Sunday, August 2, 2009
Three Local Catholic Churches Hold Final Masses
Church Parishioners Vow To Fight Back
NEW ORLEANS -- Parishioners on Sunday vowed to fight back as three more churches held their final Masses under the archdiocese's restructuring plan.
Despite clear weather, a dark cloud loomed over Masses Sunday morning in the New Orleans Metro area as the faithful worshipped for what could be the last time in their own churches.
But parishioners at one church said they'll continue to fight the closure.
"There should have been something else that we can do to keep this church open," St. Henry's parishioner Cynthia Hargardorn said. "Look at the people here. We'll never get this back. We'll never be able to recover what they're breaking up today."
For the past 152 years, St. Henry's Catholic Church has been home to hundreds of families. Now the faces of St. Henry's that have been there for generations are marking their final day by mourning their church.
"We're disgusted, down-hearted," parishioner Nicholas O'Conner said. "I think it's like the fall of San Antonio, like the fall of the Alamo."
The Archdiocese of New Orleans said the closure is necessary.
"Pre-Katrina we were looking at shifting demographics outside of the city into more suburban areas," said Sarah Comiskey, of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. "We were also looking at a priest shortage that we know we're going to be facing. We're going to have 18 fewer priests serving in the archdiocese."
But church leaders said they believe the archdiocese's motivation for permanently closing its doors is money.
"This church is more than a church," said St. Henry's Parish Council President Alden Hagardorn. "I mean, we own the old convent behind this. We own these two school buildings, the rectory, these yards. This is all prime real estate and we have a sizeable income."
Parishioners said they believe the income goes straight to the archdiocese's coffers, but Comiskey said that's not the case.
"Any money that would come from any use of the properties would follow the people to the new Parish of Good Shepherd," she said.
"Are they going to give me my share if I say I don't want to go to this church over here, which I won't want to go to another church," Alden Hargardorn said. "Well, are they going to say, 'Well Alden, here's your cut'?"
Church leaders said they're appealing the archdiocese's decision to the Vatican, and they're hoping to hold a vigil inside the church.
"There are people who are talking about coming back for the prayer service and basically staying in the church until our appeal is heard," Alden Hargardorn said. "I don't know if we have enough people, but the church belongs to the people. So I guess we'll find out this evening."
St. Henry's, along with Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Francis De Sales and Epiphany all closed on Sunday.
The archdiocese said those were the last of the 33 churches to close and be merged with other parishes.
Previous Stories:
October 24, 2008: Church Set To Close Sunday Fights To Stay Open
October 21, 2008: Parishioners Fight To Keep Church Open
October 21, 2008: Closing Church's Priest Refuses To Leave
August 15, 2008: Catholics Protest Church Closings, Mergers
July 13, 2008: Local Parishioners Uncertain About Fate Of Churches
July 6, 2008: Archdiocese To Determine Closing Of 15 Local Catholic Churches
April 9, 2008: Archdiocese Announces Church Closings
Archdiocese To Determine Closing Of 15 Local Catholic Churches
Parishioners Protest Closures
POSTED: 5:57 pm CDT July 6, 2008
UPDATED: 6:10 pm CDT July 6, 2008
NEW ORLEANS -- In less than a week, parishioners from about 15 Catholic parishes will learn whether or not their churches will be shut down.
In April, when Archbishop Alfred Hughs made the decision to close dozens of parishes, some resigned to their fate quietly. Others are vowing not to go down without a fight.
St. Francis de Sales joined the group of parishes on Sunday that are protesting the decision.
Dozens of parishes are marked for closure in a reorganization plan.
The archdiocese is working to streamline, in part, because of a shortage of priests. Some parishes have not been able to recover after Hurricane Katrina.
Parishioners at St. Francis de Sales said that is not the case for them.
"We have met every bench mark that the archdiocese has asked us to make," parishioner Lydwina Hurst said. "As far as the pastoral plan, we have been meeting with the facilitator. But our questions have not been answered and our concerns have not been addressed."
