Cover
story Some seminaries thrive, other struggle
By ROBERT McCLORY
Special Report Writer
Once upon a time the U.S. landscape was dotted from sea to shining
sea with schools of theology, many of them clones of one another, where
substantial cohorts of seminarians prepared for the priesthood.
In that earlier age, in many ways, it mattered little whether one
trained in Philadelphia or Chicago or Portland. What was taught was not very
different from one place to the next. The priesthood as a focal point of
questions, dissent and controversy would have seemed unimaginable at the time.
Today, however, with a dwindling number of candidates and a sharp
decline in the number of seminaries, the old assumptions drop away. Where young
men study today might make a difference in what kind of priests end up leading
the local parish.
In 1967 there were more than 120 seminaries, according to the
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Then
came the tidal wave of the Second Vatican Council, washing away scores of those
schools and leaving the survivors radically changed. For the 1996-97 school
year, the recently published 1997-98 CARA Ministry Formation Directory lists
only 43 seminary schools of theology in the United States.
Of these, 32 educate candidates exclusively or predominantly for
the diocesan priesthood.
The most obvious reason for the dramatic shrinkage in seminaries
is the reduced demand for their services. The total of diocesan students in
theology schools was 4,876 in 1967. In the past school year it was 2,354, a 48
percent decline. For 30 years the erosion has been steady, CARAs analysis
shows.
Small surges in the mid-1980s and early 1990s provided some hope
that the plunge had bottomed out and was reversing itself. But the general
pattern is one of ongoing shrinkage.
Dioceses that once ordained 15 to 40 priests a year have to be
content with five or six -- or none in a truly slow year. Seminaries have had
to adjust, and the strain of adjustment shows in many ways.
Better than 10 years ago
When you look at the big picture, said Franciscan Sr. Katarina
Schuth, it must be admitted that seminaries are better now than they were 10
years ago. Schuth, who teaches at St. Thomas Seminary School of Divinity in St.
Paul, Minn., has been studying U.S. seminaries for the past 10 years. The
teaching is better, faculties are better qualified, students are older, more
settled -- very moderate, very decent people, really, she said, and
there is a lot of emphasis on human formation and a free commitment to
celibacy. They are also doing good work in multicultural education, in
preparing men who can relate to the people they will work with.
Schuth has concerns as well. Some bishops and seminaries, it
appears, are still accepting questionable candidates, she said, and the U.S.
church still lacks directives to remedy the situation some 10 years after the
Vatican sought reforms. In addition, Schuth has misgivings about how well
todays seminarians grasp church history. Though teaching is generally
solid, she said, many students, born long after Vatican II and perhaps with
little previous Catholic education, lack the depth to grasp historical nuances
and subtleties and therefore may take too simplistic an approach to
religion.
Schuth also worries about the future when numbers of priests so
educated take over leadership positions in the seminaries. Meanwhile, many
seminaries are popular educational centers for non-seminarians.
Schuth said some 2,000 laypersons are currently enrolled in
seminary degree programs, with women constituting better than 60 percent of
that total. Her insights were well illustrated when NCR studied the data and
contacted more than a dozen rectors and vocation experts concerning the issues
and people in the ever-shifting world of todays seminaries.
For the most part, seminarians still attend theology schools in
their own area and serve as priests in their home dioceses. But in the
restless, highly mobile world of the late 20th century, a considerable amount
of shifting around occurs. More commonly than in the past, a prospective
seminarian may move from his home diocese to one that seems more compatible
with his theological or pastoral perceptions. A bishop may feel free to find a
seminary for his candidates far from home because it better meets his
expectations.
These trends would appear to be especially beneficial to more
conservative dioceses and seminaries, which are weathering the vocation
shortage more comfortably than others. Three dioceses that invariably stand out
for their number of ordinations each year -- far out of proportion to the size
of their Catholic population -- are often considered among the most
conservative in the nation: Arlington, Va., Lincoln, Neb., and Peoria, Ill.
Arlington ranked seventh among U.S. dioceses with 22 ordinations
between 1993 and 1995, according to CARA, placing it among big-city giants like
Chicago and Los Angeles. Currently, this diocese of 60 parishes has 35
seminarians in theological studies, 22 of them at Mount St. Marys
Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., generally rated among the most conservative
seminaries in the country.
Fr. James Gould, Arlington vocations director, said the diocese is
extremely cautious in accepting candidates, and only six currently in theology
are not native Arlingtonians. Young men just seem to find this an ideal
place to practice the priesthood, he said. We have candidates
coming out our ears. In part, he explained, the boom may be due to the
fact that Arlington, with its very orderly, conservative approach to church
matters and its Southern sense of tradition, is attractive to the many military
families in the region who value discipline and authority.
