman Catholics understand that allowing married priests won't be a magic bullet to end the priest shortage. Also, paying married priests a decent salary makes good sense, but that also won't be a magic bullet to end the priest shortage. There are Protestant denominations here in the States that allow clergy to be married and that offer generous salaries to clergy, and some of them *still* can't fill all their pastor positions -- even at salaries of $50,000 per year ! The obvious point is that being in the clergy is not just a job; it is also a calling, and "many are called but few are chosen."

Prayer: I know some men who are discerning and preparing for the Catholic priesthood. They *all* say that it is the prayers of others who sustain them and bear them aloft in the midst of their many struggles to answer the call. We need to keep praying for them and for others to answer the call.

-- John

Hi,

I am not sure if L.A. is requiring any college degree to start the Parsih Life Director program.

I do know, however, that the formation program itself takes several years. I do not remember if it's 4 or 6, but something in between.

Shalom,
Memo

Here in Alabama where the priest has a number of parishes, are covered by nuns as parish administrators. It seems to be working well for the most part.

I got this link regarding Vocations from a page that Father Deacon Lance posted on another thread. (For a Liturgical Purpose)


http://www.kaldu.org/DailyNews/April2006/News_April14_43DayOFPrayer.html

Bishop Wuerl has for some time been developing plans to deal with the coming priest shortage in the Latin Diocese of Pittsburgh. I served on two committees to develop ideas to share pastoral functions among several parishes.

What brings in men to the seminary and the priesthood is "orthodox" Catholicism. The Latin diocese in Nebraska that is headed by Bishop Bruskewitz does not have problems with lack of vocations. I believe the same goes for the Denver Archdiocese. The FSSP has plenty of vocations.

Since it is in the history and traditions of the Byzantine Church to ordain married men, they should proceed to do so regardless of what any bishop or cardinal in the Latin Church thinks of it.

Juan is quiet right where the standards are high the vocations flow.

I can't work out what the problem is in the USA as to why suitable deacons are not ordained on to the priesthood. I feel that a few Deacons who post here would make excellent priests. Bishop John of Parma recently ordained a married man as a priest but then he wears a 'real' omophorion and is probably more eastern than the others.

We have married priests in the various Byzantine Churches here and the cows are still milking, curtains have not faded and strangest of all the Latins dont care. The Latins actually encourasged it after meeting with the Melchite and UGCC bishops here on this topic.

ICXC
NIKA

We have married priests in the various Byzantine Churches here and the cows are still milking, curtains have not faded and strangest of all the Latins dont care. The Latins actually encourasged it after meeting with the Melchite and UGCC bishops here on this topic.

Glory to God!

Indeed. The liberal religious orders and dioceses have very few vocations to the priesthood or none. Unfortunately, after Vatican II, it was mostly the liberals who took control of most of the Latin dioceses and the Latin religious orders (at least, here in the U.S.). The exceptions -- the dioceses and orders which unashamedly practice the Catholic religion in its fullness-- are growing in religious vocations.

Those who join the priesthood will thus be fewer in number than in decades past, but they will be very clear and committed to serving Jesus Christ and His Church. They will have to be. The world and all of their years in the world will be working against a religious vocation.

I know of men (Latin and Byzantine) who are in the very midst of this process. It is not easy. They have different personal issues to grapple with, but the ultimate issue is the same: joyful self-surrender to the Lord in order to be His instrument. That is not an easy task in an era that is dedicated to "fulfillment" through selfishness. Indeed, it runs completely and radically against what the world and this era hold dear. And, it is the prayers of others which enables these men to keep going forward. I can't emphasize that enough... because they can't emphasize that enough.

But back to Juan's point: people who actually, deeply, truly practice their religion are both an enticement and an encouragement for men to answer the call to the priesthood. God bless them all, laity and priests and potential seminarians, for actually trying to live the Gospel in these days.

-- John

John, thank you.