St. Francis de Sales is one of 33 Catholic churches that are scheduled for closure and incorporation into other neighboring parishes.
St. Henry and Our Lady of Good Counsel are also among the parishes actively protesting closure.
Save our churches: A congregation of 200 'is not viable'
Thriving churches are being closed down by the Catholic Church under plans to reduce costs and raise income from the land, worshippers claim.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs CorrespondentLast Updated: 8:16PM BST 23 Aug 2008
Up to half of parishes in some areas will be left without any services as a result of a radical nationwide reorganisation by dioceses.
Some of the churches already earmarked for closure have congregations of as many as 200 people, and worshippers have accused the Church of “putting cash before Christianity”.
The most vociferous protests so far have been triggered by plans drawn up by the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, to shut down seven churches in his diocese this month as part of a large scale closure programme.
Worshippers have appealed to MPs and heritage bodies to step into the row, written to the Charity Commissioners to argue that the diocese has neglected its duties as trustees of the churches, and last week served the bishop with legal papers claiming his behaviour breaches canon law.
Some of the protesters - including women in their 80s - have even chained themselves to the church railings in protest at the closures, which they claim will devastate the communities.
Their bid to keep the buildings open follows a campaign by The Sunday Telegraph to secure more government money to preserve historic churches and keep them as a focal point for community use.
More than 7,000 people have signed the Save Our Churches campaign which has been backed by politicians, celebrities and church leaders, including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Parishioners in the Leeds diocese have been backed by Lord Lofthouse, the Labour peer, who attacked Bishop Roche for “putting finance before Christian teaching”.
The closure of churches in the Wakefield and Pontefract deanery will mean that 12 have been lost in the past year, which amounts to a tenth of the whole diocese.
Worshippers have accused the bishop of “acting like a dictator” in failing to respond to any of their letters, which proposed solutions to the problem and expressed concern over the damage that the action would have on communities.
Dozens of them travelled to the Bishop’s residence last week with letters asking them to listen to their case and sent a petition delivering a vote of no confidence in him.
Many of the protesters have attended Mass at the churches for decades and have been baptised or married there.
Maureen Walsh, who has worshipped at Holy Family church Chequerfield for 44 years, said: “We have been shattered by this. People were crying last Sunday realising that we will no longer be able to come here.”
A Polish priest has offered to take over from the current incumbent, who is due to retire this year, to enable the church to continue, but the proposal has been rejected by the bishop.
The church has a congregation of around 200 people and has been a focal point for the community, staging concerts and holding a lunch club for pensioners, according to the campaigners.
Anne Dyer, chair of governors at Holy Family and St Michael’s Primary school, said that the closure of the church will affect everyone in the area from the children to their grandparents.
Pupils sent Bishop Roche letters asking him to change his mind.
“I have a very special memory that happened at this church,” one boy wrote. “It would be such a shame if you do close the church.”
Mrs Dyer said that the bishop has acted “as if he is ruling in the dark ages” in the way that he has ignored their pleas.
“This area is crying out to be supported, but we feel that he has treated us like peasants rather than listening to what we have to say,” she added.
A few miles away, at St John the Evangelist Church, in Allerton Bywater, large banners hung on the outside walls make clear the congregation’s displeasure.
“Bishop Roche doesn’t care about our sick and old,” says one. Another reads: “It’s cash before Christianity.”
Malcolm Brumwell accused the bishop of breaking church law in his treatment of the parish and had denied worshippers access to a traditional Mass and removing the priest without offering him a new parish.
“He has been grossly negligent in regard to running this parish,” said Mr Brumwell.
He said that a legal challenge has been issued to Bishop Roche, which he must send to Rome for a decision. It would set a precedent for bishops’ freedom to close churches if it is found that he has acted inappropriately.
A letter has been sent to the Charity Commission by Our Lady of Lourdes church in Ackworth, which has nearly 200 worshippers.
