Study says parents wont push
vocations
By TERESA MALCOLM
NCR Staff
A grassroots study reveals that U.S. Catholic parents are unlikely
to encourage their children to consider religious life, with many citing
concerns about mandatory celibacy, an all-male priesthood and worries about the
loneliness of the lifestyle.
Some Catholic parents surveyed also said they lack information
about modern religious life. According to the National Religious Vocation
Conference, parents are not even sure what it means to be a priest,
brother or sister as the century comes to an end. They may see priests and
religious engaged in ministry, but parents want to know what the rest of the
lives of religious are all about.
The study was conducted by the conference, a national organization
committed to fostering religious vocations. From January to July, dozens of
meetings with Catholic parents were organized by vocation ministers in all of
the conferences 13 regions.
From 110 meetings, over 2,000 pages of reflection sheets from
parents were sent to the conference headquarters in Chicago. The feedback was
summarized in a report released Aug. 24. Results of the study will be used at
the conferences biannual convocation Sept. 11-15, and 100 Catholic
parents have been invited to discuss the findings.
One can find every possible opinion, belief and strong
conviction in these handwritten pages -- about religious vocations, about
American Catholic youth, about church teaching and church discipline,
said School Sister of Notre Dame Catherine Bertrand, executive director of the
conference. These are parents who live their faith, and sharing
nationwide snapshots of that faith life is both a humbling and privileged
experience.
Study participants were required to be committed to their faith
and active in their parish community; reflect a theology and spirit of Vatican
II; be able to articulate their understanding of religious life and priesthood;
be open to participating in an ongoing follow-up after the convocation; and
have children who are young adults or younger.
Among the positive aspects of religious life singled out by
participants was the dedication to service. My children are being raised
to believe in the importance of helping others, one respondent wrote.
I see religious life and priesthood as the ultimate helping
vocation.
Many respondents said that religious life offered the opportunity
to devote ones life to a relationship with God, in contrast to the
distractions found in the secular world.
Parents also approved of the support found in community life.
It provides a spiritual and personal security akin to a family, a
respondent said.
Another parent wrote, The only difference between marriage
and religious life is that one has chosen to live with one person and the other
has chosen a community.
However, the report said that the single most discouraging
element for these parents is celibacy for priests, brothers and sisters. ...
Celibacy also seems to be an umbrella word for its side effects: no marriage,
no kids, no grandchildren, no one to carry on the family name, the family
business. And with smaller families, parents become even less generous about
giving up the chance to be grandparents.
One parent said, I do not feel that a forced celibate life
is normal. God told us to join together and go forth and multiply, and I
dont recall any caveat that excluded religious leaders.
Parents also worried that religious life often seems lonely, with
only one or two priests in rectories and sisters living alone in
apartments.
There is something about coming home to a family
and a sharing of the days activities that somehow makes even a bad day a
good one, a respondent said.
Many saw the restriction of the priesthood to men as another
obstacle. Many mothers no longer hold priesthood in esteem stemming from
the fact that as women they have felt treated as second-class citizens in the
church they love, a response said. Though they will not leave the
church ... they [will not] encourage their sons to be priests and so help
perpetuate a system they find discriminatory.
The report noted that a large issue was lack of information about
religious lives. The parents, it said, are quick to admit they have no
idea what priests, sisters and brothers do these days. They say most of their
role models have disappeared. They view priests from 30 pews back in church on
Sundays, and thats the extent of contact for most of them.
Not a single comment shows any familiarity with what
religious brothers are about these days, the report said. As for
sisters, many parents have trouble identifying any value-added
quality to vowed religious life for women -- they dont know what sisters
can do that their lay daughters cant do.
National Catholic Reporter, September 11,
1998
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