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Things you never knew you missed

Turning a corner in town earlier this week, I saw a man in a long gray robe, with a sash and a hood, and a string of beads in his hand, crossing the street while headed north on Old Highway 99. It was hard to tell, but I think his haircut was short, almost bald - definitely monkish. An hour later, I drove up the same highway and kept an eye out for him, but he was nowhere in sight.

What are the options? I asked myself. He could be a real, genuine monastic from far away, on a pilgrimage of penance. (You never know.) He could belong to a new religious order in town. (Fat chance, that.) He could be an imposter, one of an endless variety of religious nuts. (Most likely, this being California.) There is a Trappist monastery some 45 miles from here, and they make excellent wine, but they're cloistered monks who don't get out much, and their habits look different.

In any case, the sight of him got me thinking. I've never, ever before seen anyone wearing a religious habit in this town, but I have seen old photographs. There were, apparently, nuns here at one time, the kind with the wide pointy hats worn by Saint Catherine Laboure's Sisters of Charity. There have been very infrequent nun-sightings in nearby Chico, but the nuns who once taught at the Catholic school in that city, and who made their residence downtown, have long since departed, never to be replaced.

Increasingly, for me, the absence of men and women of religion is keenly felt. I don't understand laying in a hospital bed without a crucifix on the wall, without a statue of the Holy Virgin on the shelf, without those angels of mercy called "sisters" walking the halls, without a priest checking in from time to time. Today, the most fortunate of hospital patients and nursing home residents might be blessed, instead, with a devout Vietnamese or Filipino nurse, with a compassionate smile and a medallion on her neck - also an angel of mercy but an angel who must operate by stealth.

Well, it's late, and I won't get into the whole story of the decline of religious life since the Second Vatican Council, nor will I bemoan the tendency of those few remaining nuns to go without habits, or bewail the many priests who go about without collars, etc., depriving the rest of us of symbols of a life consecrated to God. I will just note that a society in which the sight of cassocked priests and consecrated religious is simply normal, and not the least bit suspicious, is among those things I never knew, and never knew I missed.

“We order, therefore, that every priest shall wear the Roman collar not only when he exercises the sacred ministry, but at all times, so that he may be known by all to be a priest. We decree also that the usage of Rome be observed by all ecclesiastics – that is, of not wearing the hair either on the cheeks or as a beard.

And if any priest shall wear the clerical dress so changed – save in the rarest case to be approved by the Ordinary – that he cannot be known by all to be a priest belonging to the clergy of this Province, or so as to fall under the suspicion of the faithful or notoriously give them scandal, let them not be admitted to say Mass, nor in assisting at the divine offices, into the sanctuary.

Our forefathers, assembled in the Council of London in the year 1248, declared that to put off the clerical dress is a very grave and wanton abuse, by which God is said to be mocked, the honour of the Church obscured, the dignity of the clerical order degraded; Christ, when His soldiers wear other uniforms, is deserted; the honour and dignity of the Church is stained when the beholder cannot distinguish a cleric from a laic at a glance, and so the priest becomes a scandal and despised by all who are truly faithful.”

- Council of Trent

Comments (17)

Well, it's late, and I won't get into the whole story of the decline of religious life since the Second Vatican Council, nor will I bemoan the tendency of those few remaining nuns to go without habits, or bewail the many priests who go about without collars, etc., depriving the rest of us of symbols of a life consecrated to God. I will just note that a society in which the sight of cassocked priests and consecrated religious is simply normal, and not the least bit suspicious, is among those things I never knew, and never knew I missed.

Cheer up. There are signs that the younger generation of priests and nuns is excited about religious symbolism.

The Chicken

Um I don't plan to post here often and as my name suggests I'm a first time poster but I was in a Catholic hospital recently for minor issues and a Priest visited me twice, there were crosses on my wall, and they had a lovely courtyard with a statue of the Madonna.

I also know personally several Priests who go out with their collars on and clerical garb visible. And they're not even young, either.

Good Catholic Hospitals and Holy Priests still exist. It's not as bleak as you make it out to be.

Have a good day.

Friars OK?

