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Nice post, NYer.

We are often told that the vocations shortage is due to the requirements of celibacy and chastity, yet this author's message seems much more reasonable. Religious Life does indeed require tremendous sacrifice. Women and men take vows of poverty, chastity, celibacy and obedience in order to live and preach the Gospel, and to equip the laity for their mission to the world.

That's not all they sacrifice, however. They also give up, in many cases, careers in business, law, medicine, science, and other important fields where they could make strong contributions. These things are good, in and of themselves, however, one will give them up to follow Jesus Christ. It's not realistic, on the other hand, to want to give up the married life, material comfort, and a productive secular career that benefits society for a questionable social agenda. One will sacrifice totally only for an absolute good, or an absolute Truth. One will not sacrifice totally for half measures, and half-truths.

It's interesting that the buzz among those discerning vocations often touches upon the concern of where to find an orthodox organization from which to serve, and an orthodox seminary in which to train.

I don't know Cardinal McCarrick, and am not familiar with his diocese, but I received this from an annonymous FReeper, and thought it would add to the conversation.

"Cardinal McCarrick, in Washington, DC, has SIXTY FOUR seminarians, the bulk of them in the theologate. These are lawyers, Capitol Hill staffers, and professionals of all stripes.

McCarrick is considered to be a "liberal" on this forum. Yet, how does he have so many men who want to serve the Church in the nation's capitol?

I think the reason men enter the seminary is because somebody ASKS them to! How many priests or bishops walk up to a man who is observed at Mass every week, is involved in parish life, and say "Come, follow the Lord"?

McCarrick does that all the time. When he encounters young men in a group, he asks them if they've thought about the priesthood. He introduces his seminarians at every event where they are present. He has pictures and bios of each one of them on the archdiocesan website. He has his picture taken with them, meets with them, has parties for them during vacations, and corresponds with them.

IOW, the shepherd asks men to "follow the Lord." I'll bet Bruskewitz and Cardinal George, who also has a burgeoning number of seminarians, do the same thing.

Not prayer, not liturgy, not wearing cassocks, nor anything else can substitute for the personal interest that a bishop shows in the men who will serve as priests in his diocese. If the shepherd asks you to serve, you're likely to discern if God is not calling you as well.

Now, I expect to get blasted, but McCarrick and George are going to be ordaining classes in the double digits in the next few years. And these guys aren't slugs.

There are men out there who are just waiting to be asked."

That last post echos a recent talk that I heard from the President of a Seminary. While discussing "calling" he said that in the past, people were called specifically to a vocation--be that vocation to law, medicine, or ministry, the community itself would call a person to join it. He said we are really missing a sense of that today, and if anything, we feel the need to challenge the calls of men considering the priesthood.

Indeed, the model of the Bishop or priest calling young men to the priesthood is one that would be closer to the model of Christ, and would undoubtedly be much more compelling.

Perhaps what we are looking at is a question of call and demoralization. Without orthodoxy and moral example, one would really have to wonder what one was doing dedicating oneself to a life in service of the Church. In the face of corruption, one would have to ask if the Church was indeed serving the needs of the laity.

On a side note, my own diocese is in a large urban center. We have more seminarians than any time in the last 25 years, and there are rumors that we will be moving to waiting list for seminarians if the trend continues. On the whole, I suspect our diocese is moving toward increasing orthodoxy, and the more orthodox parishes seem to be turning out more vocations. Whether they attract devout young men or foster the call of local parishioners, I do not know.