October 27th was Priesthood Sunday, a day to pray for our priests, and praising God for their courage and their generosity.
A few years ago (2009) Pope Benedict XVI declared a “Year for Priests” to encourage "spiritual perfection" in priests especially focused on the missionary identity of the priest … his mission to sanctify, teach and govern.
St. John Vianney, the great parish priest of Ars, France, in his catechism lesson on priesthood said: The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you...
Since 1965 the number of Catholic in the US has increased by over 60%; the number of priests has declined by 16,000. In the US there is an average of one priest for 1400 Catholics. In Texas there is one priest for 3800 Catholics; here at St. Mark’s there are 10,000 Catholics per priest.
27% of US parishes are without a full-time, resident priest.
There are now more priests over 90 than under 30.
After many years of people asking me what I did with all my “free-time” Monday through Saturday (suggesting I must get a lot of golf in) I wrote out a job description for a Pastor:
Job Description for Pastors of St. Mark the Evangelist: