The archdioceses of Washington, St Paul and Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Milwaukee celebrated the largest number of new priests in decades.

On 15 June, the Archdiocese of Washington celebrated its largest ordination class in 64 years. Cardinal Wilton D Gregory ordained 16 new priests, the largest number since 1960, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The other three archdioceses also saw notable increases in their ordination classes. The Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis welcomed 13 new priests, Los Angeles ordained 11, and Milwaukee saw nine men take up the priesthood.

Diverse backgrounds

The new priests in Washington range in age from 25 to 64, including a Rwandan genocide survivor, a former emergency room physician, and military veterans.

Cardinal Gregory praised the lifelong development of priestly vocations, supported by family and friends, and urged the new priests to centre their lives on prayer and the sacraments.

In his homily, the cardinal emphasised the importance of unconditional love, urging the new priests to "surrender your lives in imitation of the One who poured out His life for us."

In St Paul, approximately 3,500 people attended the ordination at the Cathedral of St Paul. Archbishop Bernard A Hebda highlighted the varied backgrounds of the 13 new priests, including careers in marketing, the Air Force and social work.

Archbishop Hebda noted that their skills and experience would serve them well in their new roles.

Faithfully serve Jesus

Archbishop José H Gomez ordained 11 new priests in Los Angeles at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The new priests come from varied backgrounds including catering, therapy and sports.

Archbishop Gomez highlighted the importance of love in the priesthood, quoting St John Vianney - "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus".

Milwaukee saw Archbishop Jerome E Listecki ordain nine men at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.

Archbishop Listecki emphasised the role of priests in shaping and forming communities through the sacraments and acts of charity, encouraging the new priests to "faithfully serve Jesus Christ in his church".

This record number of ordinations signifies a hopeful future for the Catholic Church in the US as it sees an influx of diverse and committed individuals step into the priesthood.

Sources

Our Sunday Visitor

CathNews New Zealand

As an example, although there are only 750,000 Catholics in Myanmar, the Church in the Southeast Asian country ordained 83 new priests last year.

At the same time, only 19 new priests were ordained in Belgium, according to a new study by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).

CARA found that after Burma, Thailand had the next highest ratio of new priests, followed by Togo, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Just three percent of Asians are Catholic and only two of Asia's 48 countries are majority Catholic: the Philippines and East Timor.

The overall picture may however change.

"The future of the Church is in Asia," Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila said to Pope Francis.

Countries with sizeable Catholic minorities, like India and South Korea, are already sending missionaries abroad.

Both the United States and Great Britain's contributions to the priesthood were far ahead of traditionally Catholic nations, coming in 50th and 49th out of 108.

Catholic-majority countries like Spain came in 73rd, Germany 75th, Ireland 78th, Argentina 98th and France 99th.

Once solidly-Catholic Belgium came last.

CARA based the rankings on the most recent figures for priestly ordinations and Catholic population data for 2017 from the Vatican's Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae.

The researchers included only countries that had at least 100,000 Catholics.

Without the 100,000 Catholics requirement, Nepal would have come first. Other nations such as Samoa, Niger, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Kosovo, Kiribati and Fiji would also have featured prominently.

Source

• Brussels Times
• Catholic Herald
• Image: UCA News