It says that the diocese “has failed to act in the interests of the charity and its beneficiaries (the parishioners and clergy)”.
Bishop Roche has argued that congregations of less than 200 people are no longer viable and that the churches are being closed because there are not enough priests to serve the parishes. The number of priests in England and Wales has slumped by nearly a quarter in 20 years, from 4, 545 in 1985 to 3,643 in 2005.
Catholic churches in north-west England are under particular pressure, with a severe shortage of priests and a sharp fall in attendances at Mass. In the diocese of Liverpool, the number of priests has almost halved in the past decade, from 240 in 1998 to 166. The diocese of Lancaster is forecast to lose half of its 108 parishes in the next 10 years, a move which would see dozens of churches closed.
Campaigners in Leeds diocese hope that their efforts will bring them a last minute reprieve, but a spokesman for the bishop said that the fate of the churches could not be changed.
“Closing these churches is the last thing that the bishop wants to do, but he had no choice,” said John Brady, the bishop’s press secretary.
“We have had a consultation, the case was put to them, and that’s it. Congregations of 200 aren’t viable any more.”
Mr Brady said that the closures were part of a “rolling programme” that had already seen another seven churches shut down in the last 18 months.
Priest shortage could alter college identities
By Kathy Matheson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
7:27 a.m. October 15, 2008
PHILADELPHIA – The shortage of Roman Catholic clergy isn't just being felt in church.
Religious orders that have founded and run Catholic colleges and universities across the U.S. – in some cases for more than a century – are grappling with how to retain the institutions' distinct religious identities in the face of declining numbers of priests and nuns.
The Rev. Timothy Lannon, president of Saint Joseph's University, can envision a time when a lay person will lead the Jesuit school in Philadelphia because of the dwindling number of his brethren. So it's important now to instill the order's philosophy on campus through curriculum and staff initiatives, he said.
“Without Jesuits, how can you call yourself Jesuit?” Lannon said.
Saint Joseph's is not alone, said Richard Yanikoski, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.
As religious orders shrink, the critical challenge is for Catholic identity “to be built into the goals and operations and practices of the institution,” Yanikoski said.
Retaining that identity was somewhat easier in previous generations when priests and nuns who ran the schools wore religious garb as they carried out teaching and administrative duties, he said.
“Everyone could see the Catholic identity of the institution in those people,” said Yanikoski.
Yet diminishing numbers, and members of orders opting for secular dress, have combined to change that sensibility at places like Saint Xavier University in Chicago, which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy and where Yanikoski served as the third lay president.
The school's student body has changed as well, said university spokesman Joseph Moore. While the percentage of Catholics is still very high, today's students grew up under Vatican II reforms and are less steeped in what might be considered traditional Catholic culture, he said. They are required to take two religion courses, but not necessarily on Catholicism.
Saint Xavier tries to maintain its roots by offering a “peer mentoring” program in which staff members periodically meet after work for informal, faculty-led discussions on what it means to work in a Catholic institution.
But it's still a challenge. Only two sisters remain among the faculty at the 5,700-student campus, Moore said. Five more work in other roles at the school.
Overall, the Chicago congregation of sisters has dropped from 800 to 200 since 1967, and the median age is now 79, Moore said.
The story is similar for Jesuits, whose numbers have been decreasing since the 1960s, according to the Jesuit Conference of the United States. Currently, there are about 3,000 nationwide and their average age is 60.
Religious orders are losing priests at a faster rate than dioceses. Overall, the number of religious order priests in the U.S. has dropped from about 23,000 in 1965 to 13,000 this year. That's a decline of 43 percent – steeper than the 30 percent slide in total number of priests nationwide during that period, according to Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
The identity issue has been of concern to Pope Benedict XVI, who addressed the presidents of the nation's more than 200 Catholic universities during his U.S. visit in April. He told the educators that they “have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice.”
Catholic higher education is also important in terms of developing the next generation of leaders in the church, Yanikoski said.
