Goodbye! Good Men: How Catholic Seminaries Turned Away Two Generations of Vocations From the Priesthood
InGoodbye! Good Men, author Michael Rose interviewed over 125 seminarians to examine the reasons why the Catholic Church now faces an alarming shortage of priests. (From 1966 to 1999 the number of seminarians dropped from 39,638 to 4,826.) For years this dramatic decline has been blamed on materialism, growing skepticism, and the perceived "unrealistic expectation" of celibacy. Yet Rose believes that the main reason for the priest shortage is the ambivalence and dissent within the Catholic Church itself. "Dissent kills vocations," he writes. "It's merely common sense that says people generally do not want to give themselves to an organization whose leaders constantly bemoan its basic structure." Of course he also points to the "appalling" sexual abuses within the church as a strong deterrent. Interestingly, though, Rose (Ugly as Sin) believes that the solution is not to reconsider the demands of celibacy or refashion doctrine to make it more palatable to modern people. Rather, he points out that the more successful seminaries (the ones that attract and keep candidates) are not the politically correct reformist, but the more orthodox. According to Rose, "It boils down to a generation gap of sorts, one that pits the aging radical reformer against the young, pious conservative." Regardless of where you fall on this continuum, Rose's assessment adds a provocative voice to a crucial discussion.--Gail Hudson