Posted on 11/30/2011 8:10:29 AM PST by GonzoII
It isn’t rocket science.
The theological and moral bizzaro-world into which US seminaries sank Atlantis-like over the decades of the 60s to the 80s is over. They didn’t sink in a day, and they won’t be raised in a day either.
But they are rising.
The reason has been, in part, bishops who made changes, and in larger part students who would no long put up with the weirdness. Men wanted Catholic formation and virile liturgy and they didn’t want to be… how to say it… hit on. Seminarians themselves began to revolt against the faculty and tell their bishops what was going on and changes were implemented. Once the shift in the episcopate Pope John Paul II worked patiently to achieve began to re-leaven the country, reform started gain momentum.
A reader sent a link to the following with the subject line: “Could it be…. Orrrthodoxy?”
From CNS with my cuts [...], emphases and comments.
Catholic seminary enrollment up, but numbers seen as only part of story
By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
Catholic News ServiceWASHINGTON (CNS) — In his first months as rector of Theological College in Washington, Father Phillip J. Brown has been confronting a problem that the national diocesan seminary for the U.S. Catholic Church “has not had for a long time” — it is bursting at the seams.
Enrollment is maxed out for the 2011-12 academic year at 90 seminarians. Five of those seminarians are back in their dioceses this year gaining pastoral experience, but a Sulpician seminarian and five priests from other countries also live there, bringing the total number of residents to 91 plus faculty members.
“If I had to start with a problem, that’s the problem I’d like to have,” Father Brown told Catholic News Service. “It’s a very healthy sign, a positive sign for Theological College and for the U.S. priesthood.”
The trend of rising seminary enrollment is being duplicated around the country:
– At the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, 40 new seminarians arrived this year, bringing total enrollment to 186, the highest level since the 1970s.
– St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity [SPS... the den-of-horrors I went to in the 80s.] at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., welcomed 30 new graduate-level seminarians, making its class of 100 seminarians the largest since 1980. The influx forced 24 seminarians and two priests off campus into leased space at a former convent. [Anecdote: A couple years ago when I was visiting John H at Leaflet Missal (church goods) in St. Paul, he said he was super busy getting the clerical clothing in a sorted for the orders from all the seminarians at SPS. I didn't, at first, grasp what he was saying. Then he told me that the decision had been made that all the major seminarians were to wear clerical dress. I, incredulous, nearly passed-out.]
[...]But Theological College’s Father Brown said a rise in enrollment is only part of the story.
“It’s not just the numbers but the quality and spirit of the men who are coming,” he told CNS.
“I’m tremendously impressed with the quality of the candidates, their zeal,” he added. “We’re seeing a real renewal of the priesthood.”
[...]
The power of prayer...
Ping.
Worth the wait. Deo Gratias.
If the RC will clean the sodomites out of their orders and seminaries it will be an enormous gift to Christendom. We would all gain from a reinvigorated, healthy Catholicism.
Exactly! A humble suggestion for all of us:
We could commit to pray DAILY the prayer for priests (if you think about it this can include seminarians and deacons too) which can be found at post #11 on the Catholic Caucus thread done each day by Salvation:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2813887/posts
I am a seminarian at St. Meinrad in southern Indiana. We also started the school year at capacity. It’s a good problem to have.
Spoken like a true brother.
Read the article. That's precisely what we're doing, and the result is unsurprising.
Seems to me that our friends in the construction trades can provide a solution to Seraphicaviary’s little “problem”.
Building new classrooms and dorms was done at Mount Angel in Oregon.........and they are still bursting at the seams.
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Keep the Ban
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Married Priests Aren’t the Answer (a seminarian states his view)
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The world has not run out of architects, builders, and building materials.
Religion Moderator:
This person Salvation is purposely trying to be annoying by pinging me on stories that I am not involved with. I know you two are sympatico. You deleted a post of mine 2 days ago in reference to Salvation that I made, when I protested that Salvation took me unfairly to you some time ago. So I want to bring this childish behavior to light in the that hope this is the end of it.
I am wondering if indeed the world has run out of real Christians who are familiar with”turning the other cheek” or taking the “log out of their eye”
We are in the process of designing a new church, and the architect did not catechizing on what a Catholic Church needed to look like at all. Just put up his favorites and a very complex processional/cruciform design.
When I asked him to explain “trancepts” his reply to me was, and I quote, “I hate transcepts and I don’t like to build them.”
Now an architect that is setting ideas before a parish should be willing to explain trancepts without dissing the questioner, right?
If you want to see what he came up with (and our parishioners followed along because they knew no better, do a google for Akron plan and amphitheatres. Ugh.
I wasn’t spreading any untruths about the RC church. I was applauding the effort.
FYI: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2814421/posts
The housecleaning isn’t yet complete, and this is serious.
Awesome news! I grew up in Indiana, and my Catholic school 8th grade class took a trip down to St. Meinrad from Indianapolis. It is beautiful down there (but then I think Southern Indiana in general is really pretty).
I now live in southeast Ohio (Diocese of Steubenville) and we have a very small but vibrant parish. My son (age 9) will be serving his first Mass on the 18th. He’s excited! Who knows, maybe he’ll be Father Steven someday ;)
Prayers for a very fruitful course of study for you and for your fellow seminarians!
Simply let Salvation know if you do not want to be on his/her ping list. And/or if you receive an unwanted ping, ignore it.
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