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PDF versionForeign priests and the risk of plunder
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 26, 2010
Generally speaking, Hill City, Kansas, population 1,500, where my 95-year-old grandmother is still going strong, isn’t the best place to spot cutting-edge trends -- we’re not talking about “Milan of the Great Plains.” In Catholic terms, however, there’s one sign of the times that’s clearly penetrated here, in the form of the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Fr. Henry Saw Lone.
When their longtime pastor recently retired, the Catholics of Hill City feared they would become yet another circuit-rider parish. Instead, the Diocese of Salina was able to assign a Fidei Donum priest from Burma (Myanmar). Fr. Henry is thus a symbol of one of the most important forces cutting through American Catholicism at the retail level: Estimates are that one in six Catholic priests currently serving in the States comes from abroad, and roughly 300 new international priests arrive every year.
At first blush, the logic for this “reverse mission” seems impeccable. The Catholic church in many parts of the global South is growing by leaps and bounds, so seminaries are full. Moreover, the religious dynamism of the South contrasts with the ennui of the secular West, so these priests can deliver a badly needed spiritual shot in the arm.
To be sure, parachuting a foreign priest into an American parish can occasionally make for a bumpy ride. Sometimes the problems are as simple as language. (An African priest told me a few years ago that every time he told his congregation in rural Pennsylvania something was important, they’d laugh at him. That continued until someone explained they thought he was saying “impotent.”) Once in a while, foreign priests may also have a hard time adjusting to the less clerical ethos of American parishes.
For the most part, however, these guys do just fine. Two years ago, for example, I met Fr. Nichodemus Ejimabo, an Ibo prince from Nigeria who leads a parish in tiny Johnson City, Texas, composed of white ranchers and Mexican farm workers. He’s fit in well, in part by drawing on his experience as a striker for the Nigerian national soccer team, the “Super Eagles,” kicking a ball around with the kids before and after Mass.
I was in New York last Saturday when it was announced that another Nigerian priest serving in a local parish was going back home as coadjutor bishop. As Archbishop Timothy Dolan scrounged around for a pectoral cross and ring to present as a gift, he passed along the reaction in his chancery: “We sure hope they can send us another guy, because they’re really popular.” Dolan also told the story of an upper-crust parish in White Plains, where a legendary Irish pastor recently died. The faithful of that parish petitioned the archdiocese to allow two Filipino priests who had been serving under the Irish monsignor to stay on as their pastors.
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As for Hill City, my grandma reports that Fr. Henry is terrific. Not enough people go to church, she laments, but she concedes that was true long before Fr. Henry arrived on the scene.
There are other benefits too.
Having a priest serving in the States or Europe produces economic benefits, direct and indirect, for his sponsoring diocese or religious order. The priest will often send home a share of his salary, which is usually substantial by the standards of the church in other parts of the world. His diocese or religious order usually becomes eligible for an annual missionary appeal, so he can preach in a parish over the summer and collect a nice offering for the church back home. Often he’s also able to foster a sister church relationship, pairing a poor community at home with a wealthy one in the West, which can lead to various forms of support.
Moreover, the growing presence of foreign priests is also a way of addressing the intellectual Achilles’ heel of American Catholicism, which is a terribly insular frame of reference. Read any sampling of recent books or articles on Catholic affairs in America -- from left, right or center -- and generally the author’s imagination stops at the water’s edge. In reality, the 67 million Catholics in the States represent just six percent of the global Catholic population of almost 1.2 billion, and it’s a blessing to be introduced to that wider and infinitely more complex Catholic world.
I’ve sketched the upside at some length, because there’s a “but” coming, and I want it to be seen for what it is: A caution amid real appreciation for the gifts offered by so many good priests from abroad.
Now for the “but”: One can make a case that Western bishops are, perhaps with the best of intentions, plundering the resources of the global church.
While seminaries in parts of the South may be bursting at the seams, in no way does this mean that the Catholic church in regions such as Africa or Asia is running a priest surplus. In fact, because those local churches generally baptize infants and adult converts at a much more rapid clip than they ordain priests, their priest shortage is far more acute than in the West. In the United States and Europe, the ratio of priests to baptized Catholics is roughly 1-1,300. (As Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has ruefully observed, if one considers merely the ratio of priests to practicing Catholics, the “priest shortage” might actually disappear altogether, especially in some highly secularized pockets of Europe).
Here’s the same ratio in other regions:
- Sub-Saharan Africa: 1-4,786
- The Caribbean: 1-8,347
- Latin America: 1-7,081
- Southeast Asia: 1-5,322
At least from a strictly arithmetic point of view, one could argue that the bumper crop of new priests being turned out by Catholic seminaries in the global South is far more urgently needed at home.
That reality has not escaped the attention of the Vatican. In 2001, a document titled “Instruction on the Sending Abroad and Sojourn of Diocesan Priests from Mission Territories” was issued by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Slovenian Cardinal Jozef Tomko, at the time the prefect of the congregation, said such transfers were damaging to the church in the global South. India, for example, doesn’t have enough priests to take care of its 17 million Catholics, yet at that time there were 39 priests from India working in one Italian diocese alone. Overall, Tomko claimed, there were 1,800 foreign priests in Italy, with more than 800 working in direct pastoral care.
“Many new dioceses could be created in mission territories with such a number of diocesan priests!” Tomko complained.
Further, there’s no use denying that at last some priests from the global South want to serve in Europe and the States for the same reason that immigrants from other walks of life come here: Because the standard of living is higher. Bishops are often willing to let them go for the same reason that families across the global South encourage breadwinners to emigrate: because their remittances help keep the extended family afloat.
At least some Southern bishops wonder if the Catholic church is simply replicating the immigration patterns of the broader world, with all the potential for injustice and exploitation those patterns carry. Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, put it this way a few years back:
“What we don’t want is to get into a Gastarbeiter situation,” Onaiyekan said, “where a European priest feels overwhelmed having to say three Masses on Sunday, and so he wants a black man to say them. Surely this is not where the church wants to go, getting poor people to do jobs that the rich don’t want to do, as today happens in other walks of life.”
