Fr. Mark Pilon notes the stunning differences between priestly ordinations in dioceses large and small: Wichita has more than L.A.!
I would hope the USCCB has this issue squarely on its radar but what is sad is the laity doesn’t know what the stats are nor what is being done about it in the US. We hear from the Vatican about exceptions being suggested for extreme cases such as allowing married priest but what do you know about your own diocese and what your bishop is doing to address this issue locally. It can feel like we’ve fallen and instead of figuring out how to stand up we just lay there on our backs telling passerby’s, “No, I can’t get up. I’ve fallen.”
It seems to be a consistent reaction by the current Church. Instead of addressing the sickness and healing it we call the sickness normal and propose ways to live with it. It’s just to hard to get well. We call what should be normal as “ideal” and what is abnormal as culturally normal. How about we just ignore the whole 2000 years of our Church and the lives of our Saints and martyrs. Let’s just lay on our backs in the mud and tell ourselves it’s normal. We can’t change and in fact trying to propose change would be hurtful. It would be radical and rigid to pursue holiness in a self-sacrificing manner.
Interesting to consider if you’ve ever seen a situation or even a person change by doing what they’ve always done. Great change is always proceeded by great effort and sacrifice. And great effort by great vision. Let’s start pursuing the “ideal” instead of fearing the sacrifice it requires. Anything else will leave us in the mud on our backs.
Source: The Continuing Vocation Crisis in the United States – The Catholic Thing
Catholic Torch 