Catholic Sensibility

Rustle up those Midwestern Vocations The AP reported on my region's (Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas) bishops and their return from ad limina visits to Rome: "... Pope John Paul II told them he's worried about the declining number of US priests. He told a group of visiting American bishops on Friday that the challenge can't be ignored. The pope is calling for a national day of prayer for priestly vocations, as well as new ways to recruit priests." About ten years ago, Andrew Greeley published a sociological report on recruiting. He said the decline in ordinations from the previous generation was due to two factors: the lack of parental encouragement and weak efforts from the clergy themselves on the recruiting front. A few years ago, I saw results from another study that suggested that the postponement of life decisions in young adults as well as a precipitous drop in people who choose a lifelong career are also obstacles traditional vocations efforts have overlooked. Three generations ago, most people barely out of puberty were married, having kids, and working. Most vocations were not "delayed" because most people were not delaying their entry into adult life. We didn't have large numbers of people going to college and grad school or hanging out with their "Friends" to live a slacker's life in a coffeehouse. While not a sudden shift, this young adult trend was mostly ignored by those who long populated vocations offices. When I was 23, I was considered an unusual prospect for priesthood, not because of my liberal views, but because I had not gone to college seminary. When I dropped out of the post-college discernment group after a year, seven of us had gone on to seminary, one had discerned out, and that left me. I didn't sense I was any further along the path than I was the previous summer, and though dicoesan vocations director assured me I could remain in the program and hang with the crop of next year's guys, I didn't feel I was aligned with the flow. It seemed to me my seven friends already had decided to go to seminary and were just jumping the hoop of a year of "discernment." My assigned spiritual director, Fr John, was leading me to a path of a prayerful life, but priesthood just wasn't on the horizon at that time. So I walked another path. In my rest of my twenties, only three people suggested I had a vocation: a Trappist postulant whom I helped unload a truckful of Monk's Bread one afternoon, an estranged friend who was leaving a marriage to explore religious life, and an older lady who was a social gospel Catholic in the mold of Dorothy Day. My non-Catholic parents clearly didn't have a motivating role, other than assuring me of their support in anything I chose to do with my life. And despite knowing several priests fairly well from doing liturgical music in their parishes, none of them ever asked me if I had thought of becoming a priest. In my first three years as a full-time liturgist, I worked for a pastor who was somewhat conservative. He went to Medjugorje and was involved in associated things. Sad to say, as a parish priest and administrator, he was not an inspiration; more the opposite. He was in a prime position to encourage his new liturgist to consider a vocation. But he was more interested in keeping his growing suburban Chicago parish in full pews on a miser's budget. And those are the nice stories I can actually tell you; the others were enough to turn a soul out of the Church entirely. So when the pope is calling for new ways to recruit priests, I hope he sent these bishops home with some ideas. I'd give them an earful, but I doubt they'll come blogging to Catholic Sensibility. I could tell them they'll need to get a lot more creative in inviting young people to explore what the life of a parish priest actually is. They'll need to be prepared to discern some of their better candidates into a religious order. They'll need to actually befriend young people and gently, subtly steer them to practices of prayer and meditation. What is not lacking in young people today is the willingness to sacrifice for a good cause. Also not lacking is the desire for a holy and spiritual life. What is lacking in today's priesthood is creativity, credibility, tenacity, and kindliness when it comes to drumming up vocations. And as for the parental role, I think the bishops need to realize they have a lot more work ahead to rehabilitate their own reputations before parents (particularly mothers, according to Greeley) will encourage priesthood as a real alternative.