No priest shortage
Anyone who has further examples of priests not saying daily Mass, concelebrations, inefficient use of priest's time and effort, laity standing in the way of Mass, offers of help turned down
Just e-mail or comment.
Anonymous contributions of course accepted- especially from priests!
How many Masses are missing every day?
Cathcon translation of Kein Priestermangel
When the latest statistics of the Roman Catholic Church were published, we heard yet again loud lamentations about the priest shortage. From the Right Revd. Matthias Rey.
I myself am a young priest (aged 43) and only 40% of my time is in fixed employment. If I hear of a priest shortage, the following facts make me so angry.
Here are some figures from Central Switzerland. At other locations, there are likely to be similar comings and goings.
1.
Since September 2006, I have lived in the Parish of Biberegg in the Diocese of Chur and am available as a supply priest. During these 1½ years, I have not yet once been asked to say Mass in a so-called priestless parish .
The requests to act as a supply priest came exclusively from priests, never lay “theologians” or deacons.
2.
It is baffling when I offer my services to a parish in which once a month instead of the Sunday Vigil Mass, a “Liturgy of the Word” service is held, and to me the priest in charge says that he has no need for my services.
3
From a priest friend, I learned that, as a priest, he was not allowed to celebrate Mass at the memorial ceremony of his uncle. The responsible deacon explicitly did want Mass to be celebrated at funerals, not even by a priest related to the deceased.
4
I sometimes visit a small town in the Canton of Lucerne in the Diocese of Basel. Even when I notify them a long time in advance, the Holy Mass is not allowed to be celebrated, except on certain days set by the competent church leaders.
5
In a parish in the Canton of Schwyz in the Diocese of Chur, a young priest is living who often has no firm commitment from a priest for the Sunday morning. His parish priest forbids him to make use of foreign assistance. I have reported the incident to the Vicar General and the Dean. Nothing has changed.
6
In the town of Zug in the Diocese of Basel, there is a house of retired missionaries but who are quite capable and willing to be supply priests. It happens that not one of these priests has been requested to supply, while in several nearby parishes because of the "priest shortage" on Sunday a Service of the Word is celebrated.
7
Twenty priests live in the town of Zug, 17 of whom are still active. But of the three parishes of the city, only one has a permanent pastor.
8
Just in the Deanery of Innerschwyz in the Diocese of Chur - the inner part of the Canton of Schwyz with 22 parishes excluding Einsiedeln – there are about forty priests, not including those 17 priests who are over 75 years old.
9
Especially in the Diocese of Basel, there are countless examples of how so-called female and male church leaders prohibit priests from publicly celebrating Mass in “their” parishes. These are partly older priests, or priests, on a visit or a journey.
They do not want the popular “Liturgy of the Word” services to compete with Mass.
It is true that the clergy is elderly and we are heading for a priest shortage,. But the way that the existing "resources" are dealt with today would be like facing an imminent famine by allowing existing food to rot.
Moreover, the question is whether the tasks that are currently undertaken by pastoral assistants from Germany, could not be taken over by priests from India or Poland.
In some materially poor dioceses, there are young men whose priestly vocation cannot be fulfilled because the means for the training are lacking.
To talk about the priest shortage, without taking into consideration the opportunities to correct it into consideration, seems to me not to be honest. The people who are theologically trained and who do not want to be or cannot be priests have vested interests.
Also would be very interesting to know what these theologians, who frequently broadcast in public that there are not enough priests and under this pretext claim the right to hold "their" “Liturgy of the Word” services in parishes, have done to combat the priest shortage,
Do these lay theologians pray for vocations to the priesthood and convey to young people the impression that our local church needs priests?
I would like to see a panel discussion at an open meeting about the priest shortage and would wish myself to participate. But perhaps some theologians would be fearful of such an open discussion.
The author lives in the Parish of Biberegg in Rothenthurm, a town in the Swiss canton of Schwyz.
