Father Michael J. Dolan
BLOOMFIELD – First, the bad news: If you want to become a priest, don’t think the current shortage of priests means the Church is desperate to sign you up. In many ways, it’s harder than ever to be ordained.
Father Michael J. Dolan, director of the archdiocesan Office of Vocations, will, of course, be glad to talk to you. But don’t be surprised if he thinks you can best serve God’s Church in other ways instead.
"Sometimes we have people who have hopes and desires to be something that they can’t be," he said. "You know, everyone would love to be in the movies, but we’re not all going to be in the movies."
Fifty years ago, he said, the washout rate for priests was about 50 percent. That means that about half the men either changed their minds before ordination or left the priesthood within five years after ordination. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown (CARA), 500 of 631 seminarians in the United States who entered their first year of theology study four years ago stayed with it into their fourth and final year. The washout rate had fallen to less than 21 percent.
Of the 42 men studying for the priesthood for the Archdiocese today, many are foreign born. Some are older men pursuing late vocations. These are the men who have helped pump up the numbers of candidates from below 10 just a few years ago, Father Dolan said.
The 17 foreign-born seminarians hail from Colombia, Poland, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Canada. Men pursuing the priesthood as a second career have such varied backgrounds as magazine editor, Protestant pastor, banker, architect, college professor, Congressional aide and more.
It’s possible that not all will be ordained, though. Some men leave during the discernment program and others, later, Father Dolan said. For foreign-born students, one goal is fluency in English, and if adequate progress is not made, they are dismissed. Others are let go because of poor social skills.
"There are certain personalities that just do not work well. If someone has issues with maturity, if I think they might have trouble with alcohol, you know, it’s a big concern," Father Dolan said.
Now the good news: The best candidates do survive, and these include men who have confronted difficult issues in their lives and can pass on their wisdom to their parishioners.
"They call it the wounded healer, someone who suffered the same thing and learned from it," Father Dolan said.
A successful priest is one who can relate to his parishioners in a number of ways, he said. One of Father Dolan’s mentors was a priest who knew American Sign Language and used it in his homilies to communicate with his deaf parishioners. Even his hearing parishioners looked forward to the signed homily, he said.
There are two parts to the formation program. The academic portion is the study of philosophy (in minor seminary) and theology (in major seminary). The second part is the House of Formation and Discernment, where foreign-born students learn English and acculturation and all students discern, or determine, their vocations.
"They take part in the routine of the day, which would be morning prayer, evening prayer, night prayer and Mass," Father Dolan said. He also meets weekly with every candidate individually and again in conference. The men also have the opportunity to assist at a parish on weekends.
An issue that almost every candidate brings up is celibacy, he said. "I’ve had some really wonderful candidates come in and say, ‘I’m [trying to choose] between marriage and priesthood.’ I say, ‘Well, how about this? Go to the seminary and do the best you can, and if it’s not working out, you’ll know. But you can’t do both.’"
He said a priest imitates Jesus and is not just following a rule. "Jesus was not married. I don’t care what it says in The Da Vinci Code," Father Dolan said.
Men who finally become priests face an interesting transition, he said. Parishioners think a new priest is supposed to know everything. "People come up to you and say, ‘You’re supposed to help me. Why don’t you have these skills?’ Well, they can’t learn all the skills in seminary. It’s a heavy academic concentration in seminary," Father Dolan said.
A new priest must learn about the community he serves. "If your parishioners are insurance agents, it’s a certain vocabulary that they have. If people are civil service employees, it’s a certain vocabulary that they have. They’re not going to be able to relate to you using Thomistic terms or theological terms," he said.
Interestingly, sports are a popular way for priests to communicate with parishioners, he said. "Sports bring people together, and children bring people together, so youth sports are just paramount."
Priests would do well to find out what the community is interested in if it isn’t sports. Father Dolan said he was once in a parish with many elderly people who enjoyed visiting the casinos. "I preached a homily about Foxwoods once, and they were just elated. They loved it," he said.
It is not necessary to condescend or patronize people, he said. "After all, we’re not talking about things; we’re talking about a person, so bring them into closer contact with the person of Jesus Christ."
Seminarians in the Archdiocese go on to study at sites such as North American College in Rome; St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami, Fla.; St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla.; Theological College in Washington, D.C.; Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.; St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie), in Yonkers, N.Y.; St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, in Wynnewood, Pa.; SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Mich.; Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell; and St. Thomas Seminary’s formation program in Bloomfield.
"All the seminarians stay here [at St. Thomas] for a week in June, when we have a seminarian convocation," Father Dolan said.
He visits every seminary where archdiocesan students are and meets with the people who initiate new applicants into the traditions, guidelines and way of life for future priests.
"We go over everything – everything," he said. "The last meeting I went to took about two and a half hours."
Recruiting is an important part of Father Dolan’s duties. "We advertise in the Transcript, and we advertise at the airport," he said. About 8 million people a year come through the airport, and the average age of a passenger is 38, he said. "You want people who missed their flight 10 times saying, ‘You know, I’d rather be in a place that’s stable.’"
Serving in the priesthood is fulfilling for men who qualify, he said. "It’s a real privilege. It’s an honor. People ask, ‘Are you lonely as a priest?’ I don’t have time to be lonely."
Information about the vocation program is available by contacting the Office of Vocations at the Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary, (860) 761-7456.
