Saturday 4 February 2012

Good-bye Good Men

Hello, well, let's just say the book explains a lot.

Because the culture of the seminary permeates Catholic life for the folks at the bottom of the food chain, the laity.

People who have ishoos with Church teaching seem to be in positions of authority in Catholic education.

People who leave the priesthood and religious life seem to get jobs as chaplains and teacher of RE in Catholic schools. As a teacher you have a captive audience in front of you.

From every perspective a disaster, particulaly if you are brought up with a world view that people in authority in the Catholic Church believe what it says on the tin and have other people's welfare at heart.  Then you end up with young men being rejected from the priesthood and believing that this must be right.  They got it wrong or worse there is something wrong with them.  What happened next to the man who returns from the seminary, in his words in disgrace, back to his family who cannot understand why in a time of a crisis in vocations, his has been rejected.  I wonder what he did with the rest of his life?

4 comments:

Richard Collins said...

It should be compulsory reading for every Catholic.
It also does much to explain why our seminaries are clsing down.

Anonymous said...

Very true! Sadly many have been dismissed who are still faithful while those who dismissed them have long departed from the Church.

Ben Trovato said...

Yes, essential reading. I was at a talk the author gave in London some years ago, and it was completely compelling, if somewhat disheartening.

gemoftheocean said...

Yep, I have to concur. The most depressing part was how ACTIVE they were (I gather things are starting to turn around in a number of places) in ferreting out orthodox believers! i.e. if you were really of the orthodox persuasion, best keep those notions to yourself so that you 'made it through' under the radar. Loved the rosary, benediction? hush now....you wouldn't want Sister Miniskirt to hear that.... I really despise all the psychological mind games and hoops they require these people to go through --- the WORST is that in some places, the head-doctors are known anti-Catholics who are only too quick to pull the trigger on whomever does bow down to the homosexual agenda, or doesn't believe in female priests, etc., ad infinitum.