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PAGE 4 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 2, 1990
STATEMENT
A Man For
Herbert T. Jenkins, Sr., the retired Atlanta police chief
buried recently amid the eulogies of old friends and
former associates, was known to have a knack for doing
the right thing regardless of his personal feelings. This
helped his police force keep relative calm in Atlanta
during the civil unrest of the 1960s while other Southern
cities were battling desegregation with clubs and police
dogs. He stayed cool, his admirers recall, and worked to
make Atlanta “the city too busy to hate.”
Later, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed, the
chief, aware the television eyes of the world were turned
on the city, made sure there was no show of police force
The latest data on how many priests the United States
can expect to have in the year 2005 has just been pub
lished in a report titled “The Catholic Priest in the United
States: Demographic Investigations.”
The number of diocesan priests will decline 40 percent
from the number in 1966, the study indicates. Forty-six
percent will be 55 or older and 12 percent 34 or younger.
The New England states will suffer a loss of more than
50 percent of their 1966 number of active priests, whereas
the East Southcentral states will lose between 15 percent
and 25 percent.
The lack of ordinations is the most critical factor
influencing these changes.
Of other interest is the fact that resignations from the
priesthood have dropped to about one-half what they were
in the early 1970s and that men seem more attracted to
ordination in dioceses where the shortage of priests is
greatest.
I wish I could say the data on the decline and aging of
the priesthood, for example, are incorrect. But I can attest
to their veracity because I supervised the study and went
into dioceses myself to obtain the data.
Some newspaper headlines claim the study proves we
need a married priesthood. But to focus on that is to do
the report a disservice since there are no data in it to
substantiate the claim. At best such headlines are based on
theories or extrapolations.
The study points to two qualities that need
re-examining: the aging of the priesthood and priestly
identity.
The church has been most effective when it has had a
balance of young priests working with more seasoned
priests, uniting youthful vigor with mature steadiness and
To the Editor:
Cardinal Bemardin of Chicago stated, “Some people
emphasize the spirit of the (Second Vatican) Council over
its substance. Important as the spirit or atmosphere was,
our key to assimilating that spirit is familiarity with its
substance-its teaching. The conciliar documents help us
incorporate its spirit within our lives in a way that is
faithfiil to the Council itself.”
Most Catholics are trying very diligently to live up to
the spirit of the Council. Would our efforts be even more
fruitful if we studied the conciliar documents more? By
studying the documents themselves would we better
understand the ideals by which we are trying to live?
Gordon B. Harwood
Atlanta
TINY TYPE
To the Editor,
What do you hope to accomplish by last week’s “tiny
type” version of the Bulletin? It makes all your articles
look like footnotes!
It’s a shame you have to compromise the quality and
His Seasons
as Dr. King’s cortege passed by the state capital. Atlanta’s
image was maintained.
He could combine authority with compassion, one of his
close friends, Monsignor R. Donald Kieman, said in his
funeral eulogy. He was also, the pastor recollected, quick
to laugh, able to temper justice with mercy. He never got
his priorities mixed. They were always his wife, his
children and his department.
He has been called “a kind man in an unkind time.”
Today’s troubled seasons need more men and women like
him.
-RMcI
wisdom. The young aim for high ideals and those who are
older are challenged to grow in the ideals of their youth.
The study tells us we have a growing imbalance in age
that is detrimental to any organization.
The ordination statistics bring a second major question
to the surface. What is it about the priesthood that young
people today do not identify with?
To say they can’t identify with celibacy is one possible
reply, but it is too simplistic. The numbers choosing to
enter medical professions also are smaller today and a
federal report recently revealed that fewer people now
want government jobs.
So what is the problem? Do potential priesthood
candidates think priests are not at one with their work or
that their life is all work and no happiness? Have priests
lost the ability truly to celebrate the work they do - to
step back and say to themselves, "This is very good!"