When Arlington Bishop John R. Keating banned altar girls several
years ago, said Gould, this actually piqued awareness of what church
authority is all about for many young men -- especially when the diocese
took hits in The Washington Post and other publications for
its bold stand. The furor has been much exaggerated, he said, as if the
church had nothing else to offer. The altar girl ban, he hastened to add,
does not apply to home liturgies and Masses in funeral homes, nursing homes and
convents.
Peoria, which ranked 11th with 18 ordinations in the 1993-95
period, is frequently cited as an appealing and welcoming diocese for
conservative outsiders. It currently has 12 students enrolled in theology at
Mount St. Marys and several small contingents at other schools. Fr.
Joseph Dunton, the Peoria vocations director, did not return NCR phone
calls.
Also declining comment was Msgr. Leonard Kalin, Lincoln vocations
director. It is generally acknowledged that Kalin is a major contributor to
stimulating vocations through his long work with the Newman Club at the
University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Some of the dioceses more than 20
current theology students established residence in Lincoln after attending the
university. Eleven of those seminarians currently in theology are at Mount St.
Marys.
In fact, the above-mentioned three dioceses are the top three in
numbers at Mount St. Marys, together accounting for 27 percent of the
total enrollment. Only four others among the 37 dioceses represented at the
school -- Baltimore, Lafayette, Ind., Rockford, Ill., and Wichita, Kan. -- have
as many as eight students. Founded in 1808 as a national seminary, Mount St.
Marys has the second largest theology school in the country and has not
had to hustle for students, said the incoming rector, Fr. Kevin Rhoades. Its
theological approach, he said, is down the center and certainly not
reactionary. But, he emphasized, We are faithful to the magisterium
and carefully follow all the Vatican documents on priestly formation. No one is
in dissent here.
Above capacity
The 21-member faculty includes a half-dozen laypersons, the most
prominent being Germain Grisez, who holds a chair in Christian ethics. Grisez
is best known for his scholarly efforts to establish that the ban on artificial
birth is an infallible church teaching. At this time, Mount St. Marys
does no recruiting, Rhodes said, because it is operating above capacity (164
students in 110 rooms) and there is need for expansion.
Other seminaries frequently cited as appealing to tradition-minded
bishops and seminarians are also in the East. St. Josephs Seminary
(commonly known as Dunwoodie) in New York City hosts 38 theology students for
the New York archdiocese, five for Lincoln, Neb., and a few for several other
dioceses. Among its better known faculty are Msgr. William Smith, a regular
commentator on Catholic belief for the conservative Mother Angelicas
television network, and Jesuit Fr. Avery Dulles, a scholar in residence. St.
Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, the fourth largest diocesan seminary
(133 students), educates seminarians for the archdiocese and nearby
Pennsylvania dioceses and also has room for students from Arlington and
Lincoln, as well as Corpus Christi, Texas. St. Johns Seminary in Boston,
the sixth largest (87 diocesan students), provides for the archdiocese and
nearby dioceses.
Schuth emphasized that many schools regarded as quite conservative
have excellent administrations and faculties and are providing a well-rounded
formation. St. Johns in Boston, for example, is part of an interfaith
consortium of local seminaries, thus exposing students to a variety of
non-Catholic approaches to religion.
One of the most theologically conservative schools cited by those
NCR contacted was Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn. (73
students). Here diocesan and religious order seminarians are almost equally
represented, and that has been the arrangement since the school was opened --
primarily for late vocations -- in 1970. We have a melange of people from
all over the country, said Fr. Ray Halliwell, director of admissions.
All ages, all sizes. Everybody rubs shoulders together, and it works out
fine.
Among the faculty members is another Mother Angelica regular,
Dominican Fr. Brian Mullady of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
Loyalty to the pope is the major attraction for the school, said
Halliwell, adding that it has had little trouble enrolling priesthood
candidates.
Diocesan candidates at Holy Apostles are studying for a broad
geographical range including Yakima, Wash., Santa Fe, N.M., Stamford, Conn.,
and Metuchen, N.J. Some older religious orders like the Franciscans and
Benedictines are represented, as are small, newer groups, noted Halliwell, like
the Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Trinity and the John Vianney Society.
Listed as the principal languages spoken at Holy Apostles are English, Spanish
and Latin.
