( Statement by Sr. Christine Schenk csj for FutureChurch, at November 2005 Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)

Contact info: November 14, 2005
Christine Schenk csj
17307 Madison Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107 USA
216-228-0869 (w) 216-513-3647 (cell)

Lay Ministry Vocations Abundant: Bishops Must Expand Ordination to Keep Parishes Open

Over 30,000 Lay Ministers Prove Optional Celibacy,
Women’s Roles Must be Discussed

Over the next ten years, U.S. dioceses will face massive closing and clustering of parishes because of the priest shortage. Demographers predict that in the foreseeable future, more than half of our 19,000 parishes will have no priest. With a few notable exceptions, our bishops are failing to exercise leadership in deciding what is more important to the Church, the Eucharist or an exclusively male celibate priesthood.

It is cause for celebration that over the next three days, U.S. bishops are discussing the long awaited document on lay ministry in the Church. Many lay ministers, 80% of whom are women, are valiantly holding parishes together in a time of fewer priests. It is a little known fact that there are more paid lay ministers in the U.S. than parish priests. The National Pastoral Life Center’s recent study found that we have over 30,000 lay ministers but only about 28,000 parish priests. According to Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, there are another 18,847 lay ministers working toward professional credentialing compared with 3308 men studying to be priests in major seminary.

We don’t have a shortage of vocations in the Catholic Church, what we have is a shortage of vision.

In the past two years FutureChurch and Call To Action surveyed over 15,000 priests in 58 U.S. dioceses. Sixty sever percent of respondents supported open discussion of the mandatory celibacy rule. Many priests spontaneously said we must also open the conversation about women deacons and priest (for results by diocese and comments from priests, visit www.futurechurch.org).

In October I was in Rome when the International Synod on the Eucharist finally broke a long standing taboo and openly discussed the worldwide priest shortage and optional celibacy. Four of the synod’s twelve working groups wanted to study a married priesthood. but because synod rules required consensus, the final proposition affirmed the current discipline of mandatory celibacy, essentially deciding to do nothing about this growing crisis in the Church. However, high ranking churchmen such as Pittsburgh’s Bishop Donald Wuerl and Rome’s Cardinal Walter Kasper, recently said the discussion about married priests is still on the table.

FutureChurch calls on our U.S. bishops to petition the Vatican for open discussion about ordaining married men to the priesthood and ordaining women to the diaconate as a doable next step toward their full inclusion in all ministries of the Church.

The Vatican’s highest legislative authority, Cardinal Julian Herranz recently confirmed that Catholics have a right to receive the Eucharist from the Church. Poll after poll has found that substantial majorities of Catholics believe the Eucharist is more important than an exclusively male celibate priesthood.

Our parishes are a privileged place for experiencing Christ’s love and saving power. Parish life is seriously threatened by the priest shortage and by poor leadership from our bishops. It is past time for episcopal leaders to listen to the sensus fidelium - the spirit inspired beliefs of the faithful - and expand ordination to all those called to it by God and the People of God.

The integrity of our Catholic parish life and mission to the poor and dispossessed of the world hangs in the balance.

FutureChurch is a coalition of parish centered Catholics who seek the full participation of all Catholics in the life of the Church. FutureChurch strives to educate fellow Catholics about the seriousness of the priest shortage, the centrality of the Eucharist (the Mass), and the systemic inequality of women in the Catholic Church. It seeks to participate in formulating and expressing the Sensus Fidelium (the Spirit inspired beliefs of the faithful) through open, prayerful and enlightened dialogue with other Catholics locally and globally.

For Official Catholic Directory statistics for every U.S. diocese, and results of our survey of priests in 58 U.S. dioceses visit our web site.