How to Kill a Priest

I do not like administrative duties; at all. I will not say that administration is bad, it needs to be done. I am, however, amazed at how many of these things that we presume need to be done for the church to run properly, did not even exist a century ago. We have created new things and (supposedly) easier ways to accomplish things, but they just end up taking the same amount of our time (if not more) than the old way did. I am, however, required to do these things, so I will be submissive to my Bishop.

That being said, I also want to point out a statistic that I came across recently. It said that, on average, the more administrative duties a priest has, the less he cares for his own spiritual well being. Administratively busy priests pray less, read Scripture less, spend less time preparing homilies, and frequently let other people make liturgical decisions for the Mass. Again, administration is not evil, but I can attest to the fact that when I get swamped I find it harder to give my full attention to my own spiritual health.

This is not just bad for the priest, it is bad for the parish. A priest cannot care for his parishioners if his own spirituality is weakened. Sadly, no one seems to be working to remedy this situation. The "priest shortage" that we all hear about is largely the result of disfunctional families who do not create an environment where the boys can hear the call of the Lord. The Lord gives many young men a call, but if they are raised to listen more to the world than to Christ, they will miss that call.

Furthermore, the feminization of the modern liturgy has driven young men away from a priestly vocation because it is not appealing to healthy, masculine, young men who desire to serve God (it's interesting how many sodomite priests like the modernized liturgy!). Take that context and add in an example of the priesthood as being all administration and you will create a priest shortage quickly. It is a vicious cycle: reduce the number of priests, then set up the few priests you do have with duties that stifle their spiritual growth until they either burn out or fall into a habitual grave sin, and you have a recipe for destroying the Church.