Among the progressive
Frequently cited as among the more progressive theologates were
Mount St. Marys of the West in Cincinnati, Notre Dame Seminary in New
Orleans (99 diocesan students), St. Patricks Seminary serving San
Francisco (47), Mount Angel Seminary serving Portland, Ore., (86), and
Mundelein Seminary of Chicago (186).
Determining which seminaries are exceptionally traditional and
which are progressive can be a difficult task. Rectors and vocation directors
flee such designations like the plague. Schuth said that in some cases the
student body more than the faculty gives a seminary an aura of conservatism.
You may visit a place where everybody receives Communion on the tongue
and theres a great deal of pious eucharistic devotion, she said,
and discover its the students who are setting the tone.
One measure, of course, is how involved the students are with lay
people in their education. But this is not an altogether reliable guide,
according to seminary officials, because some very conservative schools have
laity enrolled, but they are generally kept far removed from seminarians or are
permitted to take only elective or noncredit courses. However, both St.
Josephs in New York and St. Charles in Philadelphia are welcoming to the
laity and allow laypersons to enroll in degree courses. On the other hand, some
other schools recognized for a more progressive theological approach have few
or no lay students because their distance from urban centers makes them
practically inaccessible to commuters.
Seminaries today differ greatly not only in approach but in size,
thanks to mergers and closings in the wake of the council. Enrollment at the 32
theologates largely invested in training diocesan seminarians ranges from a
high of 186 at Chicagos Mundelein Seminary to a low of five at St.
Francis Seminary in Milwaukee (see accompanying story). Only four of the
schools have more than 100 students, and 18 have fewer than 70; six have fewer
than 30. All of which raises the question whether there are too many major
seminaries today.
I think it would benefit everyone to consider regional
consolidation, said Bishop Gregory Aymond, president and rector of Notre
Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Notre Dame (with 99 diocesan seminarians) is
geared toward preparing men to work in the largely rural, predominantly
non-Catholic South. Its largest groups of students are from the six Louisiana
dioceses and a few other Southern locales such as Atlanta, Memphis and
Tallahassee, Fla. We have a lot of commitment from bishops in this
area, noted Aymond, so recruiting is not a problem for
us.
The church has its own characteristics in the South, Aymond said,
very different from other areas. Besides, he noted, the number of priests
qualified to teach in seminaries is declining, and those who are qualified are
not only needed in parishes but less than enthusiastic about seminary work.
Unfortunately, he said, very few at this point seem to be encouraging
consolidation or collaboration.
Regional or specialized education is almost a necessity at places
like St. Johns Seminary in Camarillo, Calif. Of its 95 students, 53 are
studying for the heavily Hispanic Los Angeles or Orange County dioceses, and
the others also represent highly Hispanic or Asian areas in the West.
Thirty-one percent of the students are Hispanic, 23 percent Asian and four
percent black, said Fr. Jeremiah McCarthy, chief administrative officer.
Relating to minority concerns is absolutely essential,
said McCarthy. No one is exempt from the diversity of the church.
Accordingly, all students are required to study Spanish five mornings a week
before regular classes, and all are immersed in ministry in Mexico during their
four years of theology. Social justice issues receive high priority too, said
McCarthy.
Yet consolidation is far from the minds of other observers. Many
seminaries on the East Coast represent only one large diocese (with openings
for nearby dioceses) and feel no pressure to pull together on a regional basis.
We have a well-qualified, talented pool of priests to teach here,
said Msgr. Francis J. McAree, chief administrative officer at New York
citys St. Josephs Seminary (52 diocesan seminarians).
Solid programs
Like theology schools in Philadelphia and Boston, St.
Josephs is a freestanding operation, and, said McAree, concentrates
largely on the needs of this archdiocese.
Elsewhere in the country, some church officials would also prefer
a degree of seminary independence. Every presbyterate has its own
flavor, said Fr. Michael Glynn, vocations director for the Denver
archdiocese. Training in a common theologate does a lot to encourage
lifelong friendships in the ministry. But, he lamented, only the largest
dioceses have the luxury of their own theology school. A kind of
cross-regional, catchall consolidation already exists at the few giant
theologates. Chicagos Mundelein and Mount St. Marys in Emmitsburg,
Md., are the two largest diocesan theology schools in the country, accounting
for some 350 students (or 15 percent of the U.S total).
While Mundelein is officially a Chicago seminary (51 students for
the archdiocese), it also has representation from 36 other dioceses. Some are
Midwestern, such as Madison, La Crosse and Green Bay, Wis., and Joliet, Ill.
Others are from dioceses across the country: Denver, Seattle, Raleigh, N.C.,
Greensburg, Pa., Knoxville, Tenn., Patterson, N.J.