Does today’s priest know how to effectively challenge
modem values with the values of the Gospels? Is the
priest aware that social analysts see an increasing need in
society precisely for this role — the role of one who finds
purpose in life and can share this with others who suffer
from a lack of purpose?
Do young people doubt that a priest continues to grow
in knowledge and wisdom after ordination?
As a celebrant of the sacraments, does the priest convey
a sense of their true sacredness and power to form healthy
communities - to make a difference in people’s lives?
The present statistics are telling us that the priesthood
has an urgent responsibility to re-examine the dynamics
which might cause others to want to become a part of it.
appearance of your publication in such a way. If space is
at such a premium, may I suggest you reduce the amount
of national filler-type news. Most people read The Georgia
Bulletin to be informed about local news in the Atlanta
Archdiocese.
Richard Giletti
Dunwoody
TINY TYPE n
To the Editor:
Who is responsible for the new, unattractive typeface
used in your July 19 edition?
Not only is it unpleasant to look at, its small size makes
it very difficult to read. Is space really at such a premium
these days?
Hopefully, it was a one-time experiment that won’t be
repeated.
Karen Mitchell
Atlanta
Editor's note: We hope readers like the larger type in
this issue. The change results from our printer acquiring
new computerized equipment.
The Week In Review
NAMES AND PLACES - Liturgical music composer
Ray Repp has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Chicago
charging that composer Andrew Lloyd Webber used the
melody of one of Repp’s songs, “Till You,” as the theme
to Webber’s musical “The Phantom of the Opera. ’ ’ The
suit, filed July 18, asks for $1 million in punitive damag
es. Repp’s song, “Till You,” was copyrighted in 1978
and is published by K&R Music. An attorney for Weber’s
licensing firm said “The complaint is without merit.
That’s all there is to say.”
SOVIET PRESIDENT MIKHAIL GORBACHEV said
Pope John Paul II has played “an enormously positive
role” in recent political developments in Europe.
Gorbachev met Italian journalists in Moscow at a July 26
press conference and was asked about chances for a
pastoral visit by the pope to the Soviet Union. “All is
possible,” the Soviet president replied. Vatican officials
later said an improvement in religious freedom in the
Soviet Union would be a prerequisite to a papal visit. The
now-banned Ukrainian Catholic Church would have to be
normalized, bishops would need to be recognized and
established in their dioceses and churches closed by
former Soviet leaders must be reopened.
*****
AROUND THE NATION - A Catholic Health Associ
ation representative told a congressional committee July 24
that the U.S. should join “the rest of the world’s industri
alized democracies” in establishing a national health
program. Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, who chairs the
Catholic Health Association’s Select Committee on
Indigent Care, urged rejection of short-run approaches to
fixing a “dysfunctional” health care system.
HISPANIC CATHOLIC LEADERS have announced
they will establish a National Catholic Council for Hispan
ic Ministry. The council is a response to the disbanding of
an Hispanic Catholic advisory group by the U.S. bishops’
Committee on Hispanic Affairs. The new organization will
be “a broader network of Hispanic Catholic organizations
throughout the country” and serve as a forum for Hispan
ic Catholic professionals,” said Jesuit Father Allan
Figueroa Deck, a council organizer. Among member
organizations participating will be the U.S. bishops’
Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs.
THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM was an “inadequate
tool” for religious education, even though some Catholics
may remember the times when it was used as “the good
old days,” said Bishop Joseph L. Howze of Biloxi. Miss.,
“Religious instruction by means of the Baltimore Cate
chism required that children were to learn the catechism
by heart, word for word. The result, in many cases, was
a mere mechanical memorization of abstract texts, the
meaning of which often was not understood,” Bishop
Howze stated. While the bishop said he strongly encour
aged children to learn and memorize fundamentals of the
faith, he also said “it is equally important for a Catholic
Christian to apply the knowledge of that faith to the
world’s problems of justice. Parents, said Bishop Howze,
are the “primary educators” of their children.
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Father Eugene Hemrick
What Newest Statistics Tell Us
Copyright (c) 1990 by Catholic News Service
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