Dave Hartline has a must-read post on The American Catholic.
The statistics don’t lie. To say that surging numbers and priestly vocations are tied to Church orthodoxy would be an understatement. An example from my 2006 book, The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism best illustrates this point. The Diocese of Rochester, which is considered to be one of the most liberal in America, has a Catholic population of 342,000. They have a total of six seminarians studying for the priesthood. The Archdiocese of Omaha has a Catholic population of 230,000 with 30 seminarians. In Nebraska, the Diocese of Lincoln (run by perhaps the most conservative ordinary in America, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz) has a population of 89,236 Catholics with 24 in their local seminary and 10 in other seminaries. Put another way, while Lincoln and Omaha do not have as many Catholics as Rochester, these two dioceses had sixty-four men studying for the priesthood while Rochester had only six men.
Full post here.
4 comments:
Mike,
you're on a roll here!
What the diocese says to "save face" is that they are more "selective" in their process. Anyone in the other dioceses can become a priest. I know it's hogwash but this is a standar response. And the parishoners of all the closed churches can thank the diocese for being more "selective".
Anon. 11:14,
Bishop Clark is more "selective" than Bishop Bruskewitz?
That's the best laugh I've had all week!
More selective is a valid reason for the DOR. If you are orthodox, you are not selected, so yes, this does confirm that the DOR is selective. I pray that Rome will ask for the Bishop to retire early to minimize any more damage.
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