Priests-Dying out?

LadyJ

Hey all.
Was just thinking the other day how you rarely see any young priests in Ireland. Is anyone even entering the priesthood these days? It seems to me that there will probably be a severe shortage of nuns and priests within about 20 years or so.
What does everyone think? Is anyone here thinking of taking vows or know anybody who is? Just curious.

netwhizkid

Celibacy isn't hereditary you know, Let priests marry and express human love and emotions and you will see people becoming priests again. Anyway why would anyone want to join or be part of a 2,000yr old lie.

Ania

Anyway why would anyone want to join or be part of a 2,000yr old lie.

What lie are you talking about?
If you mean the priesthood, you are wrong with *2000years* because the first Christian priests were married and the very first Christian priest was even a woman and there was even a female pope.

netwhizkid

we don't see the catholic faith being very tolerant of women or their needs nowadays though. do we ? everything that is even suggested is now shot down them. An example is the deacon of St. Patricks cathedral in New York caught having an affair with his secretary, the man was only human, like if i was in his situation too, i'd fall for the same woman. Basically priests are men and thus should be allowed marry. The only new priests now are either gay or have been gilted in love so many times that this is their only escape.

Ania

The only new priests now are either gay or have been gilted in love so many times that this is their only escape.

Nonsense!
And if you are right... so what?

netwhizkid

Ania wrote:

so what?

This is not just a so what issue, if the Catholic Church was interested in staying in touch with modern society and young people in general it would be more relaxed on issues like contraception, it's attitudes towards young people and issues like priests getting married. Young people today in Ireland anyway want to.

Enjoy life to its fullest, who knows what lies after it if anything. Becoming part of the church quite simply could not fit in with anypart of that especially for men. For most non-gay men life without a woman is quite simply uncomprehensible, and sometimes it is hell with them too I could almost guarantee that if the church allowed priests to marry and have girlfriends (not while married obviously) vocations in the priesthood would double if not trible.

solice

I kind of agree with you to an extent. But organised religion is not formed around what people want, people are formed areound their religion if you know what i mean. The catholic church shouldnt have to change its beliefs to become more desirable, it could alter its stance on something, for example saying that "condoms are wrong but we accept that they are a good for preventing the spread of STIs but we believe that having one monogamus (my spelling is terrible) relationship would be better" would be good and not going against their beliefs.

To the OP, i live in Maynooth at the moment and there are a few young priests around the place. I havent seen any Irish ones though. The all seem to be of African or South American descent. So i assume that we are going to be receiving missions in a couple of years to fill in the shortages.
Was in mellifont abbey in Meath at the weekend, there was 3 yung priests there, all seemed to be Irish but i couldnt be sure.

Ania

For most non-gay men life without a woman is quite simply uncomprehensible

Hmmm... Robinson Crusoe might disagree!

Talliesin

For most non-gay men life without a woman is quite simply uncomprehensible

Would likely be about the same as life without a man for most gay men.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

neuro-praxis

An article on the slight increase in applicants for the priesthood recently.

UU

It's a shame the Church don't allow priestesses(women priests) and sexual relationships for priests. Maybe they should have a look at the Protestants and even the Jews for example. I find it funny that rabbis are allowed to marry and women can become rabbis(more in Reform Judaism than Orthodox) and I've always considered Jews to be quite old-fashioned but it looks like the Catholic Church has beaten them. Homosexual marriages are even allowed in Reform Judaism! Who ever knew?

catholicireland

Anyway why would anyone want to join or be part of a 2,000yr old lie.

Thats your own opinion. Dont state it as a fact. If your so anti-Church why are you on a Christianity board? Do you say the same for every religion?

Hey all.
Was just thinking the other day how you rarely see any young priests in Ireland. Is anyone even entering the priesthood these days? It seems to me that there will probably be a severe shortage of nuns and priests within about 20 years or so.
What does everyone think? Is anyone here thinking of taking vows or know anybody who is? Just curious.

