When a Diocese Undermines Its Own Vocations
Bishop Martin of Charlotte is seeking to impose 'a year as a layman' before priestly ordination. This is like an engaged man living an additional year as a bachelor before his wedding day.
This essay was published at Crisis Magazine and can be read in full there, at no cost. (FYI: This article will be of most interest to Catholics.)
One of the measures of the success of a diocese is the number of its seminarians because they reflect a spiritual ecology. If young people are not willing to give their lives in service to God when they hear the call, then either they are not listening for it or their environment represents an obstacle. But how ought we respond when a diocese actively sabotages what was working?
The vocations initiative in the Diocese of Charlotte has been thriving for well over a decade. Under the former bishop (Bishop Jugis), dozens of young men entered the minor seminary that was built in Belmont, North Carolina. The young men who entered provided their stories in publicly available videos or via miniature biographies in the diocesan newspaper. Each young man explained how he heard the call to the priesthood, when he knew, what his family was like, etc.
Oh to be a fly on the wall at the seminary.
Laity are searching for a new way from the decay of societal rot that we are experiencing. Seminary should focus on forming seminarians to become teachers in the spiritual life. Most Catholics are shockingly ignorant of their faith and heritage.