A Crisis Not of Vocation - Revisited

I have had more time to reflect on this thought which I wrote on in the past, and I want to address it again in brief with newfound perspective. In a previous article called A Crisis Not of Vocation I spoke on this trend I see in American Catholic culture, that we speak about "the vocations crisis" but only in regards to a shortage of seminarians going into the priesthood. When we speak about a vocations crisis we, for some reason, gloss over the fact that there is a vocations crisis in marriage too, not just in religious life.

Think of it this way: we all live in a castle, an advanced one for the medieval age, and we're in some trouble. Currently we're under siege, multiple towers are ablaze, the sewage system is backed up so people are getting sick, the water tower is leaking so we'll die of thirst, and we are nearly out of food. A bad situation all around, right? Now, imagine this, the loudest voices in the castle all scream together and direct everyone's attention to the food shortage - a problem, yes, but not the only one.

My point is this: why are we hyper-focused on one specific issue when there are several that deserve equal amounts of attention? No, that's a terrible point - why? Because of the underlying issue which is failing to be addressed - we're under siege! The lack of applications to the seminaries is not the problem, the fact that people feel aimless, devoid of purpose, they feel like they are unwanted and unwelcome in this world - these are the things which actually plague us. The problem isn't that men aren't discerning the priesthood, it's that they aren't discerning anything. Can you blame them? I don't.

Imagine with me, if you will, this made up scenario. Take this young Catholic boy, going to church every Sunday with his family. Perhaps they are a devout family, perhaps they aren't, but he at least tries to feels a stirring in his heart to love God well. So, he reads Scripture frequently, serves at the altar, is involved with his parish's youth group, and maintains an active prayer life. This boy comes into his teenage years and starts wrestling with the question, "what vocation am I called to?" He goes on retreats with this question in mind, speaks with the priest and his parents, but does not receive a clear answer on whether he is to go into religious life or the priesthood, but does not want to choose the "wrong" vocation. And so, as it normally goes, in the meantime this boy, now becoming a man, heads off to college with his vocation still uncertain.

He goes to a university and gets involved in the Catholic scene - and he's given more points of confusion to muddle his decision making regarding a vocation. There are beautiful, nice women around him, but some of them are staunch feminists and believe in a wholly egalitarian relationship in marriage; other women would never describe themselves as feminists but don't consider themselves "traditional" either and intend to work full time throughout marriage and send the children to daycare when they're young and away for school as they get older, and this doesn't sit well with the young man because he doesn't like the idea of other people raising his children. Then there are these other women who label themselves as traditional, who wear flowy dresses, are very sweet, and say they are quitting their job as soon as they get married and having as many children as possible. Initially this "traditional woman" is very appealing to the young man - but then he has more questions that appear into his mind. "She doesn't live frugally, how much money do I need to make to support the lifestyle she desires?" "How much does it cost to support a family nowadays?" "What is the most I can make within my career?" "When can I retire? Can I retire?" The quote-unquote traditional marriage lifestyle doesn't look so feasible then for the young man.

Then the young man graduates college with a degree, not having met his wife during his studies. He moves to a small town, or to a city, and starts working to pay off his debts. He gets involved in the local Catholic church - still practicing his faith, though he is having trouble feeling "on fire" as some of the campus ministers would say. At the church he sees one, perhaps two other people his age, and they both rush out the door as soon as the closing song is finished, leaving the young man no time to go up and speak to them. Little does he know that these other young adults were once like him, with the difference being that they have been at the church for a year already and they tried what the young man is about to try and were treated in the same way he is about to be treated. This young man, still possessing his optimism, speaks to the priest about young adult ministry at the parish, to which Father responds "We don't have any of that here." Father isn't interested in getting a young adult's group started up either, since it would likely have almost nobody show up, and he doesn't want to have another thing on his plate (though the young man assures Father that nothing will be required of him). So, nothing happens, and the young man continues to attend the church every Sunday as a faithful Catholic.

This goes on for years. The young man enters his thirties, with the only "community" he knows being the people he chats with through online forums, or through video games, or through his hobby of dancing/photography/painting/running/movie club which has a community built around it, but it's not a Catholic community.

Then he enters his forties. Nothing is changed except his age. Nothing will change, and he knows this, because he sees the same young-hopefuls join the same church he did fresh out of college, attempt to build community, and there is no fruit from it.

Sad story, yes? I suppose I should go to Confession after this because I lied to you, I didn't make that story up, that's a true story. Not the story of one man, but the story of several I've spoken to over the years. And it is my story as well. It is a story of... aimlessness. Not aimlessness by choice, but by consequence. For many of us the stories of our past involve our parents or grandparents getting married right out of college, buying a house, having a handful or a basketful of kids, and settling into a good career. We, frankly, have none of that as a generation.

So, here is my point. Speaking about a "priesthood crisis" is going to fall on deaf ears, so give it a rest. Marriage, the "natural vocation" (an article I am working on writing right now), is decreasing as well. The problem is not that men aren't choosing the priesthood, it's that both men and women aren't choosing anything. The solution is not "encourage the men to become priests" you're putting a butterfly bandage over the stub of a severed and still bleeding arm - it's not doing anything. Answer me this: what is the underlying issue why men and women are choosing no vocation at all? Don't know the answer? Go figure it out then. Don't come tell me that we need more priests when there will be few men available persuade to be priests in a generation from now.

To be clear, I'm not asking "what is the Church doing about the crisis faced by young men?", what I am asking is "what is the Church doing to address these concerns?" I don't think this is a problem that "the Church needs to come in and fix", it's multi-faceted and has no fix-all solution. Pope Saint John Paul II saw a need to address human sexuality in his audiences we call Theology of the Body, as he saw the consequences of the sexual revolution made manifest before him. Where is our JPII for this new crisis? The crisis of aimlessness, lack of direction, loneliness, isolation, purposelessness, I don't think the Church has properly addressed it yet.

Perhaps, and I am loathe to say this for reasons my friends and family know, the solution is a wholehearted return to "the old things" which were done away with after Vatican II (almost entirely because of the motives of modernists outside of the council, not because of Vatican II itself). My hesitation, in brief, comes from the many (and I do mean many) people who have made an idol out of "tradition". But, just because some people misuse tradition does not make returning to tradition bad in itself, and therefore the adoption of things such as severe liturgical reform to promote reverence, reinstitution of old practices from the past, and so on, should be considered.

Another solution, figure out how to make families whole again. The other day I listened to a podcast which summed the situation up well which I will abbreviate here: people today are attempting to recreate something they never experienced, and so the healthy families and communities they work to create are only as good as what they've seen in media. For my background, I come from a very good family, and I'm grateful for that. I have friends come with me to spend time with my family, these friends saying that they also come from good families, then change their mind on this when they come spend time with mine. I don't mean to make my family sound perfect, but neither am I going to couch what I'm saying to say anything other than that I do have a good, healthy family.

To be sparse with details, a friend of mine says he comes from a good family and that he has a good relationship with them, but he hasn't a clue where his siblings live and just speaks to his parents on holidays. While I am not the golden example, I regularly spend time with my family, and we all look forward to getting together and make plans for when we'll see each other next.

I come from a good family. I am fortunate in this. I would like to see the Church encourage this more, we need a Theology of the Family from another great mind. Families are broken, they are barely functioning, churning out children who resent the idea of marriage because if it means having the relationship of your parents and giving children the childhood you had, then no thank you.

My last suggestion. Churches need to allow for community - I don't mean encourage, I mean allow it, because people will create it if you give them the chance. In tandem to that, also encourage it, but do that by supporting those who are already attempting to do the work. I have been part of churches which artificially tried to create community - but did it on their own terms. Obviously that failed, and failed miserably. But those who want to have a parish celebration, do a fundraiser, start a youth group, start men's and women's groups, so long as they are building up the Church you should put resources behind them. Just help them, it's not that hard.

Don't speak to me ever again about a priesthood crisis. Like the castle I mentioned earlier, while I get that our rations are running low I think that the greater concern would be the people about to break down the gate and murder all of us, or perhaps being consumed by the fire ablaze around us. Or perhaps I'm the idiot, and my focus should be on the lack of bread right now, because that's definitely the most important thing at the moment. Yes? No.

The crisis is not a lack of priests. The crisis is that people are not choosing anything - vocation to marriage or priesthood, work, relationship, hobbies - anything. They are not being fed by their churches, they have no friends, they have nothing to do but scroll on their phones and do things on the internet.

Please Church, tell me, how do you intend to answer the ache in the hearts of the masses? You've done so before by pointing to you husband, our Lord Christ. In what way will you point to Him and show that He fulfils the wants and needs felt by those who are hungry? "Jesus is great, you should check Him out" isn't going to cut it. Look at the ache felt by everyone. Somehow you need to address this, just as JPII did in his time. If you don't, I fear that we are going to return to being a missionary Church across the globe, but perhaps that is just me.

Perhaps I should write about this to a bishop. Perhaps not. Perhaps....

Written for VME Catholic, by Ethan Hall