If you are
afraid of love, don’t ever become a priest, and don’t ever celebrate Mass. The Mass will cause a torrent of interior suffering to pour down
upon your soul, with one purpose only– to break you in half, so that all the
people of the world can enter into your heart.” - Thomas Merton
Having our
two new young priests who minister to us, makes me see the need to do more for
our them and other priests. In recent Blogs we introduced the new priests of
our Archdiocese. One, will come next week to say Mass for us and give us his
blessing.
There was
recently an article in Mother Dilecta’s Catholic paper regarding the increase
of priestly vocations. I think I have said in the past that where there is
Eucharistic adoration, there is an increase in vocations to the priesthood. But as one can see by the following statistics, it takes a lot to propel one into the priesthood.
The typical
member of the priestly ordinations in 2017 is a 34-year-old cradle Catholic. This was from a recently released survey of
444 of the 590 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States
The typical
ordinand also prayed the Rosary and regularly took part in Eucharistic
adoration before entering seminary. 77% of the men were preparing for the
diocesan priesthood. Among religious ordinations, the Jesuits (27 men),
Dominicans (12), and Capuchin Franciscans (8) have the largest ordination
classes. (Where are the Benedictines?)
25% of the
ordinands are foreign born, with the most typical foreign countries of birth
being Mexico (4%), Vietnam (3%), the Philippines
(2%), and Colombia United States for 12 years and arrived in the US
50%
attended Catholic elementary school, 41%
a Catholic high school or Catholic college (40%). 70% of ordinands are white, 14% are Latino,
10% are Asian, and 4% are black. 7% are converts, with the average age of
reception into the Church being 21. 35% have a relative who was a priest or
religious and in 80% of
cases, both parents were Catholic.
69% prayed
the Rosary, and 77% regularly participated in Eucharistic adoration before
entering the seminary.
Ordinands
typically first began to consider the priesthood at 16. 70% were encouraged by
a parish priest to consider a vocation; 45% were encouraged by a friend, 44% by
a parishioner, 40% by their mother, and 32% by their father.
43% had
earned their undergraduate degree before entering seminary, and 16% had earned
a graduate degree. 57% worked full time before entering seminary. 48% took
part in a parish youth group, 31% took part in Boy Scouts, and 23% took part in
the Knights of Columbus
15% took
part in a World Youth Day. 75% had
served as altar servers, 52% as readers, and 43% as extraordinary ministers of
Holy Communion before entering seminary.
A lot of statistics, but it is obvious that a vocation must be nourished if it is to flourish.
Eucharistic
devotions such as adoration and visits to the Blessed Sacrament
are forms
of prayer that increase our interior union with Christ. They help us gain
more
benefits from the Mass and deepen our desire to serve others. and open our
heart to the Heart of Christ.
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