Median age? Currently 66. Transitions out of active service? Currently 1500 with 400 to replace them annually.
You guessed it. These are priest statistics in our country.
Category: Columns
Setting goals as part of planning
“It is up to the bishop with the help of the priests, deacons, religious, and lay people to implement a coordinated pastoral plan which is systematic and participatory involving all members of the church and awakening in them a missionary consciousness.” — Ecclesia in America, 36, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II (January 1999)
As mentioned previously, pastoral planning can be a vital part of an ongoing renewal, since it enables a group of parishes to find the ways and means to be better Church communities in our diocese in the most effective manner possible.
Remembering pre-born babies who have died
My family moved to Madison last June from St. Louis. We miscarried our fourth child this past January. She was eight weeks old.
I elected not to have a D & C, but to go home and miscarry naturally. This gave me time to research, “What is the Catholic response to miscarriage?”
The ethics of ‘correcting’ mitochondrial disease
Mitochondria are small, elongated structures in a cell that produce energy. These “cellular batteries” contain their own small piece of DNA, separate from the rest of the cell’s DNA found in the nucleus.
When defects or mutations occur in this mitochondrial DNA, it can result in a number of diseases. In severe cases, children can be born blind, epileptic, unable to crawl, and may manifest severe neurological delay and die at an early age. No real therapies exist for most mitochondrial diseases beyond treating the symptoms.
When modern ‘miracles’ lose their luster
I was visiting the other day in the world’s most popular senior club, the doctor’s office, watching as she consulted her computer to check my X-rays from the week before.
I was just relishing the wonders of this technology that allows doctors to view any kind of health record or test results by a click of the mouse. Then I noticed her drumming her fingers in annoyance that she had to wait nearly a minute to get my record on the screen. I laughed.
Benedict XVI and the truth about charity
Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), is a complex and occasionally obscure document, replete with possible implications for the future development of Catholic social doctrine.
Sorting those implications out will take much time and even more careful reflection. Along the information superhighway, however, careful reflection hit a few potholes in the early going, as sundry partisans sought to capture Caritas in Veritate as a weapon with which to bolster the Obama administration’s economic, health care, and social welfare policies.
Enjoy a great page-turning mystery
Dive into a great mystery is the invitation. The mystery of our faith is the story.
Summer is usually a special time to get in a little extra reading, but the season is already appearing in the rear view mirror. Both a page turner and a good read, it cannot wait. This mystery is all about the fact that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Q&A on the diocesan seminarian program
During my years as the Vocations Director for the Diocese of Madison I’ve encountered a certain set of recurring questions from priests and laity regarding our seminarian program.
They are excellent questions that show an interest in the seminarians’ formation for priesthood. In this article, I answer six of these recurring questions. If anyone has other questions, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. For more on diocesan seminarians, go online to www.madisondiocese.org and click on the “Vocations” tab.
Examining the purpose of cluster and parish pastoral planning
“It is in the local churches that the specific features of a detailed pastoral plan can be identified — goals and methods, formation and enrichment of the people involved, the search for the necessary resources — which will enable the proclamation of Christ to reach people, mold communities, and have a deep and incisive influence in bringing Gospel values to bear in society and culture.” — Novo Millennio Ineunte, 29, Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II (January 2001)
The Diocese of Madison is continuing on with the Trusting in the Spirit planning and implementation process, now in its second year, with 16 of the 40 clusters having turned in their plans for the upcoming year.
Rulings on religion have changed much over time
Supreme court opinions at the state or federal level offer insights into how society changes its mind on key questions. Over the past 40-plus years, the rulings of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on matters related to religion show such a change — a change more favorable in its treatment of religion.
Article 1, Section 18, of the Wisconsin Constitution says the following: “The right of every person to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed; nor shall any person be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, without consent; nor shall any control of, or interference with, the rights of conscience be permitted, or any preference be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship; nor shall any money be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of religious societies, or religious or theological seminaries.”