“We know that leadership talent has to be systematically developed. If we don't do it in Catholic colleges and universities, where will it be done?” he said.
At La Salle University in Philadelphia, the founding Christian Brothers also face shrinking numbers, said Brother Joseph Willard, executive assistant to the school president.
To supplement the presence of 38 brothers who work on campus, the college offers La Sallian leadership training to its lay staff to help infuse the order's values of faith, service and community, Willard said. Officials are also increasing the number of liturgical events on campus.
“We consider being Catholic in name and Catholic in reality is very much what our mission is about,” Willard said. “The mission of the brothers can't die with the brothers.”
Saint Joseph's has a similar program for lay staff based on the “spiritual exercises” of St. Ignatius, the Jesuit patron. The 12- to 24-week program is designed to help participants strengthen their relationship with God and make decisions within the context of Gospel values.
The school, which has about two dozen priests working on campus, also plans to offer a biannual seminar on Ignatian teaching for faculty, officials said.
For students, the 57-year-old Lannon spearheaded an effort to create a required course called “Faith, Justice and the Catholic Tradition” – one component of a revised core curriculum approved last week by university trustees. A previous religion requirement did not specifically include a course on Catholicism.
The new class is meant to ensure that students understand key doctrines in Catholicism and the Jesuits' commitment to social justice, compassion for the poor and searching for God in all things, said provost Brice Wachterhauser.
“Our hope is to produce a deeper understanding of our institutional roots and commitments,” he said.
Saint Joe's sophomore Marissa Foster, who grew up Methodist in Scranton, Pa., said she's interested in the Jesuit tradition and thinks the required class is a good idea.
“I don't think I'd go out on my own” and learn about it, she said.
But interacting with priests outside the classroom is important too, Foster said. Seeing Lannon – who lives among students in university housing – and other Jesuits regularly on campus and in classrooms helps create a unique, tight-knit spiritual community.
Losing that connection would be hard, she said.
“It would definitely change the atmosphere,” Foster said. “It wouldn't be the same.”
Church Parishioners Vow To Fight Back
NEW ORLEANS -- Parishioners on Sunday vowed to fight back as three more churches held their final Masses under the archdiocese's restructuring plan.
Despite clear weather, a dark cloud loomed over Masses Sunday morning in the New Orleans Metro area as the faithful worshipped for what could be the last time in their own churches.
But parishioners at one church said they'll continue to fight the closure.
"There should have been something else that we can do to keep this church open," St. Henry's parishioner Cynthia Hargardorn said. "Look at the people here. We'll never get this back. We'll never be able to recover what they're breaking up today."
For the past 152 years, St. Henry's Catholic Church has been home to hundreds of families. Now the faces of St. Henry's that have been there for generations are marking their final day by mourning their church.
"We're disgusted, down-hearted," parishioner Nicholas O'Conner said. "I think it's like the fall of San Antonio, like the fall of the Alamo."
The Archdiocese of New Orleans said the closure is necessary.
"Pre-Katrina we were looking at shifting demographics outside of the city into more suburban areas," said Sarah Comiskey, of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. "We were also looking at a priest shortage that we know we're going to be facing. We're going to have 18 fewer priests serving in the archdiocese."
But church leaders said they believe the archdiocese's motivation for permanently closing its doors is money.
"This church is more than a church," said St. Henry's Parish Council President Alden Hagardorn. "I mean, we own the old convent behind this. We own these two school buildings, the rectory, these yards. This is all prime real estate and we have a sizeable income."
Parishioners said they believe the income goes straight to the archdiocese's coffers, but Comiskey said that's not the case.
"Any money that would come from any use of the properties would follow the people to the new Parish of Good Shepherd," she said.
"Are they going to give me my share if I say I don't want to go to this church over here, which I won't want to go to another church," Alden Hargardorn said. "Well, are they going to say, 'Well Alden, here's your cut'?"
Church leaders said they're appealing the archdiocese's decision to the Vatican, and they're hoping to hold a vigil inside the church.
