Study looks at foreign-born priests serving in U.S

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 24, 2006 by Patricia Lefevere

Their numbers are likely to grow, despite complaints from laity that they can't understand their homilies and from U.S. priests who for the most part have not been prepared for the phenomenon of fewer native clergy, nor widely consulted about the emergence of international priests in their dioceses and rectories.

Should the U.S. Catholic church continue to import more international priests? If so, how should this be done? These two questions are the fulcrum of the new book, which grew out of a symposium sponsored by the National Federation of Priests' Councils in the fall of 2000.

At the time, priests in attendance sought to surface issues and questions that were swirling around the reality of international priests, said Fr. Robert Silva.

The study has been at least 10 to 15 years in the making, noted Silva, president of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, which commissioned the project, aided by a grant from the Lily Endowment.

Liberalization of U.S. immigration laws in 1965 has produced not only a larger, more diverse population, but also a more varied Catholic church. Of all immigrants entering the United States today, 42 percent say they are Catholic. The 68 million Catholics make up a quarter of the nation's population.

During the 25-year reign of Pope John Paul II, the number of U.S. Catholics rose 29 percent while the number of priests fell 26 percent. The average age of U.S. priests is 57.

Silva long ago experienced the diversity of the new immigrants in his home diocese of Stockton, Calif., as tie watched more and more foreign priests coming to California to serve the state's new arrivals.

He has seen a similar phenomenon in Chicago, headquarters of the Federation of Priests' Councils. In total, five dioceses account for nearly a quarter of all foreign-born priests serving the American church: Los Angeles (384), New York (278), Newark, N.J. (235), Miami (200) and Chicago (174).

"From the get-go, we have been a receiving church," said Sulpician Fr. John Kemper, who directs the International Priests Internship offered by the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. Kemper worked five years with Polish and Eastern European priests in the Detroit area before coming to the Oblate School.

"The greater the cultural distance, the greater the difficulties for foreign-born priests," he said. "An Australian priest has an easier time adopting here than a Ghanian."

About one-third of the international priests polled in the study had taken part in an orientation or acculturation program. Almost haft of those who attended such a course had done so at the Oblate School or at Maryknoll in Ossington, N.Y.

"Our research showed that the international priests need orientation programs and help with language," said Hoge. "Priests who have attended such programs are unanimous in saying that they helped."

That being the case, it puzzled Hoge why in 2005 all of the six orientation programs described in the book were undersubscribed. "More needs to be done," he said.