Content provided in partnership with
Study looks at foreign-born priests serving in U.S
National Catholic Reporter, Feb 24, 2006 by Patricia Lefevere
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me"--or didn't. This slogan might not be sewn on the vestments of the dark-skinned or foreign-accented priest in your parish, but it might well be engraved on his heart.
Increasingly the perceived priest shortage in the United States is being met with an infusion of overseas clergy, even if the faithful and American-born clergy have not always welcomed these men with open arms.
"Nobody briefed us about the situation here or how to function. It was like, 'OK, we'll send you and try to do the best you can. We'll drop you in the water. Try to swim. If you swim, fine. If you don't, you die.' That's their approach, and I think it's wrong," said a Polish priest in his 40s.
- Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »
The Pole and other voices of international priests currently serving the U.S. church are recorded in International Priests in America: Challenges and Opportunities. The book is being released this month by Liturgical Press. It is hoped it will spark discussion of the pastoral needs of the U.S. church and the role of foreign-born priests in filling them, said Dean Hoge, professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America and coauthor of the study along with Nigerian Dominican Fr. Aniedi Okure.
"The topic goes deeper than the title suggests," Hoge told NCR. "There's a debate about whether we should be bringing in international priests at all --with dissenters pointing to the global brain drain, to the need for priests in the Third World, and to the need to rethink parish leadership and not just bring in foreign priests as a Band-Aid."
The new situation is fraught with pastoral concerns for both the newcomers and for those to whom they minister. Few if any of the foreign-born priests are prepared for the challenges that await them in America.
New arrivals also suffer the expatriate's loss of family, friends, support systems and peers in their home diocese or religious order. Not only do they forsake the cultural ambience of their native setting, they must also adapt to American culture and the ecclesial culture of the U.S. Catholic church. And adapt quickly.
"The new priest comes into a new church and in a few weeks he has to learn a new liturgy and a new theology, but he also has to know where to catch the train, how to get a driver's license, use the phone, do his laundry, maybe cook and how much he should tip," said Okure. "Even the light switch may be all new to him," the priest told NCR in his office at Catholic University.
In 1999 Okure produced a report, titled "Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the United States" while a staff person on the U.S. Bishops" Committee on Migration. The report dealt with selecting candidates, processing their immigration papers, determining their terms of service, providing orientation, making educational arrangements and finding suitable jobs and housing for them.
It recommended that international priests receive an orientation to America before leaving home. A priest needs at least two or three months to adjust to U.S. society and culture before beginning his ministry here, said Okure, who has been in the country 18 years.
The new arrival also requires a letter of agreement or contract with the receiving bishop to specify his position, salary and benefits. In the nearly seven years since the guidelines were issued, steps have been taken by most dioceses to follow them, resulting in fewer freelance foreign priests than in the past.
Immigration restrictions put into place since 9/11 as well as the reforms mandated by the sex abuse crisis in the U.S. church have contributed to stricter standards for obtaining and screening international priests.
The church is still without a database about how many priests or religious are in the country from Nigeria, Ghana or other foreign lands, Okure said. It also lacks any track record of those who have worked here on how they've fared after returning to their homelands. It is believed that many international priests sent to America are being groomed for hierarchical posts in their home church, though no one knows this for sure.
Despite complaints by some that it is an injustice to take men from countries with fewer priests per Catholic than in the United States, the report's authors believe the practice will continue.
"The new pope won't constrain it. Canonically bishops' conferences are autonomous. The previous pope upheld the idea of a universal church. As such, the personnel of the church is also universal," Okure said.
Growing numbers
The most current research--by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate based at Georgetown University here--reveals that some 7,000 international priests have worked in the United States since 1985 with an estimated 5,500 now on the job. They have arrived from Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria, Poland, India and a host of other nations throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Arts
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »