{"id":2815,"date":"2014-02-17T09:14:51","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T14:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/thecc\/?p=2815"},"modified":"2014-02-21T15:59:30","modified_gmt":"2014-02-21T20:59:30","slug":"is-there-really-a-priest-shortage-in-the-archdiocese-of-detroit-aod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/2014\/02\/17\/is-there-really-a-priest-shortage-in-the-archdiocese-of-detroit-aod\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There Really a Priest Shortage in the Archdiocese of Detroit? (AOD)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JohnVianney\"<\/a>

St. John Vianney- Patron Saint of Parish Priests<\/p><\/div>\n

I think there is a common misconception in the Archdiocese of Detroit that there is a priest shortage!<\/i>\u00a0 When I compare the number of priests to the number of parishes in the Archdiocese, it seems clear to me that there is not<\/i> a priest shortage.\u00a0 If I am right, sociologists would call \u201cthe priest shortage\u201d a mythic fact, myth in the sense of statistically not true.\u00a0 Let me explain.<\/p>\n

When the vicariate planning process began in the mid-1990s in the AOD, to be sure, \u201cpriest shortage\u201d may have been a more accurate description of the Detroit parish situation.\u00a0 Beginning in 2001, however, the USCCB asked dioceses to stop using \u201cpriest shortage\u201d to describe the church\u2019s situation and to begin using the phrase \u201cfewer priests,\u201d mainly because Catholics per Priest Worldwide statistics show North America is Priest Rich (e.g., in South America the ratio is 7,094:1 and in North America it is 1,229:1; the current ratio in the AOD is 1,329\/1).<\/p>\n

In the AOD, however, the mythic fact grew because for years we were only considering the \u201cnumber of priests IN PARISHES\u201d rather than the total number of priests.\u00a0 For example, in 2014 there are 259 priests in 237 parishes.\u00a0 Given the average age of priests is 63.6, these numbers have been interpreted (reasonably we might add) as indicative of a priest shortage because many priests will soon be retiring.\u00a0 But if one examines the total number of priests in the AOD, at this same time, one discovers there are 588 priests, which raises some eyebrows.<\/p>\n

First of all, with 588 priests, the AOD could assign 2 priests to every parish with some to spare.\u00a0 So, who are these 329 non-parish priests?\u00a0 Well, 131 of these priests are retired, which leaves 198 others in ministries that supposedly make these priests unavailable for parish work.\u00a0 This total includes bishops, those engaged in\u00a0provincial work, campus ministers, chaplains, faculty\/teachers, those in central service, etc.\u00a0 Now, if we examine more closely the 198 priests who are not retired, 143 are religious and 55 are diocesan.\u00a0 Of the 143 religious priests there are 64 who are\u00a070 years of age or younger (average age = 56), and 49 of the 55 diocesan priests are 70 years of age or younger (average age = 55); leaving a total of 113 priests who could possibly be pastors.<\/p>\n

So, there are 457 active priests <\/b>(259 in parishes and 198 in other roles), <\/b>raising the question that if there are only 237 parishes, then what are the other 198 or, more realistically, the other 113 (non-parish) priests doing that precludes them from being a pastor?\u00a0 Granted, I am not privy to whether these 113 priests are equipped for parish ministry, but it seems to me that probably most of them are.\u00a0 Obviously, they are doing something other than being pastors\/associate pastors. All things being equal, therefore, I argue the AOD faces a priest distribution problem rather than a priest shortage problem.<\/i><\/p>\n

I also conclude, all things being equal, that it appears that parishes are not a top priority<\/span><\/i><\/b>, if my figures are correct. Why?\u00a0 Because otherwise the AOD would not be closing\/clustering\/merging parishes based on the unavailability of priests (which has not always been the only<\/b> reason but often the predominant one).\u00a0 I reiterate, I am not privy to the background information on these 113 priests, but it is hard to believe that all of them are in one way or another unable to be pastors.\u00a0 Consequently, it is reasonable to conclude, I suggest, that in the allocation of priests \u2013 parishes are not a priority<\/span><\/i><\/b> \u2013 something else must be.<\/p>\n

I must add, however, that as far as I know AOD priest statistics have never been interpreted in this way, that is, comparing the number of priests to the number of parishes.\u00a0 A particular rationale for interpreting priest statistics as above, then, is to first clarify the situation and secondly raise consciousness about it.\u00a0 The raising of consciousness is particularly important because as Mike Vlasic (Chair of the restructuring committee for the AOD in 2009) stated at the AOD Central Services day in September 2009, and to which everyone appeared to agree, the health of AOD parishes<\/span><\/i><\/b> determines the health of the AOD.\u00a0 If that is true, then it seems to me that parishes<\/span><\/i><\/b> should be the top priority in terms of priest assignments and not something else.<\/p>\n

Finally, now that the AOD has only 237 parishes today compared to 313 in 2000, with more closings anticipated; it appears that the numbers of priests are aplenty.\u00a0 Then again, I could be missing something in this analysis.\u00a0 If so, please enlighten me.\u00a0 Otherwise, I agree with the USCCB, we should stop using the term \u201cpriest shortage\u201d in that it seems to be more of a priest distribution problem than a numbers problem.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think there is a common misconception in the Archdiocese of Detroit that there is a priest shortage!\u00a0 When I compare the number of priests to the number of parishes in the Archdiocese, it seems clear to me that there … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":444,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2815"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2852,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions\/2852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}