In reality, if Roman Catholicism were a multinational corporation, a systems analyst would probably conclude that there’s a serious mismatch between where the church’s market is growing and where its resources are allocated. Two-thirds of our people are in the global South, but only one-third of our priests. Philip Jenkins has written, “Viewed in a global perspective, such a policy can be described at best as painfully short-sighted, at worst as suicidal for Catholic fortunes.”
That impression has certainly occurred to bishops in the South. During the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist, Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula of Xai-Xai in Mozambique said that, “It comes naturally to me to ask to what extent an ecclesial community without the Sacrament of the Eucharist can reach that dynamism of life which allows it to change into a missionary community.” He drew the conclusion: “One must insist on the equal redistribution of priests in the world.”
By “equal distribution,” of course, Muandula meant shipping priests from North to South, not the other way around.
Recently I laid all this out for Dolan of New York, who acknowledged that it raises a “really valid question,” while stressing how delighted he is to have priests from abroad serving in the archdiocese. He also admitted that the bishops of the United States really haven’t talked this out, but have instead more or less made decisions on the fly.
Perhaps it’s time for the American bishops to have that conversation, in dialogue with their brother bishops in the global South, to see if there’s a way to deliver badly needed financial support without aggravating already egregious imbalances.
And, just to head off a worried phone call this weekend: No, Grandma, I’m not saying Fr. Henry has to go home!
* * *
I suppose this is a reflection of the rumor-saturated world in which we live, but recently I received a note from someone inquiring about a posting on a Catholic blog in Australia to the effect that I had quit the National Catholic Reporter to take a new job. I know that particular bit of gossip is making the rounds, because my wife’s cousin out in California recently sent her an e-mail asking about it.
Therefore, for the record: I am still senior correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, and have no plans whatsoever to move on. As long as they’re willing to pay me for what I consider the best gig in journalism, I’d be an idiot to do anything else.
* * *
Fans of the budding corpus of Catholic social teaching sometimes refer to it as the church’s “best-kept secret,” an indirect way of lamenting that recent Catholic teaching on the economy, war and peace, the environment, and other matters of social concern is not better known – either in the pews, or in the outside world.
One creative response to that frustration now comes from England, in the form of a new bi-monthly magazine called Justice, with the subtitle “Social Issues: A Catholic Perspective.” It’s put out by Gabriel Publications, which publishes The Universe, Catholic Times and Catholic Life in the U.K.
The thrust of the magazine is to apply the lens of Catholic social teaching to the whole panoply of global humanitarian concerns, whether it’s good governance in Africa or controversies over blasphemy laws in Pakistan. The magazine calls on a stable of talented journalists; for example, in one recent issue, veteran Rome correspondent Gerry O’Connell interviews Archbishop Lauren Monsengwo Pasinya of the Democratic Republic of Congo about the “silent genocide” being fueled in that nation by a global scramble to exploit mineral resources.
Alas, not much of the content is available on-line, but the magazine does have a web site at www.justicemagazine.co.uk.
[John Allen is NCR senior correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@ncronline.org}]
One solution to the
One solution to the problem---ordain women!!
Women priests are not the
Women priests are not the solution. In fact, anyone who knows their Church history will realize the error in ordaining women! Many protestant churches are doing this now and are suffering for it spiritually. Not that women are not talented (I'm a woman and I know this) but the Church has always taught that the roles of men and women are different, especially in this area. It has nothing to do with "less" but just different roles.
Pride is what makes the "women become priest" argument arise so much. It is comparable to the feminist movement which has only devalued womanhood, contributed to contraception woes and abortion, etc. etc.
No, women in the priesthood is NOT the answer.
I recommend reading the female saints. They really give insight into what the role of a woman is in the Church.
Peace of Christ!
Kaylan: I need to challenge
Kaylan: I need to challenge your negative thinking about ordaining women as priests. Information from Future Church in Cleveland has found that women were ordained in the early years of Christianity. Women today are administrators of parishes within Catholic dioceses.
It appears you have developed a particular mindset about women. I believe it is not "pride" that contributes to the "women becoming priests". Rather, we are living in the year 2010 which allows women to engage in many careers / vocations previously limited to men, i.e. physicians, scientists, police, etc.
My personal experience as a hospital chaplain for 25 years confirmed to me that women are capable of ministry - with talents of listening skills, caring and revelation of Christ's presence. Check out the website, National Association of Catholic Chaplains, for more information.
I can't wait for the first
I can't wait for the first woman Bishop of Rome and I feel the Holy Spirit is moving the Church in this direction at a rapid pace. There is something no way the Catholic Church can call itself "catholic" until the official policies of misogyny and disenfranchisement are ended. Imperial Roman structures of the Latin Rite Church are in the final state of rot and decay and a new Church is about to emerge. Vatican II opened the doors for this rebirth and second Catholic Reformation.
Regards
Ruth Fendley | convert vob to avi
Kaylan, your comments are
Kaylan, your comments are value-laden.
Enough said.
When I read your statement
When I read your statement that "The Chruch has always taught that the roles of men and women are different, especially in this area. It has nothing to do with "less", but just different roles". I hear the echo of justification of the seperation of the races.
When I hear statements such as "pride is what makes the woment become priest", I am sadded that the many reasons put forth as to the justification of ordaining women is reduced to "pride." I just don't believe that is so.
Also, I don't see the feminist movement as "devauling women". As a matter of fact, I see that the movement has tapped into the value of women. It has brought forth the many and varied ways which women can contribut to society, ways that were not available before. To limit an evaluation of the feminist to abortion and contraception, is a diservice to the discourse.
I am sure that I will not change your perspective and that is not my intention, but I feel it necessary to point out the danger of reducing and dismissing an entire group of people who see thing differently as simply capitulation to "pride". This is what I believe as dangerous.
Peace and prayers for your journey.
Brilliant answer. It is sad
Brilliant answer. It is sad when men want to be women, and women want to be men...I can't wait for the "I have the right to get pregnant" male movement
How long, O Lord, how long?
