Post by Yaw on Feb 3, 2004 17:49:31 GMT -5
Why all the 'young fogeys?'
Ted Schmidt, Editor
From the Catholic New Times
Ted Schmidt, Editor
From the Catholic New Times
The prolific Catholic sociologist Andrew Greeley, writing in the January/February issue of Atlantic Monthly, writes about “the young fogeys,” today’s striking trend of conservative priests presenting themselves for ordination. “These are newly ordained men who seem in many ways intent on restoring the pre-Vatican II Church, and who, reversing the classic generational roles, define themselves in direct opposition to the liberal priests who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s.” writes Fr. Greeley.
Analyzing this disturbing development, Greeley describes the lamentable failure of nerve which characterized the immediate post-Vatican II period, the sad attempt to “quench the Spirit.”(1 Thess 5:19) and follow through on church reforms.
The backlash after Vatican II was swift. Church leaders, realizing that reform had slipped out of their control, grew increasingly convinced of the need for the Restoration — a movement in which the upper clergy would close ranks and reassert their authority. Newly-appointed bishops would restore the rules; theologians who disagreed would be silenced and the old order would be established. Today’s young priests are rallying to the call.
CNT was invited to a meeting of the National Federation of Priests held in Toronto in April, 2002 when sociologist Dean Hoge led a seminar on “priests in the first five years.” He then turned his findings into a book. Hoge’s seminar was both unnerving and exhilarating. Unnerving, because his findings he described that day were that “newly ordained priests seem to believe that a priest is fundamentally different from a layperson,” a man apart, ‘ontologically’ different, as the philosophers say.
As well, one-third of the priest-respondents felt that the laity needed to be “better educated to respect the authority of the priest’s word.”
Hoge’s seminar was uplifting in that the vast majority of the veteran pastors present were collectively shaking their heads over the attitudes of “the John Paul II brigade” of new ordinands. Words like “pompous”, “arrogant” and “rigid” were used. One priest brought the house down with a description of a conversation he had with a priest ordained two years, complaining that he felt “burned out.” The veteran quipped, “I thought his problem was ignition!”
It is commonly accepted by seminary deans that priestly applicants of the last few decades have not been up to the intellectual standards of previous generations. Rigidity often accompanies lower intellectual standards and premature fogeyism.
Greeley quotes Hoge and other surveys which show the wide gulf between the priestly generations on issues such as celibacy and the ordination of women. He points out, however, that 40 per cent of the newly ordained do not accept that birth control is always wrong, “a revealing failure of the Restoration efforts of the past thirty years.”
He comments starkly: “Priests as a group are simply out of touch with the laity.” A L.A. Times study found that only 36 out of 1,854 priests identified clericalism as one of the major problems facing the church’s laity.” (see centre spread). Astonishingly, only 47 priests thought the sex abuse scandals worth mentioning. Priests of all generations are unable to see the clergy as responsible for the departure of disaffected laypersons.
Our editorial discussion at CNT centred on the reasons for the “young fogeys.” Some thought that many of these men cannot abide ambiguity of any kind, desiring absolute certainty. In a period of flux, people need clear and simplistic answers. These men are simply the Catholic analogue to the rising tide of fundamentalism around the world. After 9/11, even North Americans are fearful and when fear reigns, people do not seek truth but security. This may account for the rigidity and inability to relate of the new breed.
In many respects, their timing could not be worse. Surrendering their identity to an institution which heretofore had all the answers and which offered the young “cheap grace” and instant respect which they had never earned, the newly ordained find themselves the brunt of jokes in a job, which has fallen radically in public esteem. Their Roman collars no longer buy them “free passes” anywhere, and their simplistic answers to life’s mysteries do not cut it with a highly educated laity which increasingly struggle to raise families with little of the security the priesthood offers. Many of these younger priests are stunned by their chilly reception, and as one wag who has watched many of them, commented: “They are like Sea King helicopters: very high maintenance. For every hour in the air, they need 25 hours of care on the ground.”