Fr. Kevin Rhoades of Mount St. Marys in Emmitsburg said his
schools solid formation programs and historic dedication to
well grounded theology make it attractive to a range of bishops; it
remains unaffected by trends toward regional education or specialized
ministries.
Whether seminaries should accept both diocesan and religious order
candidates remains an open question. Many diocesan seminaries have at most a
scattering of religious students. The three largest in the country (comprising
almost 500 students) have only 10 religious order seminarians enrolled.
Similarly, the three largest religious order seminaries (376 students) have
just 12 diocesan seminarians. The traditional theory is that the diocesan and
religious priesthood are different vocations, requiring different grounding.
Yet some seminaries like Connecticuts Holy Apostles practice wholesale
integration.
Enrollment at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio is
almost evenly divided between seminarians from 17 dioceses and seven religious
congregations. Actually, said Oblate Fr. William Morrell, president, the
arrangement did not come about out of conviction or theory. Like
some other seminaries in the 1970s, the school simply widened its net in
response to the dwindling number of candidates for the religious priesthood.
And good things have come as a result, said Morrell. We have
a happy marriage.
The contrasting approaches to spirituality and ministry seem to
complement each other rather than clash, he noted, resulting in creative
fusions and solid friendships. To maintain individual identity, each religious
order has its own house of formation, and there is a separate formation for
diocesan candidates.
For many seminaries, marketing the school to bishops is a major,
time-consuming activity. Morrell of the Oblate Seminary in San Antonio said he
has personally visited 30 dioceses in the past 15 months promoting his program.
Said Fr. Patrick Brennan, president-rector at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon
(70 diocesan theology students), You spend a lot of time developing
personal relations, cultivating donors, tending to assets. It can hurt if
bishops lose confidence in your operation.
Fr. John Canary of Chicagos Mundelein agreed that seminary
officials must be both diplomatic and aggressive. He noted he would soon be
traveling to Denver to sit down with the new archbishop, Charles J. Chaput.
Mundelein currently has 14 Denver seminarians.
For steady enrollment
To develop and maintain a steady enrollment, many seminaries
publish glossy catalogs and promotional brochures, citing their qualifications.
Some, like St. Meinrads School of Theology in Indiana, offer
professionally produced video tapes for easy viewing by bishops, vocations
directors and prospective students. Barbara Crawford, St. Meinrads
communications director, said much time is spent visiting dioceses and
arranging for bishops visits to the school. We try to stress our
pluses, she said, the 125-year tradition of Benedictine liturgy,
hospitality and sense of community.
Although no one would admit on the record the existence of
outright competition for students, several asserted it is a reality. The loss
or gain of even one diocese can have a profound effect on a seminarys
ability to operate, especially for smaller schools.
Another issue seminary officials are reluctant to discuss is the
alleged interference of bishops in their operations. But one case has thrown
the issue into public prominence. In 1995 officials at St. Meinrads fired
Irish Mercy Sr. Carmel McEnroy, a faculty member for 14 years. The charge
against her was public dissent from church teaching, based on her signature
(alongside 1,499 others) on a letter published in NCR asking the
pope to open discussion concerning womens ordination. In a scathing
review of her dismissal, a committee from the American Association of
University Professors concluded that the firing, without the benefit of a
hearing, violated McEnroys academic freedom and the schools own
provisions for due process.
Moreover, the committee charged that Indianapolis Archbishop
Daniel Buechlein had initiated a campaign against her several years
before and had manipulated the ouster by threatening to remove from
the school students from his diocese if officials did not terminate McEnroy.
Buechlein subsequently denied any involvement, saying her release was founded
solely on religious and ecclesiastic grounds.
Nonetheless, the university professors association in June
voted to censure St. Meinrad for its action. McEnroy is appealing the decision
in Indiana courts claiming breach of contract and denial of due process.
Clearly, said Brennan, the St. Meinrad case was handled poorly,
but the situation is not unique. Usually, he said, such problems are handled
quietly and behind the scenes -- with little comment even within the
institution.
Formation challenges
Students at U.S. theology schools are older and culturally
different from their predecessors of 30 years ago. The often-mentioned age at
theologates is a little over 30. At seminaries like Holy Apostles
specializing in late vocations the average is well over 40, with some even in
their late 60s.
It is commonly assumed that older candidates have a level of
maturity and breadth of experience that would predict a serious commitment to
priesthood. But several rectors expressed misgivings about some older
seminarians.
