Show Priest shortage affects Utah missionary order By JOHN DeVILBISS Standard Examiner staff LAYTON — The shortage of priests is keenly felt by the Paulist Fathers r With a limited staff this unique missionary order is being forced to make major cutbacks that include ceasing their fulltime operation in Utah — a ministry that marked a half century of service The shortage reflects a national trend of a continuing decline in number of Catholic priests According to Religious News Service 20 years ago there were about 8000 ' men enrolled in Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States Today there are fewer than 4000 The average American priest is 56 years old And researchers predict by the year 2000 the number of priests will be half of what it was in the mid-197- Even with those statistics as a 0s back- drop the coordinator of the Lilly Endowment-funded Sister study Katarina Schuth OSF believes there is “reason for hope” She points to bet- ter programs of priestly formation m since Vatican II and increased involve- ment of lay people in the Catholic Church today This same optimism is expressed by the Rev William K Wiegand Bishop of Salt Lake City “I think it's a temporary thing all over the country” he said adding that he expects a resurgence in the number of priests entering church seminaries He said the decline in priests can be linked to the modernization of the church which has experienced hundreds of changes over the past 25 According to “Salt of the Earth” a history of the Catholic in Utah when the Paulist Fathers moved their mission- ary foundation from the Uintah Basin in 1943 they first moved to Bountiful Father John Mitchell became superior and with his assistants Fathers Stephen McFarland and Francis Keyes lived there and conducted services Later they began conducting services in the town hall at Layton and at Wasatch Elementary School in Clearfield Highway 91 soon became known as the “Paulist Corridor” the history states In time St Rose of Lima was established as the parish with Bountiful (St Olafs) and Hill Field as missions and Clearfield as a station According to the history Supreme Court Justice James B McNally of New York had offered the Paulists a contribution toward a church to be named St Rose in honor of his parents Michael and Rose and his sister Marguerite The Paulists accepted his offer and constructed a church in Layton dedicated to ) £t Rose of Lima the Peruvian Dominican tertiary who became the first native-borsaint of the New World In 1949 a rectory large enough to house si priests was con (1586-1617- n 8 Church News Standard-Examine- r h the decline of the church in that region of the world it turned out to only be a temporary problem that has since turned around lem “The priest situation has worked well for centuries” he said Considering the immense changes in the church over the past 25 years that have challenged many Catholic traditions “it’s gone pretty well as a matter of fact” he said “The climate has changed” he said “The seminaries are now filled” Father Tom Connellan vice president of the Paulist Fathers said part of the reason why more men are not entering the seminaries is because of the increase in the number of options young people have today in their career choices He said it also appears that young people today are less willing to make structed and served as the Mission House for the Paulist community Also that same year in accordance with the wishes of the Paulist Fathers Bishop Duane G Hunt separated the Lay ton parish from the southern portion of Davis County where he built the Parish of St Olaf with headquarters in Bountiful Other historical highlights of the parish listed in the history include a parish hall purchased in 1961 In 1962 an apartment building north of the parish hall was acquired to be used by people needing housing In 1969 the Center for Religious Education located north of Layton High School was dedicated for use by the high school students as well as community organizations In 1980 an unused section of the parish property on Main Street was cleaned up and landscaped to make a park for use of parish groups and families That same year a committee was formed and plans made for the building of a new St Rose of Lima Church In 1986 more than five acres of land were purchased between hitesides Streets Chapel and southeast of the current site of the parish buildings In October 1986 a house at 321 Whitesides was purchased for use as a pnests residence The parish is now looking forward to having a new church in operation by 1990 they use at several of their parishes “We use priests far more effectively than we used to” he said For example in a parish that once required two priests such as St Rose of Lima in Layton they are now able to efficiently operate with just one priest He said they have been able to accomplish this through the help of “support staff made up of both lay and professional people in the parish They are simply being called on to do more tasks than ever before As a result the priest’s load has been reduced considerably The increased use of lay people in the church today has other advantages as well said Sister Katarina who is director of planning for the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge Mass According to Religious News Service Katarina said volunteers who serve the church can add vitality to the institution She noted there are currently about 4000 religious women and lay people pursuing graduate degrees in theology in seminaries across the country Twenty years ago there were none life-lon- years He recalled a priest shortage while he was a priest in Columbia from 1967 to 1 977 While some said it was signaling St Rose of Lima has a very long history The Catholic Church Extension Society contributed funds in 1948 for a church in Layton to be named St Rose of Lima g comcommitments let alone mitments that involve never marrying “To give up family is a major sacrifice” he said “That’s a major issue” While the celibacy question continues to be raised Connellan said the policy has been a valuable asset for him because of the extra time it has given him in his work as a priest “Being single gives us a relationship-witour people that we couldn’t have if we were married” he said Wiegand said that any policy changes in the church that would allow priests to marry or women to become priests is “certainly not in the immediate future” Besides such policy changes wouldn’t necessarily solve the prob- Just as the Paulists have been forced to reduce their operations Wiegand said the Salt Lake Diocese has also had to cutback the number of priests FIRST COMMUNITY UNITED METHODIST CONGREGATIONAL 163 West 4800 South (laker fay) (United Church of Christ) Terrace Washington 479-743- Sunday School 0 Worship Service 9:00 & 11 am Church School 9:30 Nurse rv Care Provided & Worship 2 am 3350 Harrison 11:00 392-501- Entrance off 33rd St fus n FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 393-847- 7 Street Worship 8:30 & 11:00 am 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