We have witnessed a dramatic drop in the number of available priests to serve our diocese. Parishes are clustering together while others are simply closing. And the problem is steadily getting worse.
Recent news articles explained how the number of priests in our diocese is spiraling downward because of expected retirements and the lack of seminarians. It won’t be long until we have half as many as we have now. And it isn’t projected to stop there.
It is my observation that as the number of Masses is slashed so does a proportionate number of Catholics attending Mass. Father John Corapi recently mentioned in one of his televised ETWN sermons that 80 percent of American Catholics no longer attend Mass on Sunday.
De jure our Church excommunicates anyone involved in female ordination. But I contend that on the installment plan, the Church is de facto excommunicating the rest of the faithful by ratcheting down our access to the sacraments. Yet the Church won’t even entertain discussion of two obvious remedies to priest shortages, ordaining women and allowing priests to marry. Little by little, in fact, it is excommunicating the remaining members.
Larry d’Autremont
Davenport
