Is it possible to reverse declining priestly vocations?
In a recent article published in Global Catholic, Lavoisier Fernandes discussed the decline in priestly vocations. I agree with him on several points.
For instance, the family remains the first school of faith, prayer, and vocation. Where family prayer is absent, vocations seldom flourish. I also agree that the Second Vatican Council should not be blamed for the decline in vocations.
Yet there is another dimension that deserves greater attention: the profound social changes that have reshaped the Church, particularly in Europe. Given my age, I speak almost as a contemporary witness.
Some seven decades ago, priestly vocations flourished when families were larger, poorer, and deeply rooted in religious tradition. Secondary education was often inaccessible to rural children unless their families were wealthy.
The Church filled this gap with parish priests supporting disadvantaged boys through diocesan minor seminaries. Few parents resisted such opportunities, which also enhanced the family’s social standing.
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Today, families are smaller and financially more secure, and secondary and higher education are widely accessible through public education and state assistance, even to rural students.
As a result, the Church no longer enjoys the same influence over young people’s educational choices, helping explain why priestly vocations have declined so markedly.
From television shows, I see that the situation in many African nations today mirrors the conditions that once prevailed in Germany. As prosperity rises in these impoverished countries, interest in religious vocations—and in the Christian faith itself—will likely decline. Yet it does not have to be that way.
Is the decline in the number of believers inevitably tied to prosperity?
Lavoisier Fernandes cites Vatican statistics showing that the Church is experiencing growth in the number of believers worldwide. I have read that this is particularly true in South American countries.
However, I did not find figures in these statistics on “natural” growth from births. When that factor is taken into account, the growth rate is not quite so impressive.
Nevertheless, this offers me no comfort about the situation in Germany, Austria, or elsewhere in Europe. I believe we must neither simply accept this decline as immutable nor hope that God might—perhaps through catastrophes—make people devout again and draw them back to the Church.ca
Connection is more important than celibacy
Jesus sent out twelve apostles and seventy-two other disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He entrusted the success of this proclamation to these disciples—to the Church.
He did not separate the authority to heal the sick from the proclamation! The anointing of the sick served the proclamation’s success. Many people came to Jesus and listened to his message because they wanted to be freed from their suffering.
Since the Council of Trent, contrary to Jesus’s instructions, the Church has no longer permitted the successors of the other seventy-two disciples to administer the Anointing of the Sick. (Further details can be found in the book by Johannes Baptista titled Weiter so? [Carry On Like This?], published by epubli in Germany; ISBN 978-3-565-13709-1.)
Jesus proclaimed his message not only in places of prayer but also frequently outdoors and at every opportunity; he did not shy away from contact with others. He set this example for his first associates.
Had celibacy been a decisive factor for him, he could not have appointed Peter—whose mother-in-law he had healed—as an apostle and the first pope. If people were to follow Jesus’s example today, the number of believers—even in Europe—would certainly increase.
Europe needs more missionaries than administrators
As a married Catholic deacon, I have served as a hospital chaplain for more than thirty years. The hospital where I work is not a Catholic institution. I do not limit my visits to Catholic patients but to all: Christians, people of no faith, atheists, Muslims, and others. They want to talk about life, faith, suffering, and hope. Above all, they seek genuinely honest answers.
Sometimes I have had the opportunity to sow the seed of faith; someone else may later reap the harvest. If the Church’s servants continue to reach out only to those who already belong to the Church, there can be no growth. Should this not also be taken into account in the formation of future priests?
Europe needs missionaries more than it needs administrators of parishes and the sacraments. Good administration may earn appreciation for the one who provides it, but it does not, by itself, lead to the Church’s growth.
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If the Church were to follow Christ’s teaching consistently and in its entirety, it could once again expect growth—not only in the number of believers but also in priestly and religious vocations
A priest from Africa once told me he has little reason to complain about attendance at Mass because he regularly visits members of his parish. Quite simply, he knows his people personally. The ministers of the Church are also called to meet people where they are.
Every form of ministry, however, bears fruit only when accompanied by earnest prayer. “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). When others join in prayer, it becomes even more powerful.
Proclamations without compromise
The proclamation must convey the whole truth, without omissions—even if it risks becoming less popular. The Good News must not be presented in such a way that people conclude they no longer need the Church.
For decades now, the talk has been only of heaven, the merciful God, and His angels. Hell is rarely mentioned anymore, let alone God’s adversary, the devil, who is also interested in humankind. One often gets the impression that virtually everyone goes to heaven. So why do we still need the Church and the commandments?
Yet this is not how Jesus preached. Alongside God’s mercy, he also spoke clearly about the dangers that threaten the human soul.
By omitting essential aspects of the Gospel, the Church may have removed from many people the awareness that their eternal destiny matters. If there is nothing to lose, many conclude that there is no longer any need for the Church.
I have come across many people who speak quite casually about matters of faith. Yet when conversation turns to death and to what lies beyond it, many become thoughtful. Such reflection may even encourage prayer within families once again, for it reminds us that this present life is not the whole of human existence.
Changing sense of sin
As awareness of human rights and environmental consciousness grows, the sense of sin is changing. For many, sin could be eating too much, failing to care sufficiently for nature, or driving wild animals out of their natural habitats.
Yet apparently, it is no longer considered sinful when a family is destroyed by adultery, as long as everything happens peacefully. Nearly one in three marriages in Germany ends in divorce.
Many hope that the Church will eventually accept this as simply part of modern life. Even many Christians believe that couples should separate once they have “grown apart,” whatever the reasons may be.
Jesus protected the woman caught in adultery from being stoned. He said to her, “Neither do I condemn you.” But he immediately added, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Unfortunately, these final words of Jesus are too often omitted.
Had this final sentence — Go, and from now on do not sin any more — been included in the German Catholic Church’s proposals on the blessing of couples in irregular unions, Pope Leo might perhaps have expressed himself differently.
Proclamation of the whole truth is essential for the Church’s growth and human salvation.
If the Church were to follow Christ’s teaching consistently and in its entirety, it could once again expect growth—not only in the number of believers but also in priestly and religious vocations, even in prosperous countries such as Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
That would require acknowledging that truth is determined not by majorities or changing public opinion, but by the Word of God.
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