Married priests or eucharistic famine

The editors of America, a Jesuit magazine, argue that the Catholic Church must consider allowing priests to marry:



Silence and fervent prayer for vocations are no longer adequate responses to the priest shortage in the United States. As the church prepares to observe the Year of the Priest, which begins on June 19, open discussion about how to sustain the church as a eucharistic community of faith and fortify the pastoral life of Catholic congregations has become imperative. For making do within the limits set by present demographic trends presents a double threat to Catholic life: Catholic communities will become only infrequent eucharistic communities, or eucharistic communities will be severed from the pastoral care and public witness of priests.

In 2008 the sociologist Dean Hoge said: “We need at least a doubling of ordinations to maintain the American priesthood as we know it now. But this is impossible.” Of current diocesan priests, only 70 percent are available for parish ministry, with the rest sick, retired or absent for a variety of reasons, according to Mary Gautier of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. An increasing number of Catholics are unable to participate in a Sunday or weekday Mass. All this prompts the question, Will the priest shortage impose a eucharistic famine on the Catholic people?

Meanwhile, Daniel Burke at Religion News Service recall what happened the last time America voiced opinions the Vatican did not like.

Posted by Jim Naughton on April 30, 2009 7:10 AM | |
Comments (3)

Sometimes the Will of God is mysterious and dim. Sometimes it is plainer that the nose on one's face. This one is a no-brainer.

Posted by Peter Pearson [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 30, 2009 9:41 AM

30 years ago I married an RC priest and his wife and discovered a national network of married priests, then numbering c. 15,000. Most would have been glad to function as non-stipendiary priests for the RC Church. I can only presume that the numbers have increased since then?

Robert McCloskey

Posted by BOBM [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 30, 2009 10:13 PM

This strike me as a glass-half-empty-or-glass-half-full sort of thing. Are there too few priests or so many Catholics?

"Eucharistic famine" also seems a bit over the top to me. Here in New Mexico a hundred years ago the country may have seen priest once a year, but the Faith flourished. There is perhaps a greater danger that something will be taken for granted when available than discounted when an effort must be made to obtain it.

Posted by rick allen [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 1, 2009 7:47 AM

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