Why the serious drop in priestly vocations in Europe’s largest diocese?

On the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, made international news with his own “annunciation” that the priestly formation program in the Archdiocese was to undergo a major re-structuring.

Before getting into the specifics of that “reform,” let’s set the stage. Milan is the largest diocese in Europe (roughly 5 million Catholics)¹ and has more priests than any other diocese in the world (more than 2,000 in total, half of whom are diocesan clergy). The Milan Archdiocese also has it own liturgical rite–the “Ambrosian,” named for its most famous bishop, the fourth-century Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Ambrose. The Duomo (or Cathedral) of Milan is a Gothic marvel, seating 40,000, and deemed the most beautiful church in the world by none other than St. John Henry Cardinal Newman.

The Church in Italy is sadly moribund, so much so that Italians visiting the States express amazement at the vitality of the Church in this country. The one major exception to the sickly state of Italian Catholicism has been Milan. Many attribute the liveliness of Milanese Catholicism to the presence of the Communion and Liberation Movement (CL), founded in that city by Monsignor Luigi Giussani, highly regarded by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI; Ratzinger was the personal delegate of John Paul to preside over the funeral of Giussani. The Cielini (the nickname for members of CL) are young Catholics committed to the work of evangelizing the culture, even as they go about the task of personal sanctification.

The current Archbishop, a protégé of his immediate predecessor, Angelo Cardinal Scola (a truly eminent scholar, a once-papabile, and staunch supporter of CL), reaches the “peripheries” through his three-minute, after-dinner ferverini, especially during Advent and Lent; his homilies give evidence of serious thought and orthodoxy (interestingly, the faithful are given copies of the homily before Mass begins!).

So, with all that going for Milan, what’s the crisis? A serious drop in priestly vocations.

Last spring, the Archdiocese welcomed 22 new priests, however, the well is drying up.² From 2017 to 2022, new priesthood candidates have fallen from 24 to six. In 2013, there were 150 seminarians, dwindling to 78 in the current year. The “why” for this dramatic development will be considered shortly but, for the moment, let’s take a look at the “re-configuration” plan for Milan.

According to the seven-page document outlining the changes, there were 150 seminarians in the year 2013-14, 139 in 2017-18, and 78 in 2022-23. Further to the point: There were 24 new admissions in 2017, 19 in 2018, 18 in 2019, 16 in 2020, 11 in 2021, and 6 in 2022.

Delpini announced the “reconfiguration” of seminary training at the Chrism Mass on April 6 and told the clergy: “I would like to inform this particular assembly that I have approved, on a trial basis for a three-year period, a reconfiguration of the seminary path, according to what has been prepared by the seminary formators and discussed with the Milanese episcopal council.” He indicated that seminarians will spend their third year living in small groups in parishes, while attending daily classes at the seminary, connected with families, which will offer them support. He stressed that “the main motivation guiding any choice referring to the seminary is and will remain to foster, accompany, and instruct some young people in the archdiocese in discernment and docility to the Spirit.”

Formation at the archdiocesan seminary consists of a two-year period focused on spirituality and a four-year period dedicated to theology. Under the new plan, which will be introduced in September 2023, seminarians will study at a single location, rather than at separate sites for the two-year and four-year periods. Seminarians have previously worn clerical dress from the start of their theological studies, which will now be deferred to their diaconal year; the justification for this change, according to the document, is that this will bring the archdiocese into line with other Italian dioceses.

What is one to make of all this?

First, making major changes in a time of crisis is usually not a good idea. Panic causes lapses in judgment. The Forbes Coaches Council cites eleven elements of an organization that should rarely change under crisis conditions; the first three are: strategy and culture; organizational structure; core values.³ I would submit that many of the changes to be enacted for the priestly formation program of Milan fly in the advice of the Forbes advice.

Now, having seminarians live in parishes for a year is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction. In fact, way back in 1973, as a seminarian, I wrote an article for Priest magazine in which I called for all seminarians to live in parishes throughout their formation years; a month later, I was dismissed from the seminary (you can’t tackle sacred cows and survive!). The seminary experience prepares young men for an unreal priestly life: praying, living and recreating with a hundred or more peers for six to eight years is a beautiful experience, which the new priest will never have again as he lands in a rectory with one or two other priests, with whom he will probably never pray or even dine because most rectories today are, unfortunately, little more than glorified hotels with a cross on top. That disconnect is a major cause of morale problems.

But dropping clerical attire is a very foolish move. For the Archdiocese of Milan to be “in sync” with other Italian dioceses should not be seen as desirable in any way, for the reasons I rehearsed above. However, let’s consider the matter of attire for a bit.

When a young man enters the military, he is immediately “vested” in the uniform, which begins to provide him with his new identity and aids in establishing esprit de corps. Very early on, Pope John Paul addressed this issue for the Diocese of Rome. Coming from his Polish experience, he was shocked and saddened to discover that most seminarians (and priests!) studying in Rome from all over the world were indistinguishable from lay students.

Thus, in 1982, he directed the Vicar for Rome, Cardinal Ugo Polletti,⁴ to issue a document calling for a return to proper attire for all priests and seminarians resident in the Eternal City. Taking on the claim that men who would not be clerics until diaconal ordination, John Paul referred to the garb as “ecclesiastical,” rather than “clerical.” As a matter of fact, though, for centuries, seminarians not yet clerics did indeed wear “clerical” garb. Not only has this practice assisted in the formation of priesthood candidates, it has offered an image of Rome as young, faithful and alive. I should note that the vast majority of seminaries in the United States have required ecclesiastical attire for their students for decades now, at least by the beginning of their theological studies, reversing the failed experiment of lay clothes from the silly 1960s and 1970s.

All that aside, we must observe that everyone is ignoring the huge elephant in the middle of the ecclesiastical living room. Notice that the decline in Milan’s seminary population began in 2013. That cut-off year is not unique to Milan as even the Vatican office for statistics has acknowledged that “the number of seminarians has been declining each year since 2013.”⁵

What happened in 2013? A certain Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope. As Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he inherited a nearly full seminary; by the time of his move to Rome, the seminary was nearly empty. What can account for his reverse “Midas touch” with vocations? It seems evident that he doesn’t like priests and seminarians (or women Religious, for that matter, either). He has referred to seminarians as “little monsters.” In conversation with some priesthood candidates, he asked how their diocese was doing for vocations and was told their seminary was pretty full. “Your bishop must be lacking in discernment,” came the cheeky reply.

Or how can anyone forget that most disturbing episode when the Pope taunted an altar boy from the Vatican’s high school seminary by asking him if his hands were glued together and then tried to pry them open?⁶ And, how many times have we heard him suggest that young priests and seminarians of an orthodox stripe are probably in need of psychological assistance!

Ask any bishop or vocation director, off record, about the situation in their dioceses, you will get the same answer across the board: The “Francis effect”! I can personally attest to the terrible demoralization experienced by my younger brethren as I spend an immense amount of time trying to convince them to wait out the storm, rather than abandon ship.

And that would be my advice to Archbishop Delpini: Don’t embark on an experiment from which there may not be a safe return. Wait out the storm.

Endnotes:

Catholic World Report