What does this augur for the broader church? Certainly there will be more conflict in store as the young fogeys move, as the National Federation of Priests says in its study, “from a servant leadership model to a cultic model”, one which seems more intent on shoring up clerical privilege than moving Catholicism into a more democratized era which honours “the adult equality of all the baptized” (Lakeland).
Analyzing this disturbing development, Greeley describes the lamentable failure of nerve which characterized the immediate post-Vatican II period, the sad attempt to “quench the Spirit.”(1 Thess 5:19) and follow through on church reforms.
The backlash after Vatican II was swift. Church leaders, realizing that reform had slipped out of their control, grew increasingly convinced of the need for the Restoration — a movement in which the upper clergy would close ranks and reassert their authority. Newly-appointed bishops would restore the rules; theologians who disagreed would be silenced and the old order would be established. Today’s young priests are rallying to the call.
CNT was invited to a meeting of the National Federation of Priests held in Toronto in April, 2002 when sociologist Dean Hoge led a seminar on “priests in the first five years.” He then turned his findings into a book. Hoge’s seminar was both unnerving and exhilarating. Unnerving, because his findings he described that day were that “newly ordained priests seem to believe that a priest is fundamentally different from a layperson,” a man apart, ‘ontologically’ different, as the philosophers say.
As well, one-third of the priest-respondents felt that the laity needed to be “better educated to respect the authority of the priest’s word.”
Hoge’s seminar was uplifting in that the vast majority of the veteran pastors present were collectively shaking their heads over the attitudes of “the John Paul II brigade” of new ordinands. Words like “pompous”, “arrogant” and “rigid” were used. One priest brought the house down with a description of a conversation he had with a priest ordained two years, complaining that he felt “burned out.” The veteran quipped, “I thought his problem was ignition!”
It is commonly accepted by seminary deans that priestly applicants of the last few decades have not been up to the intellectual standards of previous generations. Rigidity often accompanies lower intellectual standards and premature fogeyism.
Greeley quotes Hoge and other surveys which show the wide gulf between the priestly generations on issues such as celibacy and the ordination of women. He points out, however, that 40 per cent of the newly ordained do not accept that birth control is always wrong, “a revealing failure of the Restoration efforts of the past thirty years.”
He comments starkly: “Priests as a group are simply out of touch with the laity.” A L.A. Times study found that only 36 out of 1,854 priests identified clericalism as one of the major problems facing the church’s laity.” (see centre spread). Astonishingly, only 47 priests thought the sex abuse scandals worth mentioning. Priests of all generations are unable to see the clergy as responsible for the departure of disaffected laypersons.
Our editorial discussion at CNT centred on the reasons for the “young fogeys.” Some thought that many of these men cannot abide ambiguity of any kind, desiring absolute certainty. In a period of flux, people need clear and simplistic answers. These men are simply the Catholic analogue to the rising tide of fundamentalism around the world. After 9/11, even North Americans are fearful and when fear reigns, people do not seek truth but security. This may account for the rigidity and inability to relate of the new breed.
In many respects, their timing could not be worse. Surrendering their identity to an institution which heretofore had all the answers and which offered the young “cheap grace” and instant respect which they had never earned, the newly ordained find themselves the brunt of jokes in a job, which has fallen radically in public esteem. Their Roman collars no longer buy them “free passes” anywhere, and their simplistic answers to life’s mysteries do not cut it with a highly educated laity which increasingly struggle to raise families with little of the security the priesthood offers. Many of these younger priests are stunned by their chilly reception, and as one wag who has watched many of them, commented: “They are like Sea King helicopters: very high maintenance. For every hour in the air, they need 25 hours of care on the ground.”
What does this augur for the broader church? Certainly there will be more conflict in store as the young fogeys move, as the National Federation of Priests says in its study, “from a servant leadership model to a cultic model”, one which seems more intent on shoring up clerical privilege than moving Catholicism into a more democratized era which honours “the adult equality of all the baptized” (Lakeland).