Bishop talks ominously about priest shortage

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 15, 1995

BIRMINGHAM, England -- Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee warned that the scarcity of priests could diminish the accessibility of sacraments at a crucial moment in history.

But this is also a good moment in history to be a priest, the archbishop told the National Conference of Priests of England and Wales meeting in Birmingham Sept. 5. Weakland, a Benedictine, gave the keynote address, "A Renewed Priesthood in a Renewed Church," at the conference's silver jubilee meeting at Newman College, Birmingham. He said that in the Milwaukee archdiocese the scarcity of priests is a reality.

Last year, he said, he appointed four lay parish directors. "This coming year I expect to appoint 10 more. According to our statistics, almost half of the 277 parishes will have lay directors within a period of 15 to 20 years," he told the 100 priest delegates and lay observers at the conference. "The fear we have, even with the most well-trained lay directors, is that we will slowly become a church of the word only, like so many [churches] of our Protestant friends."

Weakland said the appointment of lay directors to parishes is inadequate to maintaining the Catholic tradition. "We are simply doing our best under the limitations imposed upon us," he said.

The archbishop outlined three areas of priestly ministry: the priest as healer, enabler and leader. he concluded: "Rather than languish over seeking out our identity, we should be busy at work strengthening people's faith (and) helping them to realize God's presence and action in their lives."

He urged priests to be proud that God had called on them. "How will history judge us priests of this moment of history?" he asked. "I hope it will not see us as full of self-pity and immaturity, as self-centered whiners, but rather as courageous risk-takers, looking forward to a new and exciting world ... that corresponds more to what Christ wanted of his church.

"We are glad to be alive and ministering as priests at this particular moment of history," the U.S. prelate said. Weakland lamented what he called a trend toward the "privatization" of religion, in which people have lost the sense of a church as community. Many, particularly in the United States, think of the church like a McDonald's restaurant, he said, "self-service with a broad selection (and) cheap prices."

Weakland's presence at the conference provoked a small demonstration from a traditionalist British group called Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. About 25 protesters stood outside the college where the conference was being held, carrying banners saying "Rome not Rembert" and "Follow the Catechism, not Archbishop Weakland." Daphne McLeod, chairman of the 2,000-member national group, said other American churchmen, such as Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York, should have been invited to speak at the meeting.

The protesters distributed leaflets criticizing Weakland on issues such as abortion and contraception. In a statement issued the same day, Weakland said he had never spoken out in favor of abortion or contraception. "You will not find any statement when I as a bishop, spoke in favor of the ordination of women," his statement added. "I simply pointed out, in a filial fashion, to the Holy Father the pastoral consequences that must be faced in our American culture if the discussion of the issue is determined to be closed. If anyone states that I hold positions other than these, they do me a grave injustice and are guilty of willful slander."

REIATED ARTICLE: Hume backs Weakland's speech

Cardinal Basil Hume rebuffed attempts by a traditionalist group in England to bar Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee from addressing the nation's National Conference of Priests.

The group, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, warned Hume by letter that Weakland's progressive views posed a threat to the nation's clergy. Traditionalists told Hume they feared the archbishop of Milwaukee would "lead our Catholic priests astray."

In a prepared statement, Hume replied: "The cardinal would not wish to prevent from speaking a bishop whose continuing ministry as a bishop was supported by Rome. It is Cardinal Hume's view that much of the criticism of Archbishop Weakland is overstated and biased against him."

Daphne McLeod, chairman of Pro Ecclesia, whose formal name means "For Church and Peope," had contended in a letter to Hume that Weakland "openly defies papal teaching on divorce and contraception, is ambivalent about abortion" and "promotes the ordination of women and the discontinuation of priestly celibacy."

In a statement issued Sept. 4, Weakland said his accusers do "a grave injustice and are guilty of willful slander" by suggesting he has defied church teaching.

Weakland said he had never spoken in favor of abortion, contraception, divorce or ordination of women. He had, he said, "simply pointed out to the Holy Father the pastoral consequences that must be faced in our American culture" if the discussion on women priests is closed.