Quick update

AT HOME:

The Wollongong Diocese has lost one of it's few home grown seminarians to the Dioces of Lismore.  The diocese continues to explore overseas avenues to fill the gap of the increasing shortage of priests.  This may prove to be sucessful in the short term however it seems that a proper analysis of why the there are not more form the diocese who present themselves would cause the type of reflection and direction that no one in the diocese is prepared to contemplate.  They can be summarised as follows:

Q.  What is the common factor in those dioceses where is no shortage of vocatons (i.e. Sydney, Wagga and Melbourne) ?

A.  It is widely known that the orthodoxy of seminaries and dioceses is the issue in question.

Q.  Why doesn't the DOW adopt the same policies and attitudes as Archbishops Pell and Hart in order to ensure vocations.

A.  The sacrifices are deemed too great.  In the first place the bishop would have to make unpopular decisions (the very notion seems to be a no go for populist Bishop Ingham).  Secondly the liberal establishment (Curial officials & the Catholic Education Office, heads of religious institutes) of the diocese would not tolerate such a shift and would leave the bishop out in the cold.

Q.  What is at stake and why would a liberal establishment oppose the necessary steps to ensure vocations.

A.  The trend of young conservative priests is a serious threat to all the achievements of and gains in the last 40 year of the liberal establishment.  There have even been cries of "The work of the Council is being undone"

Q. And is the work of the Council being undone?

A. No, it is just being properly implemented for the first time.  And yes all of the illigitimate interpretations and manifestations in the name of Council are seriously under threat.  Even if the DOW does nothing, it will only be a matter of time before the trend reaches it's shores