I read Michael Rose's book, Goodbye, Good Men, several years ago. Rather than get into the abuses Rose wrote about - which many have denied - there is one chapter about what is being done right. Mother Angelica said years ago that she has to turn people away who want to join her order. Mt. St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland is always full.

Granted, the book is aimed at the Latin Church, but doing things the right way leads to vocations regardless of the particular Church we belong to. John Paul II said that the home is the Domestic Church and this is where religious vocations begin.

The Pittsburgh Diocese has, perhaps, fewer seminarians that it "should" have, given its population of about 800,000 Catholics, but many of therm are older people (when I say older, I mean older than me, and I'm almost 43).

I would venture to say that the Byzantine Church has been hurt, not only by the Bishops of the Latin Church who have wrongfully interfered with the traditions of the married priesthood, but also the diaspora, driven by the lack of economic opportunity, that has led many Byzantines to leave Pennsylvania and Ohio for other states where the Byzantine Church is almost nonexistent.

These hardships should be looked upon as opportunities and not impediments. Evangelization and a return to "orthodoxy" is the solution.

Because sadly many of the people who meet these criteria are not men.

A fairly large number of these parish directors are women. :rolleyes:

This is where a concerted education effort regarding the diaconate would be effective. Then you could have deacons running these parishes when possible rather than members of the laity (especially female members of the laity).

Coming from the Latin side, I used to defend the practice of celebate clergy to Protestants and Catholics. (I wanted to work for Catholic Answers it seems!)

Now, I can no longer defend that position. I used to say that it would not be fair to the family of the priest when he had to drop what he was doing and rush to give the Last Rites to a dying person. Doctors are on call sometimes 24/7 and even I have had to make housecalls and answer the phone at 10:00 when everyone is in bed when my patients had no where else to turn.

I don't see how a priest who has to take care of 2000 families (that's 10,000 people) here in Perryville can shepherd them all. Fr. Kevin has to say 3 Masses today as he does every Sunday.

If there were 10 married priests in this town (one for every 1000, which is still not enough) then the burden of taking care of the parish would be mitigated. Not only that it would reduce the stress on the family lives of the priests.

The only down side is that the laity will have to give more than a dollar in the collection basket! I've seen what people give since I've taken up collection before, I try not to look but sometimes I forget not to look.

A tithe is 10%!

"Will some of you, pretty please compare and contrast Western and Eastern vocation beliefs."

I found this in the archives regarding my question. However, i would appreciate more.

https://www.byzcath.org/bboard/Forum2/HTML/000543.html

OK. Firstly, the Eastern Church has always had married clergy, in Australia stll does, and should always have.

The Latin Church's problems will not be solved by married clergy. This is not an indictment of whether married clergy are legitimate or not, it is a simple recognition that numbers are not the issue. The Latin Church was full of clergy and religious in the 1960's and 70s but they were not able to arrest its fall. Numbers are less important than quality. While married men may ceratinly have the desired qualties, how to harness this while also respecting the traditon of the Roman Rite re celibacy is not a solution. And as to Deacon's becoming priests, the church instituted a permanent diaconate at VII. If a change in discipline provoked most of them to become priests it would undermine the stability and value of the order as well as further confusing people about the diaconate's identity. I have long siad the married diaconate will not be regarded as legitimiate until there are celibate permanenet deacons; if there are few celibate priests it will not aid the appreciation of this important order.

Just as an aside; Old Bleiver groups survived centuries as Priestless groups; what is the issue with priestless parishes/ Surely priests awill rise in those situations if vocations existed.

N

Catholics in Japan also managed to go a long time without Priests.

My comment in regard to deacons in my posting above was in reference to byzantine deacons. This was a reference to a previous posting by the most wise Incognitus in regard to the failure to ordain married Byz. men to the Priesthood in the USA. Of course only deacons can be ordained to the priesthood.

ICXC
NIKA