Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

Newman changes mourned

Re: Newman College begins to phase out baccalaureate degreeWCR Feb. 25

As a graduate (1997) of the bachelor of theology (BTh) program at Newman, it was with great sadness that I read this article. It is a program that has served the Church well over the years with both lay and ordained graduates ministering in a variety of settings.

The loss of the certificate programs will also be felt because these are the men and women who could be counted on to assist with sacramental preparation and RCIA teams, liturgy communities, music ministry and in innumerable ways.

It is difficult to see how St. Joseph's College or such institutions as Providence Centre could take over these programs since the former does not grant degrees and, for Providence Centre, this would mean hiring new staff and taking a different direction from its current spirituality-centred programming.

A number of statements made in this article beg for a response but I would like to comment on one in particular. Mr. Kulmatycki states that: "The BTh was developed mainly to serve the internal needs of the college."

In the late 1990s, Newman received a grant from the Lilly Foundation to develop a Master of Divinity (MDiv) program geared to forming lay people for pastoral ministry and which could be offered partly by distance education. I was on the steering committee for that program.

As we recruited candidates from across western and northern Canada, one of the realizations that we came to was that many good and capable candidates especially from our more remote dioceses, did not and could not meet the MDiv requirement of having a previous degree.

As the "Lilly MDiv" drew to a close, we made the recommendation that the bachelor of theology degree add a pastoral stream more specifically geared to ministry and which could largely be offered through distance education. In this way, men and women who could not have been otherwise able to study theology and prepare themselves for ministry were able to do so.

The whole issue raises a bigger question. The bachelor of theology degree has, for the most part, been populated by lay people. Over the past few years, the number of lay students studying at Newman, whether in undergraduate or graduate programs, has been steadily declining.

I once heard Archbishop Collins say that the Church needs both ordained and lay ministers. Seminary numbers are up but where have all the lay people gone?

Many of us are nearing retirement or have retired and there are very few coming up to replace us.

Has the college made a real effort to attract lay people in preparation for ministry? It seems that the vision of Archbishop Jordan who founded the college in the wake of Vatican II has gone by the wayside. We are the poorer for it.

How did we get to this place? And how long will it take to recover?

Bernice Mahoney
Edmonton

Married, celibate priests stand in Catholic pulpits

The letter by Harold Hogan (Priests are too busy to be married,WCR Jan.21) discusses several interesting points.

The author asks, "Why should our Church make room for married priests? How would that benefit our Church?" There is evidence in Scripture for clergy who were married (1 Timothy 3:2. Titus 1:6). In addition, "other particular Churches in communion with the Holy Father have married priests and celibate priests.

The Ukrainian Catholic Church is one such church. Over the last years, married men who have been clergy in the Anglican and Lutheran ecclesial communities and have become Roman Catholic have been ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. These priests live both the Sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders (WCR, Dec.26, 2005)" It would appear that in these cases our Church has "made room" for married priests.

I wonder how many of the young men in Mr. Hogan's classroom have ever met a priest and discussed priesthood. They might be surprised to learn that priesthood does not necessarily exclude travel and owning items such as a car.

As far as "lots of money," I know many people from all walks of life who do not have a great deal of money. Perhaps Mr. Hogan could invite the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Edmonton to discuss priesthood and other vocations with his classes.

Mr. Hogan states, "There is no way I could raise my family on a priest's income." While money has to be a consideration in life, I believe that if all people felt the need for priests and if some of those priests happened to be married, the People of God would do what is right and just. They would pay the priests an adequate salary whether he would be single or married.

Rev. Leo Hofmann
St. Matthew Parish
Edmonton

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