I know a guy in his 20's who's joining the priesthood so theres one. I dont think you have to worry too much LadyZ

the_syco

12 more priests went to priest school this year (in Maynooth).

netwhizkid

catholicireland wrote:

Thats your own opinion. Dont state it as a fact. If your so anti-Church why are you on a Christianity board? Do you say the same for every religion?

I am not exactly anti-church i was trying to point out the hideous mistakes that the Catholic Church are making. I am very sceptical myself, btw i wasn't stating my opinions as fact or anything for that matter. However can you state as fact that everything that supposdly happened 2,000yrs did actually happen. I am not anti-church like even if the whole thing is a lie and whatever. It is giving people everywhere a sense of belonging and meaning and of course hope to all those whose life well isn't worth tuppence of the eternal paradise they can look forward to. I would just like the church to be more modern, more open and transparent.

Excelsior

What you would like the church to be counts for nothing since you are not in it. Do you often write letters to the IFA or to the Irish Jigsaw Club telling them how you would like them to change?

It can only give them a sense of meaning if it is true, Netwhizkid. For it to mean something it has to be something.

You didn't state an opinion about the Roman Catholic church being a 2000 year old lie. The sentence reads as a declaration of what you consider to be fact. It isn't. There is a huge amount of substantial evidence and thought behind Chrisitianity as you can read if you browse some of the topics on this forum.

Netwhizkid, just soften the attitude a little so as to be more in line with the charter. People will listen to you more readily if you take a calmer approach.

catholicireland

I would just like the church to be more modern, more open and transparent.

Oh right, so if it meets all the new liberal checkpoints on your list then it will not be a lie?? Come on, your not makeing sense.

Anyway why would anyone want to join or be part of a 2,000yr old lie.

nobodythere

Deliberate celibacy makes human go crazy crazy!!!
And so they turn to children...

UU

netwhizkid wrote:

I would just like the church to be more modern, more open and transparent.

So would I, netwhizkid! That's one of the reasons why I'm not Catholic anymore - they make out that homosexuality is evil, and to a certain extent there are a lot of lies within it, such as some clergymen and nuns acting as though they're so holy when you look at cases of child harassment, (even though it isn't a large percentage). I'm not anti-Catholic and I'm not discriminating against the faith but it's not exactly the perfect religion, there is none. There are abuses within Protestantism, Islam, Judaism, etc. too as we're humans at the end of the day and no human is perfect.

I think the Church should try and be a bit more liberal, and open as it would do the religion good. They should certainly allow priests to marry and women to be priests.

P.S. I also think that all state schools should be muti-denominational as in France.

solice

http://www.siglamag.com/blog/2005/08/28/gay-men-need-not-apply/

how true this is i dont know. It will prob reduce the number of people going to seminary even more though
so much for love the sinner and not the sin and all that lark. Typical way of squirming out of a problem, find a scapegoat and call them peadophiles

NeilJ

Can someone please tell me where in the bible it says Priests can't marry and where it says women can't become Priests?? They don't have to change their minds on a lot of issues, but if they want to keep going they are going to have to get rid of a lot of the rules they have made up over the years i.e. celibacy (sp?) etc.

Neil

AndyWarhol

NeilJ wrote:

Can someone please tell me where in the bible it says Priests can't marry and where it says women can't become Priests?? They don't have to change their minds on a lot of issues, but if they want to keep going they are going to have to get rid of a lot of the rules they have made up over the years i.e. celibacy (sp?) etc.

Neil

The Church doesn't 'have' to do anything and is not affected by popular opinion. The Church is not a democracy. Pope Benedict has recently announced that he is going to re-engage in talks with the Pious X breakaways; a sign, I hope, that things are not going to change much. I see this move as a reminder that the Church is grounded in solid foundations.

solice

AndyWarhol wrote:

I see this move as a reminder that the Church is grounded in solid foundations.

Of discrimination, scape goats, blood and war. But that is just my opinion. I do agree that the church shouldnt have to change its beliefs in order to warm to someone

catholicireland

Deliberate celibacy makes human go crazy crazy!!!
And so they turn to children...

