Why are there so few Catholic priests in the United States these days? | Opinion

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By Michael Wisniewski

There were nearly 60,000 Catholic priests in these United States in 1965. The seminaries were packed as young men were turned away for lack of space. Fifty years later, that number has practically halved.

There are only about 37,000 priests today and by next year half of all active priests will reach the minimum retirement age of 70. Only 600 new priests will be ordained in the United States this year, marking a titanic drop of 65% since 1965. Seminaries are abandoned. . Parishes close. Meanwhile, the number of Catholics in the United States has grown from 48 million in 1965 to more than 70 million in 2017 (not counting the 30 million adult former Catholics). So where have all the priests gone?

Some would say people just stopped believing. Or that faith has taken precedence over this climate of comfort to which we have so easily acclimated. The problem is not that people have stopped believing, the problem is what people have been led to believe. Prayer is natural, almost instinctive, in the face of an existential threat, such as ill health or times of war or natural disaster. But when our bellies are full and famine is no fear, when our darkest desires pose no calamity to our consciences, do our eyes so willingly turn away from the heavenly abode. People were led to believe that there was nothing left to pray for.

Lex orandi, lex credendi. How we pray determines what we believe. If we don’t get down on our knees every night in sincere examination of conscience, or down on our knees every morning in humble thanksgiving, then we think it’s unnecessary. If we think it’s not necessary, it’s because we’re lying to ourselves. Likewise, if we forgo our Sunday best and show up before the King of Kings at church in flip flops, shorts and Tommy Bahama shirts as if we were going to the beach, if we dare to arrive in nothing less than our finest garments, it is because we believe that Our Lord does not deserve such courtesy.

And how many times a day, even with the best intentions, do we disobey? Or confuse what we want to do with what we should do. We allow our sins rather than eradicate them. We confuse compassion and charity, vice and virtue. With such mixed messages, especially from our priests, it is no wonder that Mass attendance is dwindling and the priesthood is disappearing.

What was it over fifty years ago that helped people become so religious, not only Catholics but also Protestants and Jews and almost all Americans? According to a Gallup report, only 2% of Americans were irreligious in 1965, compared to 20% in 2017. Back then, people understood that to change the world, they had to change themselves first. Improvisation, innovation and individuality have no place at the proverbial wedding feast and no place at the altar. We must shed our bad habits as a serpent sheds its skin and put on the armor of faith and the shield of good purpose. Submission, obedience, and unity are the keys to the kingdom.

Rest assured, good news is on the horizon. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a relatively small international priestly society instituted just thirty years ago, is growing. The Fraternity has 427 members throughout the world in 129 different dioceses. Most interesting, however, is that the average age of its members is only 37 years old.

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Prince is another young and rising international society that was founded in Africa in 1990 and expanded to the United States in eight states. These two orders are dedicated to the preservation of the extraordinary form of the sacred liturgy. The Latin Mass was responsible for abundant fruit more than 50 years ago and its suppression has only contributed to today’s moral collapse. This is why the enemies of the Church are so resistant to embracing it and tireless to contain it.

But families flock to their parishes – not out of a sense of rigidity but out of a search for righteous respect. Young men enter their seminaries and young women enter traditional convents to restore what was hidden from them. New diocesan priests are also coming out of the seminary more traditional than even their instructors. It is fidelity to the faith, not nostalgia. This new generation of religious, those in the modern world but not part of it, are at the forefront of the battle to reclaim our country for the faith of our fathers. And they win.

Michael Wisniewski describes himself as a Cradle Catholic. He is a resident of Jersey City

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