To the editor:
It is obvious there is decline in membership and participation in the Catholic Church. My personal observation seems to indicate there are three root causes:
1) The disbelief that the Eucharist is in fact the Body and Blood of Jesus.
2) The removal of Latin as the universal language of the Church.
3) The lack of Priests reaching a critical stage.
If Catholics truly believed in the Consecration, would they leave the Church for any reason?
As Ben Franklin once said about America "in order to maintain unity one universal language is required." The Latin Mass created that universal bond.
The lack of Priests and its effects are obvious. They are the glue that holds everything together. They are teachers, psychiatrists, mentors, but most importantly they perform the Consecration and all the other Sacraments.
One and two are obvious and easy to address. We should be recruiting Priests much harder than we are. We need to offer incentives. Such as offering a scholarship to a Catholic college to any Catholic male that meets certain academic requirements. The only obligation they would have aside from maintaining an acceptable grade point average is they would have to work for the Diocese — much like a co-op program — during their undergraduate studies, for example, working in Parishes, hospitals etc. under the tutelage of a local Priest or even the Bishop himself. Many of these young men when exposed to this type of lifestyle and its rewards would consider the Priesthood. Not everyone who joins the military had the intention of making it a career, but it happens. I heard a phrase that makes sense: "we need to evangelize and advertise."
Dan Sadowski
Fairport
