The numbers are not good for the Catholic priesthood in the USA. Ordinations are down. Many priests are older. There is a significant number leaving the priesthood in the years after ordination.
But more important than quantity is quality. The good news: quality is high.
Quality is hard to measure. What follows is personal and anecdotal. But, we do get around. My wife and I frequent at least half a dozen Churches where we live at the Jersey Shore and more where we work in Jersey City and Bayonne. We travel on vacations and to visit our children in different states. We may attend 30 Churches in a year; and experience 75 or more priests.
Quite consistently and predictably, in diverse locations, the priest is obviously a stable personality, of sound moral character, intelligent, theologically educated and orthodox, and a man of prayer. I find it to be quite remarkable!
The quality of sermons and homilies is not real high. There is generally a modesty, an ordinariness to the typical homily. That is okay. They are not highly erudite or inspiring. But they refer to Scripture and Christ, are personal and genuine, if sometimes superficial and moralistic. With a scale of 1-10 where 1-3 is bad and 8-10 exceptional, most homilies are 4-7.
But even when the homily is weak, that is okay. I still marvel that this man, of modest abilities in regard to preaching, has donated his life to give us the Eucharist. THAT is amazing!
More important than the words and ideas is the "vibe" received from the priest. This is consistently excellent. The faith is there. If not impressive. His love of God and the Church is evident. He carries himself with dignity. He is trustworthy. A "stand up guy."
Those of us of a certain age look back to the 50s and early 60: five priests in every parish. We are tempted to nostalgia. But I propose that we may be better off today with fewer priests but better priests. I imagine a military commander tasked with a difficult mission: he might prefer 20 high quality rangers to 100 soldiers of varying quality. The American priest 70 years ago was highly esteemed in society (Bing Crosby, Karl Malden, Spencer Tracey.) Today, the priesthood is widely disparaged. They man who persists as a priest has been tried in fire: he is a "made man!" Solid. Reliable.
The quality of our priests is a testament to the stability, the permanence of the Catholic Church. The steadiness of the priests is like the durability of ancient Church buildings which live through the centuries. It is like the liturgy and sacraments that are passed from generation to generation; like the dogmatic and moral continuity of the organic Church.
This is likewise a credit to our seminaries. There have been problems. In our society an immense challenge is that seminarians are coming from broken families and carry emotional wounds. The seminary is not of its nature a rehabilitation community. It assumes a basic psychological integrity in the seminarian. And so it really specializes in theology and spirituality.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, the verdict is: the seminaries are doing a good job. Wherever you go, you will find in the local priest the same "form," regardless of personal eccentricities and cultural differences. The priest is a stand in for Christ. He represents something beyond himself. The Church. He is aware of this and so basically humble. He has his own problems. He is an "organization man," even more than the military man, he gives his all for the Church...the Church as an institution but an institution that serves the people, all the people, ALL!
We Catholic love our priests! They are not perfect. That is the point: they are like us!
May all our priests be richly blessed for their service and sacrifice!
May God raise up many more priests, and religious!
My wife and I pray that some of our own grandchildren will receive and answer this call!
Thanks be to God for our priests and the priesthood!
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