How long, O Lord, how long? How long will people beat this dead horse? The Church does not have the authority to ordain women, it was not Christ's intent for His priesthood or His Church. This is consistent with 2000 years of Church doctrine, and has been definitively settled for 16 years, since the Venerable Servant of God, Pope John Paul II's document "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis". The case is closed, the deal is done. The question is settled.
The solution to the problem is to encourage young men to answer the call God is giving to them. The answer is to recruit vocations. Those bishops and dioceses that have embraced this solution are seeing the numbers of seminarians increase. The solution is to recruit and encourage, not to hitch wagons to an impossible star.
nice going, clint! you keep
nice going, clint! you keep it up - basing your teaching on that venerable servant john paul ii. he went to his grave defending his friend marcel maciel degollado, founder of the legionaires of christ - defending him loudly and clearly as calumniated by the nine seminarians who accused him of sexual abuse. the venerable john paul ii went to his grave smearing the reputations of the seminarians, accusing them of wanting to ruin the reputation of degollado, of wanting to ruin the reputation of the church. it then fell upon benedict xvi to depose and dismiss marcel maciel, sending him off to a life of prayer and penitence for his sexual abuse of minors over the years. of course benedict did this so quietly that perhaps you did not notice. however, don't you worry about it, clint. you just keep on promulgating your certain definitive teachings with all the certitude that john paul ii stated them - and with which he also defended marcel maciel, founder of the legionaires (now under apostolic visitation). don't you worry,clint - you are certain, with the certainty of good old venerable john paul ii.
How does that address his
How does that address his argument? Even if John Paul II had some personal flaws or made some bad judgments at times, even to terrible effect, that does not lessen his papal authority nor make his claims any less or more true. I find this sort of thing a lot on NCR, people want to "wave the bloody shirt" and keep bringing up painful mistakes and crimes of those within the Church rather than actually engaging the issues at hand.
I am about 2 posts away from applying Goodwin's law to people who bring up the abuse crisis as an objection to doctrinal or moral teachings of the Church. That is, if someone responds to the impossibility of ordaining women or the objectivity of the moral law with "what about the abuse crisis?" (unless it is directly relevant) I will consider that person as having lost the argument.
God hitched His wagon to an
God hitched His wagon to an impossible star Clint when He sent His only son, the Incarnate Word, to save us.
The three wise men hitched their wagons to an impossible star and followed it all the way to a bright new beginning born in the midst of a hopeless night.
On the topic of women's ordination to the RCC Clint, you are the dead horse of disbelief and unfaith.
Many dream that faith can be real. Many believe a young rabbi named Jesus was an impossible star who briefly arced across our horizon. The stubborn imaginative dreamers among us hitched their wagons to Him and never let go!
If the church has no authority TO ordain women then the church has no authority NOT TO ordain women.
Down through the ages Clint the church always gets the authority to do what it wants whenever it wants. It pretends not to have the authority to do what ever it doesn't want.
NO. The church should not continue to ordain men until it stops denying our Lord's call to women to the priesthood of the RCC and ordains them.
There's no done deal, no
There's no done deal, no settled doctrine.
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis fails several tests, which I've shared with Mr. Green on other occasions.
"[F]acts, as history teaches, carry more weight than pure doctrine" (Joseph Ratzinger, HIGHLIGHTS OF VATICAN II, Paulist Press/Deus Books, 1966, p. 16).
But, hey, Mr. Green, I've got that west coast orange bridge to sell ya'. Believe me, it'd be a steal!
Clint, please go look at the
Clint, please go look at the "meet our seminarians" pages in diocesean seminary's web sites or in their annual "vocations" edition of their newspapers. Yes, look at the ones with the increased numbers.
Then take note of how many are foreign nationals (no doubt being sponsored by the diocese, where a middle-class young American man would have to ante up for the full cost). Note how many others are middle-aged career-changers who, once ordained, may have a decade or two of active ministry at best.
Then tell us how well the "recruiting" is going.
On the other hand, note the number of women with divinity and theology degrees, the number of married priests who are already ordained who could in addition to their family duties, preside at one Mass per week.
Dear Clint, the church has
Dear Clint, the church has the "authority" to do anything it wants otherwise the keys to the kingdom and Leo XIII's "perfect society" mean nothing. And Jesus "intended" no priesthood at all. That was something the church did all by itself.
John: The Church has no
John: The Church has no authority to say that God is not Triune. There are certain truth statements that are called dogmas which the Church can only observe and proclaim.
And who made up dogma Joe P
And who made up dogma Joe P and why? What were they trying to acomplish at the time they made it up? What did they alter or leave out to prove their case?
And who made up doctrine and why Joe? If you study the situation at the time you'll get a picture why certain things were made up.
When people make things up (all holy words aside) to exclude an entire group of people you can bet their motives are quite selfish and not holy .
When it comes to a God of Love excluding women from ordination carries the considerable weight of falsehood. Not a reliable foundation Joe P.. It is a foundation that we see cracking all over the world. It brings down the value of the house. You can market it till you turn blue but noone's buying because they can clearly see the house is not on the level!
Christ did indeed intend the
Christ did indeed intend the priesthood. He intended the Church, and He intended that His Presence in the Church would continue via the Sacraments, most especially and centrally the Eucharist. To claim otherwise is to dispute that Christ, as fully God, understood fully what it was He was doing and knew full well what He wanted to do.
He spoke specifically to the Apostles to "do this in remembrance of Me". He knew what He was doing.
And, as has been stated elsewhere, the Church is bound by her own teaching, dogmas revealed by God via the Holy Spirit, such as the Blessed Trinity, the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the dogma of original sin, etc. The Church may not "undo" these dogmas. She cannot do anything she wishes. Rather, she is bound by the wishes and will of her Lord.
