Solving the Priest Shortage

For John, BLUF:  There is a Priest shortage.  We need some innovative solutions.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

It is time to come up with new solutions to the "priest shortage" now being experienced in the United States by the Roman Catholic Church.

My preferred solution is increased orthodoxy—hewing more closely to the lines laid down by the Popes.  That approach seems to be working in the Arlington Diocese of Northern Virginia, where new parishes are opening up, rather than old ones being closed.  The growth in vocations, allowing for a growth in parishes, in Arlington springs from hewing more closely to the orthodox approach.  For us in the Boston diocese there are two problems with this solution.  The first is that it is long term.  The second is that in many dioceses there will be resistance that will not be quickly or easily overcome.

Thus my alternate solution:  We should consider a corps of educated elderly laymen ordained for the confection of the Eucharist and additional limited duties.  These men would not be full time priests, but rather gap fillers, saying a few masses, doing some Baptisms when Ordained Deacons are not available and officiating at some weddings.  Their job would be to allow Diocesian Priests to focus on those things they have been trained for and which no one else can do.  For example, hearing Confessions.

The recommendation is that a select number of men, age 65 and older, be vetted for their new duties and then given specific practical training for what they will be doing.  Limited training.  I would think sessions several times a week over six months.  Not long, grueling sessions, but short blocks of instruction in saying the Mass, something these men have been observing for decades.

The flow of the Mass these men know.  Holding the Mass sacred will be second nature to them.  For the Mass they need some specific instruction and then review and renewal training at six month intervals, just to make sure they haven't picked up any wrong habits.  Where there will be potential problems is with regard to the homily at each Mass.  As all Roman Catholics know, there are precious few good homilists in Holy Mother the Church.  From my experience I remember three.  Father Tsue, who was hard to understand, as he was from China, Father Tom Sandi, and our current Pastor at the Immaculate Conception Parish here in Lowell.  It isn't quality I worry about.  The odds are the average man over 65 will do fairly well at a seven to ten minute talk on the readings of the day.  The danger here is a drift from orthodoxy, since these men will not have had years of theological training.  How do we make up for that?

It would seem to me that the way to prepare these new Elder Priests to be satisfactory homolists will be to provide a homiletic service for them.  Each diocese should ensure the new Elder Priests receive a number of prepared homilies for each Sunday, emphasizing different aspects of the readings, thus giving the Priests options to pursue.  But, each Priest should be encouraged to follow the guidance from the Local Ordinary.

My recommendation is that some individual Bishop reach out to the Vatican and request authority to conduct a long term experiment in recruiting, screening, training and ordaining a corps of Elder Priests, to help bridge the gap in vocations in their own diocese.  With permission, the local Bishop would embark on two paths, one regarding the Elder Priests and the other the Parishes, helping the members of the Parishes to understand why this is being done and understanding that these men, embarking on this new phase in their spiritual journeys, are not trained seminarians, but rather men called to the Priesthood because of their spiritual journey and their experience along that journey.

Good luck to us.

Regards  —  Cliff