Help wanted, celibate.

January 14, 2001 8:43 AM

Help wanted, celibate. The Diocese of Rochester NY is using the web to recruit young men for the priesthood. According to MSNBC the supply of priests is dangerously low.
posted by Steven Den Beste (9 comments total)

Actually, the Catholic Church in the US has been facing a recruitment problem for both priests and nuns for several decades. I believe they've been making up the shortfall by importation. (Another example of an American trade deficit. I wonder if an opportunity to come live in the US is a recruitment incentive in the Third World?)

[By the way, this isn't meant to denigrate the Church; I hope I'm not trodding on anyone's toes. I just thought it interesting that the Catholics would use a web page for recruitment. But they're still not selling indulgences online. Damn Darn.]
posted by Steven Den Beste at 8:57 AM on January 14, 2001

Well, I could see why they'd have problems, their projected audience even lists the reasons for not applying. This is the sort of information only obtained through expensive marketing research, but they're getting it free. Huh.
posted by tiaka at 9:05 AM on January 14, 2001

Perhaps there is hope after all...
posted by rushmc at 9:18 AM on January 14, 2001

This celibacy gig worked a whole lot better when society held that, generally, women were the spawn of the devil and practiced witchcraft.

posted by lagado at 4:20 PM on January 14, 2001

I wonder if the Episcopal Church (the American version of the Church of England) has the same degree of problem, given that it allows its priests to marry.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 5:30 PM on January 14, 2001

My understanding (a priest friend of mine told me this) is that the celibacy requirement only came on mid-way through the Catholic church's rule. This priest seemed to think that had not the current pope been appointed, a more liberal pope may have created married clergy in the church.
posted by cell divide at 5:49 PM on January 14, 2001

I just thought it interesting that the Catholics would
use a web page for recruitment. But they're still not
selling indulgences online. Damn Darn.

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Actually, since there is no longer a Purgatory, there
can't be any more indulgences, because indulgences
were meant to decrease the amount of time spent
in Purgatory, waiting to go to heaven.
posted by UrineSoakedRube at 1:29 AM on January 15, 2001

Hope for what exactly, rushmc?

The eventual victory of reason.
posted by rushmc at 9:58 AM on January 15, 2001