I was in my twenties before I saw a priest outside of a religious setting; guy in the classic South American Father suit that was flying out of Seattle at the same time I was. (In defense of the Roman Collar thing, we were a satellite parish in both places I lived-- the priest was stationed an hour away, so it's not like I'd run into them at the grocery store.)

I'd done five years in the Navy and gotten out before I ever saw (recognizable) nuns-- they were shopping at Costco in Spokane. (Apparently, they're associated with a school there.) I'm still excited that our local parish in Seattle has nuns, sometimes.

I've still never seen a (Catholic) monk or friar in the flesh-- heck, I've seen more Oriental type monks (I know one was buddhist, but have no idea about the rest) than Catholic religious; there was a guy in the classic Shrine keeper outfit that blessed the stores in Sasebo all the time.

It's getting better, and I bet it varies by region, too.

In a small town in the upper mid-west, it's not unusual to see nuns from the local parochial school, but it's slightly more common to see Mennonite ladies out shopping at Walmart. No idea what this means for society.

It was probably a Franciscan friar, don't you think?

I live in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. One advantage to living in a big city is that you see all kinds of people in any kind of habit you can think of. I do think priests and religious should wear habits but I found it very interesting that in Mexico, where priests don't wear roman collars (I think it was illegal until just a few years ago), you can always spot them immediately, mostly I think because of the respectful way they are treated.

Steve P- yes, the last of the anti-Catholic laws were pretty recently removed. I don't know if it was just a few years ago, but I do remember it was pretty recent.

From Kevin C. Jones' Index of Catholic Indicators:

Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.

Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.

Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.

Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven.

The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.

In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.

That one statistic did jump out at me as possibly being an artifact. Are these the same parishes in both statistics? Or have parishes been redivided, redistricted, renamed, or whatever one calls it in Catholic circles?

It's getting better, and I bet it varies by region, too.

I agree with this, Foxfier. And I've been to places where things were better. I was once stopped by a police officer while taking two priests from the airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to their parish rectory in Scranton at about 3:00am. I had gone more than 30 hours without sleep and ran a red light. Once he saw the priests in the vehicle, and they had explained our situation, rather than give me a ticket the officer offered us an escort!

Lydia, I don't have any information about parishes dividing or consolidating. I've never heard of it happening around here in my lifetime. In any case there is a very real shortage of parish priests. There are some parishes in northern CA that are frequently served only by deacons or "parish administrators" (usually female) on Sunday.

Besides, under the circumstances, I think consolidations of parishes would be at least as frequent as divisions, if not moreso. There has been talk in my area about having just one priest serve three nearby parishes, now served by three priests.

There are some parishes in northern CA that are frequently served only by deacons or "parish administrators" (usually female) on Sunday.

Wow, imagine going to Mass and literally having _no male person_ even appearing to administer Communion at all. Yikes! What an unpleasant thought (to put it mildly). "Deacon's masses" I'm familiar with, but at least the deacon is a male and is in minor orders.

I've been to one deacon-led liturgy on Sunday, and it was done pretty well. Of course it is not really a Mass, but a communion service. I've never been to the parish-administrator version of the same. I don't know if the sacrament is actually distributed in the latter case, but one shudders at the thought of it.

Lydia, there have been very few parish "divisions" in the ordinary sense, especially since about 1970 or so, the numbers just have not supported that dynamic. Typically, there are new parishes established where a new population center arises - mostly from suburban sprawl. In my hometown, sprawl justified the newest parish about 1978 or so, and nothing after that, because the baby boom dried up.

Now, in my current diocese, one of the 2 best in the country, there is indeed some growth, but the number of priests justifies it: there is about 1 seminarian for every 2 parishes, overall and long term. This is a sustainable process - all parishes can receive 2 priests indefinitely with these numbers.

