Papal Honors awarded to priests, religious, laity of LA Archdiocese (Mahony Alert!)

The Tidings ^ | December 2, 2005

[old and tired]

I don't know much about these appointments, but I know the biggest batch of monsingnorships (if that's a word) bestowed upon our clergy in Philly came right before Bevilacqua retired. It was his parting gift to many of his priests, including my own pastor. I'm fairly certain in Philly a pastor Monsignor is paid more than a pastor Father.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I'm going to look at this as really good news - it could be Mahoney's fine parting gift to many of his flock.

[Aquinasfan]

"Zen Interfaith Retreat"?????

Ugh.

[dangus]

Geez. The lack of Catholicism in Los Angeles Diocese is an objective fact. 11 1/4 million residents, 4.35 million Catholics, and 288 parishes in just three counties. And they still rely on religious (i.e., likely from out of the diocese) to cover 69 parishes and have not priest for 38 parishes.

And how many diocesan ordinations were there? just six.

[Frank Sheed]

My take is simple: keep your friends close but your enemies closer! (with all due apologies to Our glorious Holy Father and to the screenwriters of The Godfather). Let's see if a hammer is not in the offing.

F

[Frank Sheed]

You are an astute observer. I think I like the way you think.

F

[Deo volente]

"In my opinion, the Vatican knows full well what kind of bishop Mahoney is, but is content to make nice with him until his retirement--which, sadly, is still a decade away"




Actually, Mahony will turn 75 on February 27, 2011.

So we should be rid of him in just over 5 years, God willing.

[k omalley]

I was in Rome in November and was with a small group which had a private audience with Cardinal Arinze. After he spoke with us, his secretary, a monsignor, spent some time with us and he gave the definite impression that they were not happy with Mahony's antics but not much could be done because of collegiality.

[gbcdoj]

When Msgr. Ronald Knox was raised to the dignity of being a Protonotary Apostolic (back in the 1920s), he wrote a spoof of a Gilbert and Sullivan tune which he entitled: "I Am The Very Model Of An Apostolic Protonotary."

I’m the sort of man they make an Apostolic Protonotary –
I’ve written reams and reams of prose, and quite a lot of poetry:
To walk on garden-rollers is among my minor glories,
And I used to be prevailed upon to write detective stories;
I can also punt canoes (or, as they say in Greenland) kayaks,
And had quite a flair at one time for composing elegiacs;
I can look up trains in Bradshaw*, on occasions locomotory,
As undoubtedly becomes an Apostolic Protonotary.


In short, when I’ve unravelled all the complicated mystery,
About what the Holy Office does, the Rota, the Consistory;
When I’ve studied more theology, and don’t get quite so drowsy on
Attending learned lectures which discuss the Homoousion;
When I’ve somehow put behind me (with my poor command of French) a list,
Of authors whose philosophy is known as Existentialist,
When my learning on a multitude of themes is less bucolic –
There’s ne’er a Protonotary will be so Apostolic.

[kstewskis]

Team-'fession PING!

[dangus]

Oooh! 13 monsignors! He must luuuuuv Los Angeles.

Talk about ridiculous! I did some research. The last diocese he made monsignors for was La Crosse, Wisconsin. He made 8 monsignors. That's about TEN TIMES more monsignors per Catholic resident than in Los Angeles.

He also recently made 13 monsignors in Detroit, which is hardly a thriving archdiocese. But it does have only one-third the Catholic population that Los Angeles does.

We know what the Pope REEEEAALLY looks at as a sign of divine favor is ordinations. If a diocese, movement, or order is doing something right, the logic goes, the Holy Spirit will call many people to the priesthood through it.

So how many priests were ordained last year of the 4.35 million in Los Angeles, the largest diocese in America, and one of the largest in the world? A whopping six.

Chicago, with a population of about half, 2.42 million, tied for the lead in the United States with 16. The other diocese it tied with? Lowly St. Paul, Minnesota, which had 16 ordinations among only 730,000 Catholics. Yet even St. Paul would be humbled (well, St. Paul, the city, anyway) by Denver, which ordained 14. Denver's population is only 344,000. And dozens of others from other diocese also were ordained after graduating from Denver's seminary.

I searched the internet for the number of seminarians from each of the largest diocese. Since they publicize larger classes more, I tried not to let that affect my results, but I picked the most recent year for which data was available. If I couldn't get reliable statistics, I skipped counting the diocese. I ended up excluding 4. Usually, only diocesan priests (who are most of the nations' preists) were counted, but it's possible that one or two of my sources included religious priests.

The ten largest dioceses (7 of them being archdiocese) ordaining 73 priests. The next ten largest dioceses graduated 44. What's remarkable is that these diocese were only about included only about half the total number of Catholics, and 30 of the 73 priests from the largest diocese had come from just two dioceses.

The *next* 10 largest diocese actually ordained still *more* priests, a total of 47! And I quit researching after that, but considering how Arlington, Denver and Sacramento I believe are in the next 10 largest dioceses (#s 31-40, if you're having trouble keeping track), the number might well be still higher.

[dangus]

Ick I botched a paragraph pretty bad. Here's what I MEANT to say

The ten largest dioceses (7 of them being archdiocese) ordaining 73 priests. The next ten largest dioceses graduated 44. What's remarkable is that these dioceses included only about half the number of Catholics as the 10 largest dioceses; and 30 of the 73 priests from the largest dioceses had come from just two of them.

[onyx]

What have we done now...lol?

[NYer]

So how many priests were ordained last year of the 4.35 million in Los Angeles, the largest diocese in America, and one of the largest in the world? A whopping six.

You are good!!! Great statistics and analysis. Thank you for making the time to do this.

[RKBA Democrat]

"Over at his WITL blog, Rocco Palmo has rung in with this glowing assessment."

I guess it would be in poor taste for LA Roman Catholics to dedicate their Canon 32-1 letters to him.