Priest shortage not as bad as it seems

Oct. 7, 2004
By Christine Mastalio
Features Editor

A robed man standing at an altar is a familiar sight for Catholics everywhere, but fewer men are choosing to put on those robes.

While the Catholic Church has grown steadily in the last forty years, the number of ordained priests has declined. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), which provides statistics for the United States conference of Catholic bishops, found that there were 14,000 fewer U.S. priests in 2003 than in 1965.

Those numbers can be misleading, Rev. Chuck Adam, St. Ambrose University chaplain, said.

“We had our largest numbers in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s due to the Great Depression and World War II,” he said. “We’ve been lulled into the belief that we should always be at those numbers, but that’s not reality. That was a blip in history.”

In the Davenport Diocese, as well as across the country, priests are being spread thin. The Rev. Edmond Dunn and the Rev. Edward Botkin serve two and three churches respectively, in addition to their teaching positions at St. Ambrose. Adam served as the diocesan vocations director for eight years along with his position as university chaplain.

“I know discussions are going on as we plan for the next 20 years and the question is, ‘Can we continue to spread across ministries?’” Adam said. “Priests aren’t available to be present as much as they once were.”

Currently there are two seminarians at St. Ambrose. In previous years there have been as many as eight.

The decline in seminary students has occurred for a variety of sociological reasons such as decision making occurring later in life, increased uncertainties in the world causing hesitation to commit, and peers and parents becoming less supportive of the profession, Adam said.

“They don’t see the priesthood as a place for their children to be happy and successful,” he said.

Research done by the Rev. Stephen Rossetti, director of St. Luke’s Institute in Washington, D.C. and advisor to the U.S. bishop’s committee on sexual abuse, appeared to refute that stereotype. His survey, done in September of 2004, found that 92 percent of priests are happy with their lives and 83 percent would make the decision to be a priest again.

Two people from last year’s freshman class at Ambrose chose the path less traveled and decided to pursue lifetime vocational professions.

Marie Welter joined a Franciscan order in Alton, Ill., and Jon Leonetti now attends the minor seminary program at St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minn.

Adam said he sees this as a hopeful sign and the church should not panic at the decline in numbers.

“Whenever someone says there’s a vocation crisis there’s not,” he said. “We’re called to vocation by baptism. We see vocations in a fuller way now, not just priests and sisters, but involving all of us. That’s how the church should respond.

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