And no, I'm not being sarcastic:
4 men enter Irish seminaries in 2021.
Sure, there's the NCs, too, but I will leave them out.
Actually, I can't resist this parting thought--the Neocats serve a valuable purpose for the western church:
They remind us that the current administration's concern with liturgical uniformity and respect for authority is really selective. Actual parish-rending schisms are tolerated when you have power and influence. See also the "Legion of Christ" [sic].
Back to Eire:
Yes, I'm surprised that four men actually made the leap. Given the (deservedly) low regard in which the Irish Church is held, that anyone heard--or heeded--a call to serve is remarkable.
When you add in leadership cadres which think an endless spiritual beta-test is ideal and which also demand believers have a sense of the past comparable to Leonard Shelby in Memento, it is more remarkable still. Committing to "at the moment," "perhaps" and "sorta...?" takes a genuine leap of faith.
That said, I wouldn't bet more than a couple of stray Euros that any of them will make it to ordination. Attrition is what it is.
I think the church, liberal and conservative wings plus the middle, has bumbled on vocations to Orders for at least 75 years when the decline began in the US and had already reached Europe. The problem is that we fail to see the importance of establishing baptism as a foundational sacrament for discipleship. Instead we have men who are pious, prayerful, social justice warriors, culturewarriors, and the like. You can be any religion or none to be those. Look at campus ministries where adult faith is encouraged and discipleship is developed. The short shrift given to CM budgets and scouring an altar server corps of Catholic high schools for vocations might have worked a century ago. Today it is wasted effort.
ReplyDeletewhen the decline began in the US and had already reached Europe.
ReplyDeleteThe decline in ordinations began at a very precise moment - 1965.
Actually, that is wrong, Art. US peak year was 1947. In Europe it was a few dacade earlier.
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