From Catholic World News
Berlin, Apr. 14, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The KNA news agency reports that vocations to the diocesan priesthood in Germany declined by 1% in 2007. The number of seminarians in the country declined from 901 in 2006 to 891 last year. In 2007, the number of new seminarians declined by 5% while the number of newly ordained priests dropped by 10%.
In contrast, the number of new candidates to German religious orders increased by 30% and the number of new seminarians in German religious seminaries grew by 17%. There was a 10% increase in the number of new ordained religious priests
I am at the disadvantage of my high school German being so rusty I have to rely on English language translations of what is going on in some German Diocese... And I admit that some seem to hone in on the more blairing and extreme examples of abuse and disorder...
ReplyDeleteThat as the case may be, some of the diocese sure seem like zoos (in some instances literally) and I am unsuprised that they do not inspire young men to sacrifice the world for such silliness.
Some of the orders, on the other hand, are worth setting the world aside for. It makes perfect sense.
The really sad thing is that "the world" has very little to offer anyone and due to that fact, the Church really should not have any trouble competing with the world for vocations. The fact that it does have such a hard time shows just how much of a mess things are within the institutional Church.
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