Contrarian View From the Pew: Priesthood

The decade of the 1970’s was not a proud time for the United States military. The political and military failure of Viet Nam produced an American military without a clear mission. By the end of the 1970’s, military leaders from the different branches of service fought amongst themselves for the small parcels of resources that were being granted to them by a congress that mostly felt and expressed disdain for anything and everything military. Moral amongst the troops was low, soldiers were ridiculed by civilians and recruiting was difficult as the downward spiral seemed to continue without hope. The more standards were lowered to increase recruiting, the worse the moral of the soldiers became.

The beginning of the renaissance of the American military started in January 1981 just as soon as Ronald Reagan was sworn in as fortieth President of the United States. At the time it happened the turnaround seemed miraculous, but looking back now it is clear what happened. President Reagan didn’t treat the military leaders and the common soldiers with contempt. In fact, he treated them with respect. He made sure the military leaders were competent and motivated, he defined a new mission for the military, he asked congress to increase funding, and increase pay. Most importantly though, he increased the standards to become and stay a soldier. Most of President Reagan’s critics thought he was crazy. They didn’t understand how the military would be able to recruit more soldiers by raising the standards. But a funny thing started to happen; the harder it was to become a soldier, the more High School graduates started wanting to become soldiers. The harder it became to stay a soldier, the more soldiers’ started taking pride in their military occupation and the more professional the military became. The rest is history. Since the first Gulf War in 1991, the United States military has been the most respected and feared military in the history of our planet.

The new Pope will face a similar problem at the start of his papacy in regards to the moral of priests as Ronald Reagan did at the start of his presidency in regards to soldiers. For the last thirty years the number of Catholic men who feel called to become a priest has been shrinking. The reason has very little, possibly even nothing, to do with celibacy. The parish priest has lost the respect of the average parishioner because the parish priest has lost the support of the Catholic leadership and because the standards have been lowered to a point where just about anyone who is willing to take a vow of chastity can become a priest. It’s no wonder so few men want to become a priest since priesthood is no longer an honored profession.

The new Pope must first start by actively recruiting the best and the brightest to consider priesthood. He should also set some very high standards for joining the priesthood while at the same time he should begin pruning the current ranks of priests who don’t meet these same very high standards. He should also demand that every Cardinal and every Bishop give emotional, financial, and very public support to the parish priests. Once dignity and respect have been restored to the priesthood, the shrinking number of Catholic priests will no longer be a problem for the Catholic Church.