| #2 I've heard the suggestion that the only realistic way the Catholic church can solve both its priest shortage and improve quality control is to import seminary students from the poorest places on Earth. Send them to isolated seminaries on room & board only, with their pay going to their families. Then place them in countries where they *don't* speak the language, where they only give mass, and are under the strict control of a senior priest, who goes between churches to hear confessions and perform more personal services. If they screw up at all, they are out and get sent back to their family. Their passport is kept by their Bishop. After 10 or so years of very faithful service, then teach them the local language and send them to an educational seminary to learn everything else they need to know. On graduation, they become a senior priest with four or five probationaries. It solves several problems: enough priests, well-behaved priests, and taking entire families out of poverty. |