Im afraid were seeing a substantial number who
have tried a variety of careers without achieving any kind of stability,
said Brennan. So now theyre trying the priesthood. It shows up in
some who come here maybe in their late 30s with a whole lot of unpaid personal
bills. We like to see people whove achieved some stability in their past
careers, men with savings and not a lot of debt.
Mundelein rector Canary cited the uneven background of religious
formation in todays seminarians. Sometimes, he said, their vocation stems
from a religious experience -- like a trip to Medjugorje or perhaps a death in
the family. Consequently, said Canary, it has little undergirding and may not
long survive. Canary, who has been involved in seminary work for 20 years,
still believes in the value of high school and college seminaries where a
basic, faith-founded identity may be more easily formed. Without the early
nurturing of religious values in an identifiable Catholic family or community,
he noted, great effort must be expended to deepen and broaden faith, especially
among those who have no recollection of life before Vatican II.
The admission of gay candidates to seminaries is something rectors
and bishops wrestle with regularly. Some dioceses like Omaha avoid that problem
by rejecting outright anyone with an admittedly gay orientation. Most accept
gays but with grave cautions and reservations. Canary said the practice in
Chicago is to inquire extensively into the sexual history of a candidate:
Anyone who is gay must establish that he has lived a strictly chaste life for
two years before he will even be considered for the seminary.
But, said Canary, If theyve been involved in the gay
subculture, in its activities and values, that doesnt make for good
spiritual leadership potential, even with a two-year abstinence period.
Some say orientation doesnt make any difference, but it
does!
There can be, he said, a tendency for a gay man, even a celibate
one, to operate out of a minority syndrome, to see himself
over and against the larger culture embraced by the vast majority
of his parishioners. Also, he said, gay priests may tend to gravitate to
one another, creating exclusive bonds and thus diminishing their
effectiveness in collaborative ministry.
Thorough evaluation
Concern about older candidates, gay candidates, newly sensitized
candidates makes personal and spiritual formation especially important.
Theology schools today go to extreme lengths to develop and tout their
thorough, sometimes rigorous programs. At Mount Angel in Portland, for
instance, an exhaustive series of interviews and written reports is used in
evaluating every seminarian at every step of his education. A formation report,
an academic report, a pastoral education report and a self-evaluation are all
part of the process. Normally involved in the formal evaluation at years
end are the chair of formation direction, the seminarians bishop or
vocation director, his spiritual director, the seminary rector and the director
of pastoral internships.
Among some 40 dimensions or checkpoints to be weighed
in the second year of theology are whether the student takes responsibility for
his own formation, works in a collaborative and professional manner with men
and women, listens to and values opinions of others, demonstrates commitment to
social justice, demonstrates genuine ability to empathize, freely chooses the
celibate life, owns his personal sexual history and manages stress.
Closer to ordination additional considerations emerge, including
the ability to work in a multicultural setting with people of different ethnic
and racial backgrounds; fidelity to the Word of God and the teaching of the
magisterium combined with a deep love for the church; sensitivity to the
ecumenical dimension of the churchs mission; and a capacity for
courageous and decisive leadership.
Our formation program is the most thorough Ive
seen, said Brennan. The aim is to be as objective as
possible.
Those who do not display acceptable development at Mount Angel
leave the seminary, he noted, either voluntarily, through dismissal or by a
nonrecommendation from the evaluation team (a kind of
less-than-honorable discharge).
Schuth said formation programs have improved greatly in the past
10 years -- so much so that seminaries specializing in older vocations like
Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Massachusetts (87 diocesan students) and
Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin (81) are much better able to
sort out good applicants from those with questionable character or
motives.
Rumors persist
Despite intensive formation efforts and other precautions at
seminaries, rumors persist that some poorly suited or unsuited candidates are
slipping through into the priesthood. Last year the Vaticans Congregation
for Catholic Education and Seminaries instructed, The too-easy acceptance
of ex-religious and ex-seminarians, made without thorough preliminary
investigation is usually the cause of unpleasant surprises and disappointments
for indulgent bishops.
Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect of the congregation, said the problem
concerns not only expelled seminarians but also those who withdrew voluntarily,
given that such a withdrawal at times happens in order to avoid a formal
expulsion. Each national bishops conference must draw up general
decrees to remedy a situation that, Laghi said, has remained
unchanged despite Vatican warnings.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops is currently
developing a set of decrees for this country. Precisely what U.S. dioceses (if
any) Laghi was talking about has not been revealed, though rumors swirl.
Without exception, the seminary officials NCR talked with insisted that
the screening of applicants and the quality of their formation programs were at
the top of their agenda.
National Catholic Reporter, September 12,
1997
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