One of the more frustrating aspects of being a Catholic since Vatican II is seeing constant evidence of decline in the Church while simultaneously being subjected to endless happy talk about the latest bromide like the new evangelism. Honest assessment is necessary before remedial action can be applied.
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I wonder what would happen if, instead of being content to merely manage the Church’s decline, our bishops were required to show improvement in their respective dioceses.
It would be a simple matter of tracking records of baptisms, weddings, conversions, vocations, Mass attendance, and donations. Perhaps a chancery could fudge some of those figures, but it’d be a tough scam to maintain if tried.
If a bishop knew that his chance for a red hat or a plum diocese or a committee chair in the USCCB depended on getting his numbers up, we might see bishops who were more interested in effective evangelization instead of just spouting bromides about how great things are.
Also, it might be a good idea to rule that if a bishop consistently doesn’t make his quotas, he doesn’t get a seat on USCCB committees, nor can he vote on matters before the Council. After all, if he’s doing a bunk job in his diocese, why should his lack of abilities be extended into the Church nationwide?
Want a red hat? Get some butts into pews, bring in converts, open parishes instead of close them, and get yourself so many vocations you have to expand your seminary. Or watch your episcopal career wither.
I suspect that approach might focus a few bishops’ minds.
If one looks at all of the decline accurately, just about all of it is entwined with either a failure to preach sexual morality or open opposition to it: Loss of practice, loss of faith, immorality among priests, soft clergy, homosexual clergy.
Humanae Vitae is True And until it’s preached from the rooftops there will be no new Evangelization.
[…] AFTER 800 YEARS, THE FRANCISCANS AND DOMINICANS ARE LEAVING THE DIOCESE OF WATERFORD […]
Dear Clinton, Sadly there is, no doubt, “tracking” of the clergy, but not along the lines you suggest. The Lavender Mafia – which pervades the church worldwide from top to bottom – knows its own and knows who had done what where with whom when and how, and who hasn’t. And what records, files, recordings, photos, images, copies of folks engaged in such exist. There is only one of the criteria that you mention that they care about – donations. In the earthly power structure of the church, to advance, a priest MUST preach the Jorge gospel/heresies of no hell, no sin, no objective truth, and all that these entail re: extramarital sex as love and abominations as virtue. And just imagine the extensive blackmailing that goes on when e.g. a LM priest wants to be a Msgr; or an archbishop active in LM circles wants to be a Prince [of the church]; a bishop is accused with proof of criminal predation; or a Cardinal with toyboys and a luxury beach house wants to go quietly off into the sunset with some million$s of the faithfuls’ money. We already know their fruits. Guy, Texas
Yes Guy, I’d imagine the Lavender Mafia would use every bit of its considerable resources to strangle any episcopal accountability in the cradle.
And there is no interest in reversing the demographic chasm opening under the Church in the USA. I recall the excellent Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska, +Fabian Bruskewitz— the man was friendly to tradition, no-nonsense, and absolutely unafraid to proclaim Catholic truths. So effective was he that during his tenure (1992-2012) he had to do that rare thing: he had to build a new seminary to house all the vocations he had in his tiny diocese. Yet did we see his brother bishops clamoring to hear how he brought that miracle about? Was he asked to chair any USCCB committee on fostering vocations? Did any of his brother bishops send their Vocations Directors to Nebraska to see how they might replicate +Bruskewitz’s success back home?
No, of course not.
Bishop Bruskewitz shamed his brother bishops with his example. His success proved that the implosion of the Church’s vocations wasn’t inevitable nor due to a failure on the part of the laity— it proved the vocations were there, but the bishops were simply uninterested in doing what it took to harvest them. Managing decline is easier than doing what it takes to be a real bishop.
Bp. Bruskewitz may have been attracting people from outside Lincoln. I do recall at one point that proportionate to the local Catholic population, Lincoln had 6x as many seminarians. Arlington, Va. under Bp. Keating had an effective vocations program. I tried to have discussion in 2002 with the local novus ordinary priest in my little town about the variation in how common are vocations and he wasn’t the least bit interested. He wasn’t preoccupied with anything else. He was parked on a lawn chair on the campus of a local college while his Irish setter enjoyed a romp in the grass.
There were things I hadn’t known about his viewpoint which were public after he retired and delineated in his obituary.
Art Deco, I’m sure Bishop Bruskewitz was attracting vocations from outside Lincoln, in addition to his home-grown candidates. Not sure what the % of the total might be, but it’s a safe bet there were men who traveled to Nebraska just to go to his seminary.
Which makes one wonder: why did those men leave their own home dioceses to go to seminary there? I’ve heard nothing to suggest Lincoln had lower standards than everywhere else…
And I’ve never heard of +Bruskewitz’s episcopal peers asking why his seminary attracted men from across the country.
That lack of curiosity on the bishops’ part is telling.
New priests in Hartford, CT diocese last year = 0%. Little tiny rural Winsted (Franciscan run) parish…2 plus one in the wings.
I’m too pinned down at the moment to research this, but I wouldn’t doubt it, that those Franciscan’s and Bishop Bruskewitz have one thing in common. Jesus.
Adoration chapels and Perpetual Eucharistic adoration is my guess as to the vocation growth in small rural communities.
He is amazing.
He does the heavy lifting.
All we must do is bring Him out and adore Him.