Oh, great! Another layer of
Oh, great! Another layer of priest-helpers, then deacon-helpers and low people on an inapropriate totem pole. The story in the Belleville, IL, troubled diocese is that Nigerian priests are wined and dined in the chancery for a week on their arrival, after which they expect to be wined and dined--and chauffeured--in their assigned parishes. It isn't sitting well with congregants, who thought they were to be ministered to. I recently sat with a group of Korean-American Catholics on a pilgrimage with their adored Korean priest. He was obviously enjoying the adoration, and the elderly gentleman who was my seat-mate explained that ordination was an honored--very--step. Missionary work in the US was considered pay-back for the missionary work that planted Catholicism in Korea. I suspect that this attitude for modern American Catholics died long ago.
I c this trend as preparing
I c this trend as preparing the way 4 women priests. we r getting so used 2 foreign-born male priests who do not speak English well, that i think it will b a relief 2 hear our own American women preaching.
Ordaining women is not the
Ordaining women is not the answer. In fact, that would just create MORE problems!
As far as I can see,the
As far as I can see,the problems created by ordaining women would not be created by women priests. Problems would be caused by intolerant Catholics who refuse to allow women priests to do their work, but instead must spend their ministry defending themselves from those they serve!
Lisa: that is exactly right.
Lisa: that is exactly right.
If women preistess are the
If women preistess are the answer then why are not the anglican church seminaries bursting at the seams? They not only ordain women but anythung with a pulse can be ordained. Where should the Holy Catholic Church draw the line if women priestess are allowed....
Hi, very good article, but
Hi, very good article, but I'd like to comment that it is not accurate to say that "seminaries are full" in the South. At least in South America.
It might be worse in the North, but still seminaries are not full.
As a former missionary with 8 years living in Mexico, Guatemala, India and Italy I can assure you that the situation is critical in any seminary in South America, except for a couple of exceptions (Guadalajara, and some LC formation houses).
Another important element to take into account is the fact that the shortage of vacations (which certainly affects the South as well) has had the side effect of seminaries lowering the minimum requirements (and/or standards) for future candidates. In the middle term, this will certainly have effects on the performance of these traveler priests.
Difficult questions... even more difficult answers.
Greetings from Chile,
Jorge Cepeda, S.T.B. (U. Santo Tomasso d'Aquino, Rome)
Interesting observation from
Interesting observation from Jenkins here:
==========================================
Two-thirds of our people are in the global South, but only one-third of our priests. Philip Jenkins has written, “Viewed in a global perspective, such a policy can be described at best as painfully short-sighted, at worst as suicidal for Catholic fortunes.”
=================================================
So many of our ecclesial policies these past thirty years (in fact from Boff to Rode) have seemed "suicidal for Catholic fortunes" and yet the self-proclaimed orthodox say the Church will survive in a smaller, purer form, and has survived worse and that God promises her survival.
I hear Pete Seeger shout " . . .The big fool says to push on."
This sending remittances back home only assuages the economic inequities which abound, globally. What is required even in our papal encyclicals is justice, and Liberation from the enslavement and desperate impoverishment, not this welfare of crumbs to prop up temporarily a crumbling infrastructure.
We need eschatalogical, liberating justice.
How much of the global exploitation of the Congo's mineral resources benefit the people? None. It is genocide.
And it has been such since first the European colonialists came long ago.
frère charles du désert OSB OBLAT (Congrégation de Subiaco
"The poor you will have with
"The poor you will have with you always." You are a dyed in the wool socialist fanatic and over two hundred years of socialist movement failures still has people like you banging your head against a the brick wall of socialist delusion. Your deaming of one extreme of total hell on earth vs. Gods natural law of diversity. You want to see the success and rewards of ideal socialism, go visit any cemetery.Otherwise bear the burden of life with compassion and follow in Christ's steps. He wasn't a non-violent political revolutionary. He accepted life on earth for what it has to offer and He taught how to live and prepare for the life to come.
Actually, I think He was
Actually, I think He was showing how we could live the life to come in the present.
You may be a life long
You may be a life long Catholic, Robert, but your sense of Christianity seems quite limited! How can you, in light of what Jesus Himself says in the Gospels, say that He "accepted life on earth for what it has to offer...."? Was not His very presence in this world a cataclysmic event that changed the universe for all time? Did he not instruct everyone who listened to Him - then and now - a new way to live in the world in order to gain entry into the next life with Him? What would the Church have a history of proclaiming social justice in His name? What have you been reading that allows you to not challenge your own thinking?
And I would also tell you that someone who dedicates themselves to religious life is, indeed,following "in Christ's footsteps." You seem to have forgotten that.
Robert, I suggest that before
Robert, I suggest that before you reduce your comments to name calling and cram "socialism" as many times as you can into a sentence, why not read the Book of Acts where Paul very clearly directs us to organize and live undre a socialist structure.
"He taught how to live and
"He taught how to live and prepare for the life to come" by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, asking nothing in return, sheltering the homeless, receiving the stranger at the gate, loving the enemy, as I do love you, Robertlifelongcatholic.
And yet we as a sick and profit-driven society refuse to heal the sick, to comfort the afflicted, as Jesus commands, as civilized nations do. Instead we profit from one another's suffering, demanding exorbitant charges for our placebos, and wrongfully believe ourselves Christians as we do.
Eexcellent article about
Eexcellent article about foreigh priets. I was a foreign priest in the USA for 30 years. I must say that the aim was not money in any way. I wanted to give what I had and have to the church (people of God). I enjoyed my stay in the USA.
Two things that annoyed me are:- assigning me to the most difficult parishes or rectories where nobody wanted to be assigned. THe second is that the diocese (and I must say at that time) was saving money on the retirement account because a foreign priest if he is not incardinated will be considered a loan and that is all. In some dioceses you have to retire at 75 FROM THE diocese IF the bishop agrees. So retirement litterally depended on the bishop's whim.
My suggestion is that some, at least some will take and given time to learn the laguage and cultre of the country. THEN he is ready for assignment in a parish.
Remeber also that some foreign priests are in the USA because of problems of personal or diocesan nature. I know of a priest in Italy who isolates himself from everybody - parishoners and clergy. Another rtired priest who does not recieve a penny in pension from the 13 years he spent in a diocese. Another who could not be understood at mass because of the heavy accent.
SO it behooves the diocese to invest in the foreign priest and treat hem as one of them.
