CATHOLIC LIFE Community Group
proud catholic's discussing life as a catholic.from singles, marriage, views, thoughts,teachings,experiences,teens,adults,come one come all....
I have been going to a catholic church since birth and noticed that the amount of folks have dwindled. I remeember one movie stating that if I thought my God was representeded in the holy eucruist I would walk on my knees to go to church.
Where have we all gone?
Where have we all gone?
Hello
yooo hoooo....where are you?
ipf it's the same in our church, a bit sad.
I hope I can be of assistance to you. I am an inactive priest (not kicked out or anything like that) still in good standings with the Church, however I took a leave because we had a Bishop who suffered mental illness and made my life and others impossible to work with. I left 5 years ago and a year and a half later the Bishop was forcibly retired at the age of 60 (retirement is generally 75). He was an incredibility divisive person and did much damage to the diocese with priest morale at an all-time low. When I left I needed to find a job to support myself, trust me the Church does very little to support their priests. I ended up becoming a Therapeutic Foster Care Parent and a Mobile Therapist. I ended up adopting three children out of the foster care system because I believe every child deserves a place to call home. I know this sounds crazy, however, another priest from my diocese had done the same thing ten years prior to my leaving with the okay from the Bishop. Once the Bishop was retired I made an appointment with the new Bishop whom I knew personally to see about the possibility of returning. He told me given the present atmosphere in the Church he did not think it would appropriate to return at this time because, “it may confused the faithful.” To be honest he was fearful that people would not understand, not be supportive and start rumors of making accusation. Trust me in my 20 years of priesthood I have seen some very unholy people, including priests and bishops who claim to be “religious” act in very unholy manner. So here I am at your disposable, if you will. For now I am just setting on the sidelines waiting for my children to turn 18 so I am able to return to active ministry. I am not some radical liberal, nor some psychotic conservative who believes they are holier than the Church. I am faithful to Jesus Christ, the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. Peace
As for the reasons for shortage of priest, it has nothing to do with marriage; the Episcopal, Lutheran and Orthodox Churched are all suffering from shortage of clergy. It is because we are living in a secular society with the depletion of the family. Families, hardly sit down for a meal together. They are too busy with outside activity, even little league, basketball, football, swim team, gymnastic, etc. takes precedence over Mass attendance and Religious education. And yet they demand their child receive the sacrament which diminishes the beauty and wonderful gift that they are. There are too many things tearing at the fabric of families, which includes television, social media, internet, cell phones, etc. Parents are not parenting, not setting limits, being easily manipulated, not knowing where their kid are, what they are doing or who they are with. Parents have lost a moral compass and are exposing their children to inappropriate media. The pedophile scandal removed the trust of the people, the honor of being priest and has painted the guilty and the innocent with the same brush. That is why there is a shortage of priest. Peace