"There are people who are talking about coming back for the prayer service and basically staying in the church until our appeal is heard," Alden Hargardorn said. "I don't know if we have enough people, but the church belongs to the people. So I guess we'll find out this evening."
St. Henry's, along with Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Francis De Sales and Epiphany all closed on Sunday.
The archdiocese said those were the last of the 33 churches to close and be merged with other parishes.
Previous Stories:
October 24, 2008: Church Set To Close Sunday Fights To Stay Open
October 21, 2008: Parishioners Fight To Keep Church Open
October 21, 2008: Closing Church's Priest Refuses To Leave
August 15, 2008: Catholics Protest Church Closings, Mergers
July 13, 2008: Local Parishioners Uncertain About Fate Of Churches
July 6, 2008: Archdiocese To Determine Closing Of 15 Local Catholic Churches
April 9, 2008: Archdiocese Announces Church Closings
Archdiocese To Determine Closing Of 15 Local Catholic Churches
Parishioners Protest Closures
POSTED: 5:57 pm CDT July 6, 2008
UPDATED: 6:10 pm CDT July 6, 2008
NEW ORLEANS -- In less than a week, parishioners from about 15 Catholic parishes will learn whether or not their churches will be shut down.
In April, when Archbishop Alfred Hughs made the decision to close dozens of parishes, some resigned to their fate quietly. Others are vowing not to go down without a fight.
St. Francis de Sales joined the group of parishes on Sunday that are protesting the decision.
Dozens of parishes are marked for closure in a reorganization plan.
The archdiocese is working to streamline, in part, because of a shortage of priests. Some parishes have not been able to recover after Hurricane Katrina.
Parishioners at St. Francis de Sales said that is not the case for them.
"We have met every bench mark that the archdiocese has asked us to make," parishioner Lydwina Hurst said. "As far as the pastoral plan, we have been meeting with the facilitator. But our questions have not been answered and our concerns have not been addressed."
St. Francis de Sales is one of 33 Catholic churches that are scheduled for closure and incorporation into other neighboring parishes.
St. Henry and Our Lady of Good Counsel are also among the parishes actively protesting closure.
Save our churches: A congregation of 200 'is not viable'
Thriving churches are being closed down by the Catholic Church under plans to reduce costs and raise income from the land, worshippers claim.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs CorrespondentLast Updated: 8:16PM BST 23 Aug 2008
Up to half of parishes in some areas will be left without any services as a result of a radical nationwide reorganisation by dioceses.
Some of the churches already earmarked for closure have congregations of as many as 200 people, and worshippers have accused the Church of “putting cash before Christianity”.
The most vociferous protests so far have been triggered by plans drawn up by the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, to shut down seven churches in his diocese this month as part of a large scale closure programme.
Worshippers have appealed to MPs and heritage bodies to step into the row, written to the Charity Commissioners to argue that the diocese has neglected its duties as trustees of the churches, and last week served the bishop with legal papers claiming his behaviour breaches canon law.
Some of the protesters - including women in their 80s - have even chained themselves to the church railings in protest at the closures, which they claim will devastate the communities.
Their bid to keep the buildings open follows a campaign by The Sunday Telegraph to secure more government money to preserve historic churches and keep them as a focal point for community use.
More than 7,000 people have signed the Save Our Churches campaign which has been backed by politicians, celebrities and church leaders, including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Parishioners in the Leeds diocese have been backed by Lord Lofthouse, the Labour peer, who attacked Bishop Roche for “putting finance before Christian teaching”.
The closure of churches in the Wakefield and Pontefract deanery will mean that 12 have been lost in the past year, which amounts to a tenth of the whole diocese.
Worshippers have accused the bishop of “acting like a dictator” in failing to respond to any of their letters, which proposed solutions to the problem and expressed concern over the damage that the action would have on communities.
Dozens of them travelled to the Bishop’s residence last week with letters asking them to listen to their case and sent a petition delivering a vote of no confidence in him.