About the quote from the two
About the quote from the two paragraphs below:
[[Recently I laid all this out for Dolan of New York, who acknowledged that it raises a “really valid question,” while stressing how delighted he is to have priests from abroad serving in the archdiocese. He also admitted that the bishops of the United States really haven’t talked this out, but have instead more or less made decisions on the fly.
Perhaps it’s time for the American bishops to have that conversation, in dialogue with their brother bishops in the global South, to see if there’s a way to deliver badly needed financial support without aggravating already egregious imbalances.]]
It isn't surprising that he says the bishops "haven’t talked this out, but have instead more or less made decisions on the fly."
That seems to be the way it works. Most remedies, like importing priests, are not done in any real relation to the problem of diminishing numbers of priests in the U.S. but more in a band-aid manner. There is no real plan to address the RCC's present or future ministry needs in the United States.
Maybe that's where the growing movement for an American Catholic Council comes in - www.americancatholiccouncil.org
For those of us in and around the Philadelphia area, the Greater Philadelphia Voice of the Faithful is sponsoring and informational event at Chestnut Hill College on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 from 7:30 to 9:15. Some information is below.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Steering Committee
Greater Philadelphia VOTF
maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com
____________________________
AMERICAN CATHOLIC COUNCIL
The national initiative, the American Catholic Council is beginning to take root locally. Its function is to create awareness, calling for a wider perspective and participation in our church, gathering and affirming people, formulating a mandate and acting on it. There are numerous church leaders associating their name with the movement, such as Sister Joan Chittister, Robert Blair Kaiser, Dr. Paul Lakeland, Dr. Leonard Swidler and Sister Chris Schenk to name a few. The largest reform organizations Call To Action, Voice of the Faithful, The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church have joined the initiative. Depending on the people’s determination support and solidarity, the council can have a dramatic impact on the American Church for the next 25-50 years. The time for patience is gone; let the people take their proper place and lead.
The basic resources of the American Catholic Council are the documents of Vatican II and the processes and documents of the 1976 Call To Action led by the National Council of Bishops involving massive numbers of laity, religious and priests.
The preliminary goal is to gather thousands of concerned Catholics in Detroit in June 2011. There will be two regional meetings in 2010 to promote the people’s voice and develop a clear agenda to bring to Detroit. The movement seeks the widest possible solicitation of input from Catholics.
Presentation: STATE AND DIRECTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH LISTENING TO THE PROGRESSIVE CATHOLIC PEOPLE
Presenters: Fr. Thomas Doyle OP and
Dr. Leonard Swidler
Place: Fournier Hall at Chestnut Hill College 601 Germantown Ave. Phila., Pa.
Day: Tuesday, March 9th Time: Tuesday: 7:30 sharp – 9:15 PM
I do not have any credentials
I do not have any credentials to be making an argument with a nun nor those with doctorates. However, from my low position, your statements concern me almost to the point that they ring with schism. No one could say that the clergy is a part of the charity and communion of the Church, because they, if any, are more so the laity and other forms of consecrated life- the Magisterium that we must not doubt, no matter how learned we are, declares that they are inheritors of the apostolic tradition. You say, "The time for patience is gone;let the people take their place and lead." This reveals a strong anti-clericalism, for what is a priest (who can has the power of the keys, ex opere operato- without regard to his merits) when he is not a pastor? A shepherd does not follow the sheep.
A long tradition from Christ himself, who would not have the crowds who listened to him preach rule over the apostles and even placed Peter above the others, declared some in positions of rule and others in positions of obedience. The Jews begged God for this gift in their history and were rewarded by His hand with the judges, and with Solomon, David, and the Kings. If one were to examine the history of the Church, there would be a consistent trend placing the Bishops, and their agents, the secular priests, over the many other forms of consecrated life. One such example can be found in the canon 60 of the Fourth Lateran Council, which forbids abbots from conducting the business of Bishops.
This idea of a 'people-led' church seems to hurt the community of God by imposing secular ideas on the Holy Church. God is first, not the creation. Christ is first, not the disciples. The Church should reflect this order, not the order of men. Particularly when these ideas under the false banner of "liberty, fraternity, and equality" have been largely supported by institutions antithetical to the Church- the Masons, the Communists, and the revolutionaries. Whereas democracies rise and fall, the Church lasts forever.
History has demonstrated that those who lead do make mistakes, but God judges and forgives. We, who are less than God, cannot judge but should always forgive with the "patience" that you cast aside- the very patience that Christ kept unto His death.
Educated and informed
Educated and informed Catholics today are not "sheep", and the bishops (including the bishop of Rome) do not show evidence of being able to exercise pastoral leadership.
There is nothing wrong (and everything right) with strong anti-clericalism --- when we understand the word 'clericalism' to mean the elevation of the ordained (with all its privileges, perks, and power) and the subordination of the laity.
The earliest Christian communities selected --- in diverse ways --- their leaders. It was this community leadership that was the basis of liturgical leadership.
I do not have any credentials
I do not have any credentials to be making an argument with a nun nor those with doctorates. However, from my low position, your statements concern me almost to the point that they ring with schism. No one could say that the clergy is a part of the charity and communion of the Church, because they, if any, are more so the laity and other forms of consecrated life- the Magisterium that we must not doubt, no matter how learned we are, declares that they are inheritors of the apostolic tradition. You say, "The time for patience is gone;let the people take their place and lead." This reveals a strong anti-clericalism, for what is a priest (who can has the power of the keys, ex opere operato- without regard to his merits) when he is not a pastor? A shepherd does not follow the sheep.
A long tradition from Christ himself, who would not have the crowds who listened to him preach rule over the apostles and even placed Peter above the others, declared some in positions of rule and others in positions of obedience. The Jews begged God for this gift in their history and were rewarded by His hand with the judges, and with Solomon, David, and the Kings. If one were to examine the history of the Church, there would be a consistent trend placing the Bishops, and their agents, the secular priests, over the many other forms of consecrated life. One such example can be found in the canon 60 of the Fourth Lateran Council, which forbids abbots from conducting the business of Bishops.
