Friday, March 29, AD 2024 12:41am

Good Priests Need Not Apply

 

seminary-enrollmentjpg-f097454ba4ffb178

 

A large part of the Vocations Crisis in regard to priests is that too many seminaries simply do not want priests who are attached to Catholic Tradition.  Father Z gives us a case in point:

Did you see the story about the “conservative” seminarians who were given the heave ho from Maynooth Seminary in Ireland?

From Irish Catholic:

 
 

A number of Maynooth student priests [i.e. seminarians] who were reportedly asked to take time out [euphemis alert!  “thrown out”] of seminary because they were ‘too conservative[i.e, they believe in God, they don’t think women should be ordained, they don’t think men should sleep together, etc.] are to return to the college in the autumn after interventions by a number of bishops, it has been claimed.  [Because, these days, there are so many seminarians in Ireland they can afford to lose some, right?]

The Irish Catholic understands that of 10 diocesan seminarians who were due to return to Maynooth in the autumn [they have TEN?] after completing their pastoral year, six were recommended to take time out to reconsider their vocation.  [This reminds me of the diocese in California which had no seminarians at all for a couple years.  They said that their admissions process worked.  It was so excellent and sophisticated that no one got through!]

Sources have indicated to The Irish Catholic that the clear impression was given to the students that they were so advised because their theological views were considered at the conservative end of the spectrum.  [I’m shocked!  Shocked!]

However, Msgr Hugh Connolly, President of Maynooth, rejected the claim, insisting that there has been “nothing out of the ordinary in terms of usual action between students, dioceses and the seminary in making a decision on what is the best next step for a particular student”. [Uh huh.]

Msgr Connolly said it was “not a question of conservativism” but rather a question of “getting the right experience”.  [Uh huh.]

However, the issue will put fresh focus on concerns that the Vatican’s investigation of Maynooth, ordered by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, has had little practical effect. In previous years some Maynooth students claimed the college operated an informal ‘litmus test’ to sift out seminarians considered excessively conservative. [What does “excessively” conservative mean in the modern Irish context?  Translation: the rector didn’t like them.]

Interventions

The Irish Catholic now understands that after interventions by a number of bishops, three of the six seminarians will in fact be returning to the college this autumn. It is understood that the bishops involved rejected the assessment of their seminarians by those involved in co-ordinating the pastoral year, [of course] and that the apprehensions shared were at odds with favourable reports from pastoral placements. The concerns aired were reportedly not shared by the college’s seminary council.  [It’s dejà vu all over again.  This is sounding really familiar.]

Maynooth President Msgr Connolly, who chairs the council, poured cold water on the claim that a bishop had to bring any student “back on board,” insisting that no student was ever “off board”. [Uh huh.]

 

[…]

This is not the first time the issue has provoked controversy. Some years ago, seminarians were reportedly suspended for wanting to kneel during the consecration at Mass.

[NB!] In 2012, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said “it is not just that the number of candidates is low; it is also that many of those who present are fragile and some are much more traditional than those who went before them”.  [That’s the old technique from the 80’s isn’t it?  Suggest that anyone who is conservative is psychologically damaged.  Then either force them out the door or into a shrink’s office so that he tell them that they are really gay.  It’s what we, back in the day, referred to as Lubyanka.]

 

 

 

 

Go here to read the rest.  Don’t think for a moment that this has not happened over and over again in this country and that good men are not now being thrown out of seminaries here because they understand that the Church did not begin with Vatican II.

 

 

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Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 2:50pm

There has actually been an increase in the number of ordinations in the U.S. in the last 15 years in spite of the scandals. Of course, 13 of those 15 years occurred under the previous pontificates. No doubt Cupich will ruin the vocations program in Chicago.

I think the 10 students in question constituted one cohort, not the whole census. Per newspaper reports, annual ordinations in Ireland are running at about 9 priests, I believe the figure used to be about 10x that. Now, they propose to toss 60% of one cohort out because they’re not interested in anyone who is too old-school. (A young man interested in priestly formation in the Diocese of Providence was rejected with the retort “We don’t need priests from 1952”). I’m beginning to think that all that survey research that Andrew Greeley generated telling us priests were happy in their vocations was a John Darsee style fabrication. Bishops behave like people who hate their lives and what they’ve done with it.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 2:50pm

I read on-line a long time ago (at a site I don’t open), “Sin makes you stupid.” A stopped clock is correct twice each 24 hours.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 3:03pm

No, wait! Feel the love!!!
.
I just “love” the tolerance of other viewpoints (in this case Objective Truth) exhibited by such drooling idiot liberals (I keep repeating myself over again).
.
Such people only deserve ridicule.
.
With apologies to Kipling.
A million surplus liberals are willing to whine the plaint.
And, a liberal is only a liberal. But, a holy priest is a saint.

Jerry
Jerry
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 3:08pm

Our seminaries in Florida are full and are building more capacity.

Clinton
Clinton
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 5:05pm

The priest shortage was an engineered famine in large part. I’ve heard too many
priests tell the same stories about their seminary days, where students could draw
unfavorable reviews because they were discovered saying the rosary. i believe
many young men who should have become priests had their vocations deliberately
destroyed by seminary officials who wanted to see only their fellow-travelers ordained.
.
I also believe that some of the seminary officials responsible for the priest famine
cynically wished to implode the number of priests as a way to bring about the
ordination of women and the dropping of the requirement of celibacy. How many
times have we heard that Rome needed to change Her stand on these things because
(the logic goes) it would enlarge the pool of priestly candidates? Also, the recent practice
of putting parishes under a lay administrator (often a nun) due to a shortage of
priests in a particular diocese isn’t an unwelcome development in some cynical quarters.
.
Look at the full seminaries of tradition-friendly orders like the FSSP and (until this
pontificate) the FFI. Or recall the disproportionately high numbers of ordinations
in tradition-friendly dioceses like Lincoln, Nebraska, where Bishop Bruskiewicz was
for years ordaining numbers that rivaled those of some major metropolitan areas.
The little Lincoln diocese still has the highest priest-to-Catholic ratio of any diocese
in the USA.
.
Seminary officials and the bishops who employ them solemnly assure us that they’re
deeply concerned about the priest shortage. They appear to be willing to try just
about anything to attract vocations– New Age nonsense, feminist “theology”, banning
cassocks, discarding Thomism, you name it… Tradition seems to be the only thing
they’ll refuse to try. The road to higher ordination numbers is clearly marked, but
bishops and seminary rectors don’t seem to want to take it.

Cthemfly25
Cthemfly25
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 6:15pm

Our diocese placed a seminarian in our parish this summer. He is remarkable…learned, mature, highly intellectual and incredibly well grounded. He is a gift from God telling us about the importance of Hope. Pray for him and all our priests and especially all those whom God is calling to the priesthood that they hear the call above the din our current crises.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 7:01pm

I have read that if a parish priest cannot develop vocations then he has failed. I don’t think this is 100% true – it starts at home – but a priest MUST be masculine and conduct himself in a way that young boys are impressed with him.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Tuesday, July 14, AD 2015 8:44am

“No doubt Cupich will ruin the vocations program in Chicago.”

Yep. He certainly emptied the seminary in Spokane. The green shoots at Mundelein are about to enjoy the Archbishop’s Agent Orange touch.

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