Jeff, one thing to remember is that the seminaries are a LOT pickier than they were 50 years ago. I understand that there is a better discernment process in place now (for the good seminaries, at least), so that the ones who clearly don't have a vocation are weeded out even before they enroll, so there is a smaller percentage of men leaving the seminary after 1 to 3 years. This will change the complexion of the stats. (49,000 seminarians versus 1500 ordinations indicates only 3 % were ordained per year, implying a large number leave. Today the numbers are more like 8% to 10% per year ordained.) Unfortunately, the good discernment only really applies to the good seminaries, which still is not the majority. There was a time when the vast majority of seminaries were turning away good vocations because they were insisting on politically correct nonsense about the faith, and kicking out men who could see through such silliness. I don't know to what extent that continues at the average seminary, but I know it was still going on as recently as 2003.

I would probably end up driving 2 to 3 hours each Sunday before I put up with regular fare of having a deacon do a Communion Service instead of Mass on Sunday. Since I can reach over 100 parishes within 3 hours' drive, that should do me for my lifetime.

I would not put up with a female "administrator" holding any kind of liturgical service in church under any circumstances I can imagine. As far as I am concerned, the idea of a parish administrator being a female means, as such, having an administrator who is limited to administrative functions in the office. And I would most likely move if that looked to last long term, anyway. Lydia, is your feeling about female leaders pretty common in Protestant circles, or are you the odd-woman out?

The St. Joseph Province of the Order of Preachers (aka the "Dominicans") is bursting with vocations. They can't expand the Dominican House of Studies in DC fast enough to accommodate all the novices they're getting. As a former resident of the DHS and a lay Dominican tertiary myself, I couldn't be more pleased. This is what happens when orthodoxy, humility, and prayerfulness are combined.

I've been to one deacon-led liturgy on Sunday, and it was done pretty well.

Unfortunately, such services do not satisfy the Sunday Mass obligation. It is true that if it is a genuine hardship to go someplace else to Masd, then one is dispensed, but if not, one should really try to find someplace else to go.

The St. Joseph Province of the Order of Preachers (aka the "Dominicans") is bursting with vocations. They can't expand the Dominican House of Studies in DC fast enough to accommodate all the novices they're getting. As a former resident of the DHS and a lay Dominican tertiary myself, I couldn't be more pleased. This is what happens when orthodoxy, humility, and prayerfulness are combined..

They just had a huge number of men last week take temporary vows or be admitted to formation. I suspect one reason is that the Dominicans have a clear-cut theology. Most orthodox, fundamentals-based Orders, especially female Orders, are doing very well. The Orders that wear habits are also doing well.

I guess those Orders contaminated with the Spirit-of-the-Age will die as the Age dies.

The Chicken


Lydia, is your feeling about female leaders pretty common in Protestant circles, or are you the odd-woman out?

"Protestant circles" are too varied for this to be answered very well. Probably statistically, I'm the odd woman out. Evangelicals are all over the map. I don't know the statistics, but basically what you're looking at is what's known as the "complementarian vs. egalitarian" division. The complementarians will (always?) oppose women's ordination. Of course, women will still often have lots of up-front roles in evangelical churches even if they don't ordain women, including scripture reading, music, etc. But I would _guess_ (though I'm a little out of touch with the on-the-ground evangelical scene) that in a complementarian church only men would lead the Communion service. In Baptist and other very low-Protestant churches, communion is passed around the pews so not "administered" in the high-church sense. Whether women now go from pew to pew passing the plates, I don't know, but the more solemn is the semi-liturgy up front ahead of time before that.

Women were never ushers in the fundamentalist Baptist churches of my childhood. The "deaconesses" of those churches were concerned only with helping women or other people in need, whereas the "deacon board" (composed entirely of men) more or less co-ran the church with the Pastor. How many such churches still exist I'm not sure.

Virtually all mainline Protestant denominations now ordain women. This was one of the things that led to various spin-offs, including the Anglican Catholic Church, in which I'm presently a member on suffrage. (I'm really much more Protestant than they are on various matters, but they put up with me.) The ACC is a tiny denomination; women in the ACC are not allowed even to read Scripture--not to do anything up front at all. No altar girls or anything of that kind. (This is all fine with me, and I think best, actually.) They can be on the vestry, which administers the practical and business matters of the church. I believe such rules are true of all or nearly all "continuing Anglican" denominations. Except I've been told that one of the African Anglican groups that is now "missioning" in the U.S. does ordain women.

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