This idea of a 'people-led' church seems to hurt the community of God by imposing secular ideas on the Holy Church. God is first, not the creation. Christ is first, not the disciples. The Church should reflect this order, not the order of men. Particularly when these ideas under the false banner of "liberty, fraternity, and equality" have been largely supported by institutions antithetical to the Church- the Masons, the Communists, and the revolutionaries. Whereas democracies rise and fall, the Church lasts forever.
History has demonstrated that those who lead do make mistakes, but God judges and forgives. We, who are less than God, cannot judge but should always forgive with the "patience" that you cast aside- the very patience that Christ kept unto His death.
My position on the transfer
My position on the transfer of priests between countries, especially South to North, is well stated by John in the whole "But..." section of this article. I wonder just how significant the power differential and financial transfers are twisting the missionary / pastoral perspective.
I am happy to hear John's report on the success of foreign priests in the U.S. I have not experienced this situation. But my sister (Detroit), my daughter (Spartanburg, SC), and my former research assistant (Nashville, TN) have all had negative experiences with foreign priests. The problem was usually severe difficulties surrounding language and the lack of understanding of U.S. culture.
My research assistant, a very bright, assertive, African American woman, said she and the overwhelmingly African American parish found it extremely difficult to deal with their priest from Africa. He expected people, especially women, to wait on him in the rectory and around church as if he were a tribal prince. He couldn't or wouldn't, for example change the light bulb in the lamp by his chair. He expected his meals and afternoon cocktail to be deliver to him in his easy chair. He just would not deal with the female parish council chairperson. Without speaking to anyone he would employ companies of non-parishioners to make repairs and expect the company to do it for free. Etc, Etc. This was still happening after three years (when I retired and left the area).
I was in the sem from the middle 50s to the middle 60s (Left before the sub-deaconate). Many of us in the sem in those days were children or grandchildren of immigrants; we were frequently first generation college students. We were serious and honest in our desire for priesthood for religious reasons. But from our talk, although we were seldom conscious of it, one could tell that priesthood was to be an improvement in our social status. I wonder, as John alludes to, how many foreign priests are seeking higher status the "easier material life" of "living in America.
I am a "Yankee" who has lived most of my adult life in the rural South. As a social scientist, I can say that for years most of the hierarchy and clergy here have been Yankee born and bred; they have usually been Northern urbanites also. Except for some religious orders like the Glenmary Home Missioners and the Josephites who were attentive to cultural differences, most diocesan clergy were foreigners here in the U.S. South. Relationships have not always been easy.
Today, we have new difficulties. Often our new pastors are young and officially pastors one or two years after ordination (whether chronologically young or old). They seem to buy into the "reform of the reform" with a vengeance. Their stance is defensive / apologetic. Many of the gains the Church made with Vatican II are no longer emphasized and ecumenical relations are cooling off. In fact, last week I, along with every P.O. Box holder in town, received the first vicious anti-Catholic tract in years. I hope we don't return to pre-Vatican II days and I begin receiving tracts every 6-8 weeks.
So, on the ground, what kind of "being Church" can we expect and how will foreign priests help?
Thank you for sharing the
Thank you for sharing the above experiences.
I don't have the specific source (NCR or COMMONWEAL, perhaps?), but I recall reading a news item about Dean Hoge et al reporting that based on longitudinal studies, they could see the "JPII" priests moving in one direction while the old and young laity were moving in a different/opposite direction. (If I recall, the "JPII priest" sees his ordination as conferring a special status elevating him above the ordained and is loathe to work collegially with the laity in the parish.)
The sad conclusion? The researchers said we should prepare to see the "greatest expectation gap" between lay and ordained in the not too distant future.
This scenario does not bode well for the church --- unless, perhaps, it hastens a possible ecclesial implosion within the Church of Rome?
"Lord, we beseech thee to bring it [implosion] on in order to renew the church!"
"Today, we have new
"Today, we have new difficulties. Often our new pastors are young and officially pastors one or two years after ordination (whether chronologically young or old). They seem to buy into the "reform of the reform" with a vengeance. Their stance is defensive / apologetic. Many of the gains the Church made with Vatican II are no longer emphasized and ecumenical relations are cooling off."
What we are experiencing out here in the west are the majority of the seminarians/new priests are foreign born. They have received their training in the US but they seem to have a very "pre-Vatican II" spirituality and mindset. Our priests ordained 40 years ago are retiring and sadly are leaving disillusioned by what is coming after their own years of faithful service to the People of God. This does not bode well for the future.
The church in the US has always gotten the bulk of their priests and religious from first generation or foreign born. The prestige and education was viewed by families as a way to move up. Consider the wave of immigration in the late 1800's and during the early 1900's. Large numbers from Irish, German, Polish and Italian immigrant and first generation families filled religious communities and the priesthood up to the 1960's.
A direct link to purchase
A direct link to purchase copies of Justice is
http://www.totalcatholic.com/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=136
Great article, John. My
Great article, John. My friend has their first African priest in his parish and he was telling us about him: "He is a fine young man, interested in the people, the children, and always seems to be available when we need him. He loves a rich liturgy and preaches long and sincere homilies. Now if we could only understand what he is saying."
Yes, that is often the case.
Yes, that is often the case. I know many parishes with foreign priests and the parishioners just can't understand them. While many Catholics are well trained to pray, pay and obey, newer generations are not and some of the older ones who don’t think they are going to hell have just stopped attending Masses with foreign priests and dumb or abusive American priests.
John, with anecdotes that I am sure are accurate in some cases, paints the best picture of foreign priests in the U.S. and then gets to the argument that they are neglecting their homelands --- that's a argument Vatican might worry about.
What the Vatican is not worrying about is whether these priests are opportunist or helpful. Many whom I have known as a diocesan worker in a large city actually run away and get married (particularly the Spanish ones) after getting their permanent resident visa. Many Asian and African ones often get into trouble because of cultural clashes (I know several who have been arrested and others been ousted for their inappropriate actions.)
