How Can We Solve The Vocations Crisis Without Facing This Uncomfortable Truth?

Some Ideas About Why Young Catholic Men Aren't Becoming Priests

Two pieces of news really struck me this week. The first was on the 19th July, the Bishop of Plymouth, in his Pastoral Letter called on parishioners to ask young men in their parishes if they have ever considered the priesthood. “If you know of a young man in whom you see a potential priest," he writes, "ask him; sow the seed.” Plymouth Diocese currently has five young men in seminary, however it is certainly under pressure (although it is not yet at the point where it cannot staff its parishes). It is, however, increasingly dependent on priests from outside the diocese, indeed in his pastoral letter Bishop Hudson thanked "the many other priests – religious and of other dioceses, especially the Diocese of Orlu – who contribute so generously to the Diocese's mission." clearly this is an explicit acknowledgement that the diocese is relying on missionary clergy from elsewhere, particularly the Nigerian Diocese of Orlu, to sustain parish life.

So why are young men in Plymouth not putting themselves forward for the priesthood? You could say that in his address, Bishop Hudson sees the problem as one of “supply”, but I think this is a crucial misdiagnosis and the problem is much deeper, it is a growing loss of faith, not necessarily in Jesus (although I do have huge issues with the ineffectiveness of traditional structures to preach the Gospel) but in the formation on offer and the institutional credibility.

Think about it - if you are a young man who has managed to avoid being inoculated against the faith by the weak strain of Catholicism on offer in the UK’s Catholic Schools, are you really going to be willing to commit your life to bishops who seem so preoccupied with issues which seem so at variance with settled Catholic teaching?

Which brings me to my second piece of news.