Posted on 10/18/2008 2:38:50 PM PDT by Publius804
Article published on October 18, 2008
Can you have a Jesuit college without Jesuits? Shortage of priests endangers identities
By KATHY MATHESON The Associated Press
The shortage of Roman Catholic clergy isn't just being felt in church. Religious orders that have founded and run Catholic colleges and universities across the United States - in some cases for more than a century - are grappling with how to retain the institutions' distinct religious identities in the face of declining numbers of priests and nuns.
The Rev. Timothy Lannon, president of Saint Joseph's University, can envision a time when a lay person will lead the Jesuit school in Philadelphia because of the dwindling number of his brethren. So it's important now to instill the order's philosophy on campus through curriculum and staff initiatives, he said.
"Without Jesuits, how can you call yourself Jesuit?" Lannon said.
(Excerpt) Read more at concordmonitor.com ...
Address this first: Why is Church membership declining?
The more important question is: Can a Jesuit school be Catholic?
As for the fuitcakes and modernists responsible for the crisis in Catholic identity, they ought to ban loafing around Cape May all summer for clergy. And keep a set limit on paunches. No more pasta nights out on the town.
You wrote:
“They should start by HIRING actual Catholics for teaching positions and putting Christ and the Catholic faith back into the prep schools and high schools, as in daily Mass, adoration, Rosary, and studying the real faith.”
Amen. I agree.
“As for the fuitcakes and modernists responsible for the crisis in Catholic identity, they ought to ban loafing around Cape May all summer for clergy. And keep a set limit on paunches. No more pasta nights out on the town.”
Actually I’m all for contemplative study - which can be mistaken for “loafing”. And paunches aren’t inherently wrong. Pasta? Can’t live without it!
“Loafing” definitely does not mean “contemplation” in any conventional Catholic sense of the word. Not sure how the American modernist Jesuit paunch squares with the “preferential option.” Way too much restaurant hopping for religious life.
Maybe they can stock their schools with professors drawn from the ranks of the illegals so many elements of the US catholic church has been encouraging to come in.
Church membership is NOT declining. Vocations to liberal orders are all but dead. There are at least four orders of sisters I can name with no sisters under 50, and there are very few Jesuits under 50. These are the orders that went whacko in the last 40 years or so. They quit dressing differently, bought into liberation theology and are dying. There are some very good young Jesuits and they may yet resurrect the order, but it's about on life support.
The orders like the Capuchins, certain provinces of Dominicans and Benetictines, cloistered convent orders, the Carmelites, OTOH, have plenty of vocations. They separate themselves and demonstrate their sacrifice quite cheerfully. It's somewhat about the evolution of the church, but in other ways, just goes to show that there are many more faithful Catholics being called to religious life than the world wants to believe as well as a fair amount of pruning and purging going on.
Membership is growing.
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