Most that I have known are here to get money and to get their relatives here as fast as they can. The church helps them to do that. Too, the foreign priests love stole fees. The Spanish priests tend to collect a stole fee for just about every little service to parishioners.
Yes, there are some nice foreign priests serving well. However, the bigger picture is a more complex story that the church will not discuss publicly. It is like the myth that after ordination the priests all become Father O’Malleys, as in the Bells of St. Mary. The priesthood has been a revolving door for years and years, and full of problematic priests. Many of the men leave the priesthood within five years of ordination. In the diocese where I worked, we used to refer to many “disappeared” priests. One day, they would just be gone…no announcement.
Right now, the stability is worse than ever. The quality of the priests is worse than ever. And, the people know it.
This is often a problem with
This is often a problem with foreign priests. We have a priest from India who spends a month every summer with our parish. Despite having a microphone, he shouts his entire homily--or seems to. Perhaps the inflections of his native language are different and that's why he always sounds like he's yelling. It's a bit awkward for most people to speak to priests about these matters; we don't want to hurt their feelings or appear disrespectful.
Perhaps parishes with foreign priests could invest in some classes to help with pronunciation. Seems like it would be a win-win. 8) Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Ah, the proper allocation of
Ah, the proper allocation of scarce resources. John's "but" is huge when you consider the ratio of priests to catholics in the growing South. It is helpful in a global organization, like the Church, to have movement between hemispheres because we are global but if it is going in only one direction, it certainly does hurt overall health. I always loved having priests from abroad, just as I have valued engaging with anyone from abroad. I have been lucky enough to work on five continents and the biggest gift is learning how different "beauty" can be in different geographies, how the sacred can be upheld in many different ways as well as the defeat of my own cultual imperialism. So I hope they keep coming but I also hope we can balance it out to the benefit of all.
My parish now has a pastor
My parish now has a pastor from sub-saharan Africa, and two African assistants. They are genuinely devout men to be sure, and as such give witness to the community for such virtue. However their training and mindsets are hopelessly dated. One, for example, lapses into Latin during Mass. Another gave a sermon on how the "Harry Potter" books were the tools of Satan. They seem to believe that no lay person has any education or knowledge of theology, or church history. In administering the parish they hold onto the idea that the priest has the final word on everything. Delegation of authority is a concept they vigorously oppose, citing arguments that were fading away in the 1950's. Going to confession to them is an ordeal I doubt the diocese had in mind when it brought them here.
So while the congregation can, and does love them dearly for their piety, in terms of the necessary practicalities of pastoral care they are woefully out of touch. We have lost many members as a result.
The time has come for the hierarchy to ordain others besides the celibate.
It's time for your parish to
It's time for your parish to take a cue from church history, to wit:
Get the parishioners to identify a worthy man (or woman) who demonstrates Christian leadership and authorize him/her to preside at the sacred liturgy. If the bishop refuses to ordain this person, not to worry: our primitive ancestors in the faith --- all of them true priests by virtue of their baptism --- did not have ordained ministry, either.
Liturgy is the act/duty/work/service of the people. Eucharist is thanksgiving to God.
Legalities aside, your parish will, indeed, have a valid liturgy (how can God reject a communal act of thanksgiving through his Son, the one and only High Priest?).
This arrangement was good enough for the primitive Christians, i.e., our ancestors in the faith closest to Jesus and his disciples in time and place. It's good enough for us Catholics today.
Catholics are a eucharistic people. Our needs --- not the historically bound limitations imposed by Rome --- must come first!!!
To quote a future pope: "[F]acts, as history teaches, carry more weight than pure doctrine" (Joseph Ratzinger, HIGHLIGHTS OF VATICAN II, Paulist Press/Deus Books, 1966, p. 16).
(And send these foreign presbyters back home, pronto!)
Good article, but what about
Good article, but what about priests who do not speak English well and their homilies are difficult to understand? That's a problem in some places.
Also,some foreign priests need a better introduction/course in American customs and idioms.
Some things that are accepted here are not well received as nuns not in habits, women who have independent jobs and are married with children, informality of many people's homes, dealing with children, priests, etc.
Just some thoughts.
As usual for John's writing,
As usual for John's writing, I think this is a very well balanced article on a subjuect which is of importance to our church community. In a nutshell, if the rest of the world has a greater shortage of prests than we do, then that fact should lead the church leaders to discuss the situation and make a decision on whether the current practice is just. I know it is good for us to have more priests here, but if it is at the cost of creating a shortage of priests there, then continuing as we are may not be the best course of action when we take everyone's needs into account.
May we ask God to guide us in this matter.
Re: Catholic Social
Re: Catholic Social Teaching
It seems that the only CST of interest to some of the clergy and many of the laypeople is Humanae Vitae and the like. For some of us, of course, the earlier CST is more important. But we are far from being the majority. Or, if we are a majority, we are incredibly silent.
Interesting statistics on foreign priests. In France and Switzerland, where I spend quite a bit of time every years, foreign priests are also imported. Wonderful people, who sometimes wonder how they can pull their parishioners out of their spiritual lethargy...
The comments I have been
The comments I have been hearing about foreign priests do not match John Allen's comments at all. I hear they are provincial and old fashioned to the point they most refer to them as "parochial priests" who do not remotely respect pr understand democratic systems. These are across the board comments that I hear from Massachusetts to California where I have the largest number of family members. The main complaints are that these priests do not understand our culture nor do they show any signs of courage when it comes to openness for the discussions concerned with what is wrong with the institutional Church and how do we move towards resolution of the problems, especially, the denial by the hierarchy to LISTEN and RE-EXAMINE crucial issues that are of concern to The People of God, in other words, there is no voice for the lay members in the Church and their ideas are NOT heard. Again, as has been the case on many articles by John Allen over the last three or four years, I find myself questioning how John arrives at many of the conclusions he presents about the affairs of the Catholic Church. Too many times there is a disconnect with the thoughts John Allen presents as factual. I wish this were not the case but unfortunately, it is the case.
The USA - a mission area
The USA - a mission area again!
...and ripe for the plucking!
...and ripe for the plucking!