Many of the protesters have attended Mass at the churches for decades and have been baptised or married there.
Maureen Walsh, who has worshipped at Holy Family church Chequerfield for 44 years, said: “We have been shattered by this. People were crying last Sunday realising that we will no longer be able to come here.”
A Polish priest has offered to take over from the current incumbent, who is due to retire this year, to enable the church to continue, but the proposal has been rejected by the bishop.
The church has a congregation of around 200 people and has been a focal point for the community, staging concerts and holding a lunch club for pensioners, according to the campaigners.
Anne Dyer, chair of governors at Holy Family and St Michael’s Primary school, said that the closure of the church will affect everyone in the area from the children to their grandparents.
Pupils sent Bishop Roche letters asking him to change his mind.
“I have a very special memory that happened at this church,” one boy wrote. “It would be such a shame if you do close the church.”
Mrs Dyer said that the bishop has acted “as if he is ruling in the dark ages” in the way that he has ignored their pleas.
“This area is crying out to be supported, but we feel that he has treated us like peasants rather than listening to what we have to say,” she added.
A few miles away, at St John the Evangelist Church, in Allerton Bywater, large banners hung on the outside walls make clear the congregation’s displeasure.
“Bishop Roche doesn’t care about our sick and old,” says one. Another reads: “It’s cash before Christianity.”
Malcolm Brumwell accused the bishop of breaking church law in his treatment of the parish and had denied worshippers access to a traditional Mass and removing the priest without offering him a new parish.
“He has been grossly negligent in regard to running this parish,” said Mr Brumwell.
He said that a legal challenge has been issued to Bishop Roche, which he must send to Rome for a decision. It would set a precedent for bishops’ freedom to close churches if it is found that he has acted inappropriately.
A letter has been sent to the Charity Commission by Our Lady of Lourdes church in Ackworth, which has nearly 200 worshippers.
It says that the diocese “has failed to act in the interests of the charity and its beneficiaries (the parishioners and clergy)”.
Bishop Roche has argued that congregations of less than 200 people are no longer viable and that the churches are being closed because there are not enough priests to serve the parishes. The number of priests in England and Wales has slumped by nearly a quarter in 20 years, from 4, 545 in 1985 to 3,643 in 2005.
Catholic churches in north-west England are under particular pressure, with a severe shortage of priests and a sharp fall in attendances at Mass. In the diocese of Liverpool, the number of priests has almost halved in the past decade, from 240 in 1998 to 166. The diocese of Lancaster is forecast to lose half of its 108 parishes in the next 10 years, a move which would see dozens of churches closed.
Campaigners in Leeds diocese hope that their efforts will bring them a last minute reprieve, but a spokesman for the bishop said that the fate of the churches could not be changed.
“Closing these churches is the last thing that the bishop wants to do, but he had no choice,” said John Brady, the bishop’s press secretary.
“We have had a consultation, the case was put to them, and that’s it. Congregations of 200 aren’t viable any more.”
Mr Brady said that the closures were part of a “rolling programme” that had already seen another seven churches shut down in the last 18 months.
Priest shortage could alter college identities
By Kathy Matheson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
7:27 a.m. October 15, 2008
PHILADELPHIA – The shortage of Roman Catholic clergy isn't just being felt in church.
Religious orders that have founded and run Catholic colleges and universities across the U.S. – in some cases for more than a century – are grappling with how to retain the institutions' distinct religious identities in the face of declining numbers of priests and nuns.
The Rev. Timothy Lannon, president of Saint Joseph's University, can envision a time when a lay person will lead the Jesuit school in Philadelphia because of the dwindling number of his brethren. So it's important now to instill the order's philosophy on campus through curriculum and staff initiatives, he said.
“Without Jesuits, how can you call yourself Jesuit?” Lannon said.
Saint Joseph's is not alone, said Richard Yanikoski, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.
