A Sacrament By Any Other Name

It occured to me today that we'd get quite upset if the government started licensing priests.

Anyway, I thought about that because I had a conversation with someone at work. Since I was a child, we've had this mysterious shortage of people wanting to go into the priesthood, so I'd always hear about some particular movement or the other to get more people to think about the priesthood.

But what was happening was this underlying phenomenon in which fewer people seriously consider the priesthood and fewer people considered marriage either. Often this isn't really a conscious choice either, just a decision to put off deciding until after. After college, after fooling around, after growing up, whatever- the point is, when people have this mentality they tend not to get around to it at all. Or, in the case of marriage, they get around to it after their best years, from a reproductive standpoint, are gone.

This phenomenon manifested itself while the culture became increasingly immoral. Of course, there is a problem- as a group it's obvious these people need to hear a strong message, but individuals are actually different, and I think this is why pastors (and many others) don't usually address the issue.

I have heard a few things here and there, and I hope something new is happening. Ultimately, I think there was a lot of social value to the pressure to get married pre-1960s, before the feminist rot-gut infected our thinking. The pressure was generally directed toward marriage, for that's where most people should make their commitments. But the strong social pressure toward marriage actually strengthened the priesthood too. The choice for the priesthood was a strong choice, one made in the face of opposition in many cases, and that meant real commitment. It also meant more priests.

Now our long adolescence stunts our commitment making ability. We develop habits not conducive to commitment. We can even become confused and not even understand what commitment means, (That's a whole other post, but suffice it to say it's not an obsession!) which can set us ever farther from the path we are supposed to be on.