"Therefore, for the record: I
"Therefore, for the record: I am still senior correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, and have no plans whatsoever to move on. As long as they’re willing to pay me for what I consider the best gig in journalism, I’d be an idiot to do anything else."
- Actually, John, they'd be idiots not to pay you anything you asked for. Personally, I think you're the only thing that makes this rag readable. If you go, they might as well tape the 'For Lease' sign in their office window.
Good story, BTW.
I think it's great to have a
I think it's great to have a clerical version of globalization within the American Catholic Church. I do believe that everyone benefits from being exposed to someone from another culture. I also have no issue with the financial benefits that the priest and his native parish receive. But as you point out the problem remains that there are not enough priests all around the globe. I believe there really is no shortage of people who are being called to the priesthood, it's just that we don't believe in women being ordained and that is a real tragedy. There are so many outstanding women who would make great priests. What a waste of abundant spiritual gifts.
"For the most part, however,
"For the most part, however, these guys do just fine." I can only laugh at this summary, backed by one example, of a Nigerian priest in Johnson City who knows how to kick a soccer ball. I have scores of anecdotal evidence that many of these priests from Nigeria who are showing up in our parishes are a lordly lot who are quite willing to pass on the latest order from Rome if it can help them keep their cushy positions in, say Scottsdale, quite a contrast to what might be awaiting them if they went back to Nigeria. I doubt they will ever go back. 'Twould be nice, John, if you spared us these breezy generalizations, guided by the likes of Tim Dolan.
Kaiser
Amen!!!
Amen!!!
JA, you're the best.
JA, you're the best.
This is a Pollyanna analysis
This is a Pollyanna analysis of a trend that has many disturbing aspects to it. There is a valid questioning of the missionary enterprise, even when it is clergy from the developed world going to the third world. At least in such a case, it was often a step-down process in terms of life style and physical benefits. The present scenario is a step-up process, a fundamental option to escape the realities of a third world church and to join the pampered clergy of the developed world. It is an option to identify with the rich and the "have's" rather than the "have nots". Who blames them? There are millions lined up to come "north" - to escape poverty. Ordination provides instant guarantees of privilege, power and exclusivity.
A bishop friend in Eastern Canada told me the story of an African priest who infuriated the entire congregation on a Mother's Day with a sermon that lambasted all the mothers present and accused them of causing many of the social evils of our society because "they didn't breast feed" long enough. Surely that Sunday the collection took a big dive!
In a parish nearby where I live in British Columbia a parish had a long history of association with a morning "soup kitchen" that fed the city street poor and a large group of children who otherwise would go to school without breakfast. A Polish clergy import shut down the soup kitchen using the parish facilities because he wanted to attract a more "suitable clientele" and he argued that many of the poor "were not his parishioners anyways".
The clergy shortage is a marvelous opportunity to revision the needs of the believing community and to come up with a different model of ministry. The strategy of importing clergy who are culturally out of their elements, and representative of a 19th century spirituality, only because they have the magic fingers is short-sighted and ultimately harmful of the needs of both the local church and the churches from whence these clergy come.
Thank you for telling it like
Thank you for telling it like it is.
Might we be witnessing the beginnings of an institutional implosion, spurred on by B16 and his episcopal lackeys?
God, I can only hope so!
From death comes new life.
I worked in the barriadas of
I worked in the barriadas of Lime Peru. The parish had 60,000 ... with two priests. The next parish had 130,000 with two priests. But this forced us to re-invent the church truly as the people of God. The people gave form to the church; it wasn't the decrees of the hierarchy.
Excellent analysis as usual,
Excellent analysis as usual, John! The bigger issue is one that no bishops raise, for fear of killing their careers. Celibacy is a major factor in the shortage of priests worldwide, not just in the US. Invite married priests back, begin ordination of married men, and see how many priests we'll gain worldwide. Then let's set up a system for priests to live in other countries for cultural benefit, not primarily monetary benefit. Allow every priest frrom a developing country one tour of duty in Europe or the USA if they wish. It would be more equitable than our bishops luring the best and brightest from Africa, South or Central America, with the promise of running water, 3 hots & a cot, and a salary unheard of "back home".
I like your ideas. Thank you.
I like your ideas.
Thank you.
Msgr. Ignotus, it would
Msgr. Ignotus, it would create even more problems for the ecclesia allowing for married people to enter the priesthood. The demands and roles of parenthood and married life verses that of what the Catholic priesthood demands is in total contradiction to one another. You might as well start a new religion and call it Schitholicism.
Married men can be priests,
Married men can be priests, and have been for years--as long as they are priests who converted from an Anglican or Orthodox church. Life-long Catholics, on the other hand must be celibate. Someday, someone who has a greater understanding of theology than I must explain the logic of that to me.
I agree with you Robert, and
I agree with you Robert, and that in a nutshell is the whole problem. The definition of priesthood is in direct contradiction to parenthood and married life. Jesus never intended that or He would have only chosen single men for Apostles.
Many Eastern Catholic
Many Eastern Catholic Churches have married priests, and those priests manage quite well, thank you. In fact, mnany parishes prefer having married priests, because they understand something about family life.
Yours, Robert, is the false
Yours, Robert, is the false propaganda of the celibate priest culture that now controls the church. To believe that one cannot be holy, saintly, devoted, hard-working, sacrificing and a gifted leader of the church because one is married and has children is just so anti-biblical. And, please, be fully aware that the Catholic Church always has had married priests, but perhaps not in your neighborhood of limited reference.
Unfortunately, my experience
Unfortunately, my experience with many foreign priests is that they are not fluent in English. This is most frustrating for the priest, as well as the people he serves. Should this trend of importing priests from abroad become the norm, I trust that fluency in English will be a requisite.
"I trust that fluency in
"I trust that fluency in English will be a requisite."
Why so?
Rome is not dealing with reality right now.
Why would Rome deal constructively with a matter of such minor importance as a "mother tongue"?
Thanks for the reality and
Thanks for the reality and thanks for the great references.
I got my hopes up - i.e., you
I got my hopes up - i.e., you would leave NCR. But, we need your voice wherever you are.
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