As religious orders shrink, the critical challenge is for Catholic identity “to be built into the goals and operations and practices of the institution,” Yanikoski said.
Retaining that identity was somewhat easier in previous generations when priests and nuns who ran the schools wore religious garb as they carried out teaching and administrative duties, he said.
“Everyone could see the Catholic identity of the institution in those people,” said Yanikoski.
Yet diminishing numbers, and members of orders opting for secular dress, have combined to change that sensibility at places like Saint Xavier University in Chicago, which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy and where Yanikoski served as the third lay president.
The school's student body has changed as well, said university spokesman Joseph Moore. While the percentage of Catholics is still very high, today's students grew up under Vatican II reforms and are less steeped in what might be considered traditional Catholic culture, he said. They are required to take two religion courses, but not necessarily on Catholicism.
Saint Xavier tries to maintain its roots by offering a “peer mentoring” program in which staff members periodically meet after work for informal, faculty-led discussions on what it means to work in a Catholic institution.
But it's still a challenge. Only two sisters remain among the faculty at the 5,700-student campus, Moore said. Five more work in other roles at the school.
Overall, the Chicago congregation of sisters has dropped from 800 to 200 since 1967, and the median age is now 79, Moore said.
The story is similar for Jesuits, whose numbers have been decreasing since the 1960s, according to the Jesuit Conference of the United States. Currently, there are about 3,000 nationwide and their average age is 60.
Religious orders are losing priests at a faster rate than dioceses. Overall, the number of religious order priests in the U.S. has dropped from about 23,000 in 1965 to 13,000 this year. That's a decline of 43 percent – steeper than the 30 percent slide in total number of priests nationwide during that period, according to Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
The identity issue has been of concern to Pope Benedict XVI, who addressed the presidents of the nation's more than 200 Catholic universities during his U.S. visit in April. He told the educators that they “have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice.”
Catholic higher education is also important in terms of developing the next generation of leaders in the church, Yanikoski said.
“We know that leadership talent has to be systematically developed. If we don't do it in Catholic colleges and universities, where will it be done?” he said.
At La Salle University in Philadelphia, the founding Christian Brothers also face shrinking numbers, said Brother Joseph Willard, executive assistant to the school president.
To supplement the presence of 38 brothers who work on campus, the college offers La Sallian leadership training to its lay staff to help infuse the order's values of faith, service and community, Willard said. Officials are also increasing the number of liturgical events on campus.
“We consider being Catholic in name and Catholic in reality is very much what our mission is about,” Willard said. “The mission of the brothers can't die with the brothers.”
Saint Joseph's has a similar program for lay staff based on the “spiritual exercises” of St. Ignatius, the Jesuit patron. The 12- to 24-week program is designed to help participants strengthen their relationship with God and make decisions within the context of Gospel values.
The school, which has about two dozen priests working on campus, also plans to offer a biannual seminar on Ignatian teaching for faculty, officials said.
For students, the 57-year-old Lannon spearheaded an effort to create a required course called “Faith, Justice and the Catholic Tradition” – one component of a revised core curriculum approved last week by university trustees. A previous religion requirement did not specifically include a course on Catholicism.
The new class is meant to ensure that students understand key doctrines in Catholicism and the Jesuits' commitment to social justice, compassion for the poor and searching for God in all things, said provost Brice Wachterhauser.
“Our hope is to produce a deeper understanding of our institutional roots and commitments,” he said.
Saint Joe's sophomore Marissa Foster, who grew up Methodist in Scranton, Pa., said she's interested in the Jesuit tradition and thinks the required class is a good idea.
“I don't think I'd go out on my own” and learn about it, she said.
But interacting with priests outside the classroom is important too, Foster said. Seeing Lannon – who lives among students in university housing – and other Jesuits regularly on campus and in classrooms helps create a unique, tight-knit spiritual community.
Losing that connection would be hard, she said.
“It would definitely change the atmosphere,” Foster said. “It wouldn't be the same.”
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