I myself am a young priest (aged 43) and only 40% of my time is in fixed employment. If I hear of a priest shortage, the following facts make me so angry.
Here are some figures from Central Switzerland. At other locations, there are likely to be similar comings and goings.
1.
Since September 2006, I have lived in the Parish of Biberegg in the Diocese of Chur and am available as a supply priest. During these 1½ years, I have not yet once been asked to say Mass in a so-called priestless parish .
The requests to act as a supply priest came exclusively from priests, never lay “theologians” or deacons.
2.
It is baffling when I offer my services to a parish in which once a month instead of the Sunday Vigil Mass, a “Liturgy of the Word” service is held, and to me the priest in charge says that he has no need for my services.
3
From a priest friend, I learned that, as a priest, he was not allowed to celebrate Mass at the memorial ceremony of his uncle. The responsible deacon explicitly did want Mass to be celebrated at funerals, not even by a priest related to the deceased.
4
I sometimes visit a small town in the Canton of Lucerne in the Diocese of Basel. Even when I notify them a long time in advance, the Holy Mass is not allowed to be celebrated, except on certain days set by the competent church leaders.
5
In a parish in the Canton of Schwyz in the Diocese of Chur, a young priest is living who often has no firm commitment from a priest for the Sunday morning. His parish priest forbids him to make use of foreign assistance. I have reported the incident to the Vicar General and the Dean. Nothing has changed.
6
In the town of Zug in the Diocese of Basel, there is a house of retired missionaries but who are quite capable and willing to be supply priests. It happens that not one of these priests has been requested to supply, while in several nearby parishes because of the "priest shortage" on Sunday a Service of the Word is celebrated.
7
Twenty priests live in the town of Zug, 17 of whom are still active. But of the three parishes of the city, only one has a permanent pastor.
8
Just in the Deanery of Innerschwyz in the Diocese of Chur - the inner part of the Canton of Schwyz with 22 parishes excluding Einsiedeln – there are about forty priests, not including those 17 priests who are over 75 years old.
9
Especially in the Diocese of Basel, there are countless examples of how so-called female and male church leaders prohibit priests from publicly celebrating Mass in “their” parishes. These are partly older priests, or priests, on a visit or a journey.
They do not want the popular “Liturgy of the Word” services to compete with Mass.
It is true that the clergy is elderly and we are heading for a priest shortage,. But the way that the existing "resources" are dealt with today would be like facing an imminent famine by allowing existing food to rot.
Moreover, the question is whether the tasks that are currently undertaken by pastoral assistants from Germany, could not be taken over by priests from India or Poland.
In some materially poor dioceses, there are young men whose priestly vocation cannot be fulfilled because the means for the training are lacking.
To talk about the priest shortage, without taking into consideration the opportunities to correct it into consideration, seems to me not to be honest. The people who are theologically trained and who do not want to be or cannot be priests have vested interests.
Also would be very interesting to know what these theologians, who frequently broadcast in public that there are not enough priests and under this pretext claim the right to hold "their" “Liturgy of the Word” services in parishes, have done to combat the priest shortage,
Do these lay theologians pray for vocations to the priesthood and convey to young people the impression that our local church needs priests?
I would like to see a panel discussion at an open meeting about the priest shortage and would wish myself to participate. But perhaps some theologians would be fearful of such an open discussion.
The author lives in the Parish of Biberegg in Rothenthurm, a town in the Swiss canton of Schwyz.
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Comments
I have asked if they had considered contacting the Salesian High school 10 minutes away for a priest to offer Mass, or the Josephinum 20 min away for a priest to offer Mass (both having larger communities of men who are serving as teacher/formators).
The answer was simple and more blunt than I had hoped or expected:
No, we like this just fine, we have our own thing here.
Well OK then.
Also explains how it is the case that more vocations aren't being inspired - when would some young Catholics even see priests or think they are needed.
Then again if you like to ski and work only a few hours a week, Swiss Catholic priestly life could be the gig for you!