Worthy brothers, the Catholic Church in the United States is in crisis.
Matthew Kelly, in his book 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory gives us these statistics: “In 1973 there were 58,000 priests in the United States, the average age was thirty-five and only 10% were over the age of sixty-five. Today there are 37,000 priests in the United States, the average age is sixty-four and 40% are over the age of sixty-five.” He goes on to say that already today, there are “3,500 parishes in the United States are now without a resident priest.”
My Brothers, the average age for life expectancy of men in the United States today is 76. That means while our priests deserve to retire they are too scarce. And even so, 40% of the priests we see today will not be around in 10 years.
The United States Catholic Church has never produced as many priests as we need. We have always imported more priests than we produced. We are not taking care of the Church that our grandparents built for us.
By now you should be asking yourselves, but what can I do to help?
I have some answers. According to the Sacramento Diocese web site, there are 13 seminarians working through their seven years of formation. Like all students our seminarians have costs. We can help by participating in the Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP).
The Chapter Vocations committee supports the Diocese Office of Priestly and Religious Vocations. We encourage councils throughout the diocese to support the Priests, Consecrated Religious Seminarians, Postulants and young adults and teens who are discerning a vocation to the Religious life.
If anything that I said excites you, please contact me at vocations@norcalknights.org, or call (707)372-4913 to find out how to help.
Vivat Jesus
George Bagley, Vocations Chairman
(707)372-4913
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