A new program encourages current priests to encourage youth to join the priesthood. I support it, but it's disturbing that the RCC in America has to establish a "program" to do what should be natural and what was once a commonly-accepted aspect of being a priest. NYT Link. Excerpts:
In past generations, it was common for American priests to encourage young men to make lifetime commitments to the church. But a recent poll by the bishops found that one out of three priests were doing that now, said Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., chairman of the bishops' committee on vocations.
"This program," Bishop Cupich said, "aims at having priests step back for a moment, reflect on their own service and their own vocation call and then not only use that as an opportunity to renew themselves, but also to encourage them to share their story with others who can then be called to follow in their footsteps."
Father Burns said polls showed that 90 percent of priests were happy in the priesthood and had no regrets. But many priests believe that "morale is low for everyone else," he said, so they hesitate to encourage others to join.
Ninety percent strikes me as awfully impressive. I'd like to see what other polls of professionals shows. At Notre Dame, they emphasized the philosophy of law so heavily because professional dissatisfaction was high (the theory: if lawyers truly understand the importance of law and where it fits in the "big moral picture," they'll be better at it and happier). I think attorney morale has gotten better. A recent article in California Lawyer Magazine said 86% of California lawyers are happy with their job, based on an e-mail poll. The magazine was crowing about it, referring to it as a "whopping" 86 percent. Yet it's still below the purported 90% figure among American priests.
