In 2015 there was a 25% increase in ordinations to the priesthood as 595 men were ordained last year, up from 477 in 2014.Great news!!
Indeed, the USCCB study reveals that nine percent of all ordinands reported being discouraged from considering a priestly vocation by a priest or other clergyman, and 12% report that their fathers, and nine percent of their mothers discouraged them from the priesthood.Do you really want to be remembered eternally as that guy?
But this positive news is often rejected by progressives. Today, the renewal is most pronounced in Madison, Wisconsin under the inspiring leadership of Bishop Robert Morlino. Last spring, the Diocese of Madison announced a vocations initiative intended to raise funds to support the tremendous surge in vocations in that Diocese. There are now 33 seminarians, up from just six in 2003 when Bishop Morlino arrived. The diocese needs $30 million to educate current and future seminarians—and they distributed pledge cards—asking parishioners to dig deep—and they more than met the challenge.We know why progressives in fact do not want vocations. They want women priestesses. They want married clergy (of course it's allowable, but something that certainly would not increase vocations to the priesthood). They want the laity to perform the functions of the priestly ministry. And they want to fundamentally change what the Catholic Church teaches and practices; so we can cast off the superstitious mumbo jumbo and all be the best modernist humanitarians we can be.
The success in Madison and elsewhere shows that faithfulness and orthodoxy are compelling and attractive. Meanwhile, progressivism relies on a tired and sterile rebelliousness.They know it and it's got them scared. Bishops must remember this if they want to secure the future of their dioceses. Not just in private, but public acts of orthodoxy and dare I say traditional Catholic devotion are attractive and beautiful.
read the whole report over at Catholic World Report
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