So if that was correct, every Catholic priest in the world is a peadophile!
Your jokes are not funny im afraid. :rolleyes:

That's one of the reasons why I'm not Catholic anymore - they make out that homosexuality is evil,

They say its a sin, not evil. I would have to agree with them.

http://www.siglamag.com/blog/2005/0...need-not-apply/

I dont see the problem. I dont want a gay man as my local parish priest to be honest.

Of discrimination, scape goats, blood and war. But that is just my opinion. I do agree that the church shouldnt have to change its beliefs in order to warm to someone

Some people are very strange. :rolleyes: The church is about love of Jesus Christ.

solice

catholicireland wrote:

I dont see the problem. I dont want a gay man as my local parish priest to be honest.

What you want is irrelevant! If a gay man wants to become a priest and dedicate his life to god then tough! Grow up

catholicireland

What you want is irrelevant! If a gay man wants to become a priest and dedicate his life to god then tough! Grow up

Im afraid its not irrelevant. Gay men are banned from being priests so my opinion is the one of the Church and your opinion is the one that is irrelevent im afraid.

Sapien

catholicireland wrote:

Im afraid its not irrelevant. Gay men are banned from being priests so my opinion is the one of the Church and your opinion is the one that is irrelevent im afraid.

Is this true? Are celibate gay men not permitted to be priests?

UU

catholicireland wrote:

Im afraid its not irrelevant. Gay men are banned from being priests so my opinion is the one of the Church and your opinion is the one that is irrelevent im afraid.

You may think our opinions are irrelevent but I think they're very relevent in modern society. You're entitled to your opinions but at this stage in my life I want nothing to do with my old faith and have given up on a conservative, higher-archey church that says you must believe in "this" and you must not believe in "that" and "such and such" is a sin and then contradicts many issues and those become hypocrits(and it's not the only religion). I'm glad I became Unitarian Universalist as now I feel free. Anyway, if I was homosexual and Catholic, I wouldn't want to become a priest into a religion that is hostile towards me because of my sexuality. Sure there are many priests who are gay already . . .

catholicireland wrote:

Some people are very strange. The church is about love of Jesus Christ.

Yeah, I've also come to that conclusion too - a church body full of old priests who claim themselves to be so holy when many are just the same as any ordinary person, don't marry and procreate and ban woman from entering the priesthood. I'm sure it's about the love of Christ but I'd love if Christ would come back down and give the church a wake up call to today's changing society!

I don't meen to sound offensive and anti-Catholic which I am not. In fact I believe every religion of the world has something unique to offer but I just think for their own sake, that the church should try to become more in touch with modern times and more accepting of different people and that's very much my own opinion. Thank you.

LadyJ

Sapien wrote:

Is this true? Are celibate gay men not permitted to be priests?

Good point. What difference does it make if you're gay or straight as long as you're celibate?
It's not like priests don't have desires. Whether gay or straight it shouldn't matter as long as they don't act on it. In fact,being a catholic priest might as well be a form of sexuality all on it's own considering you lie with neither man or woman.

Cathy

catholicireland, I was under the impression that the church doesn't consider homosexuals "bad", unless they're actively homosexual. If they're celibate, I thought it wasn't a problem.
If a priest is celibate, as they're supposed to be, then what difference does it make if they're gay or straight?

UU

catholicireland wrote:

Im afraid its not irrelevant. Gay men are banned from being priests so my opinion is the one of the Church and your opinion is the one that is irrelevent im afraid.

Catholicireland, if priests are supposed to be celibate then why are gay ones exluded from entering priesthood as heterosexual ones aren't allowed to have a sexual relationship anyway and if a priest is caught having a relationship with a female, he is in serious trouble. Sapien, LadyJ and Cathy all made very good (and obvious) points and I thank them for pointing them out to me.

And what is the real reason why priests have to be celibate anyway other than the church's financial reasons. I mean they're only human and God obviously intended for humans to have sexual relationships - straight and gay. How can priests possibly join two people in matrimony, discourage divorce and give marriage conselling if they don't understand relationships fully and can't experience it! Please reply as I would really like to know. Thank you.